Protect Your investment

After you rake out all the leaves, do not relax. Remember Robert Frost. There are miles to go before you sleep and miles (well not exactly) to go before your lawn mower is allowed to sleep. Unless you do it, your lawn mower might be put to a longer sleep. It may not wake up when winter goes away, and when you need your lawn mower most.

The Why Of Lawn Mower Winterizing

Gasoline in the carburetor of your lawn mower, does not take kindly to lowered temperatures of winter. The gasoline gums up and when you try to restart it after the winter, there s no gasoline flow to your engine and it does not start. You will not be able to do the maintenance by yourself. You will lose time and money making the trip to your friendly neighborhood mechanic. You get all this, for not following up simple steps of winterizing your lawn mower. Avoid all this winterize your lawn mower.

The How of Lawn Mower Winterizing

There are some simple steps for winterizing your lawn mower. You can do it your self without involving any one else.

1. The first thing to do is to remove the gasoline in the tank. This can be done by siphoning the contents in the in a plastic can. Usually a single gallon container should be sufficient.
2. Keep the can tightly closed after decanting contents of the lawn mower. Place the can in such a way that it cannot topple over and spill the content.
3. If you use the same grade of gasoline in your car, transfer the content to the car tank, it is much safer that way, or transfer it to winter heating system if that is possible instead of storing gasoline in a can.
4. Run the engine until the remaining fuel is completely consumed and engine stops on its own.
5. Drain gearbox oil and crank case oil. Dispose off the oil as per guidelines from municipal authorities for disposal of hazardous waste or hand it over to municipal authorities for doing it. NEVER, EVER, dump it in sewer or on ground.
6. Remove the spark plug, put lubricating oil (about 50 milliliter) through the opening, and crank up the engine using the rope, so the piston and crankshaft is lubricated.
7. Ensure that you are wearing hand gloves before you do any of the following activities and take safety precautions to avoid any injury to your hands.
8. Turn over the engine and clean the undersides of the lawn mower to remove traces of grass, muck attached to the blades and clean the working parts of lawn mower. Remove any foreign material lodged between blade and body.
9. With a small piece of steel wool, clean all the underside areas and remove any rest from the covers and body of the lawn mower.
10. Apply protective solution like WD-40 to the cleaned up surfaces
11. If required, remove, sharpen and refit the blade, and turn the lawn mower to its normal position.
12. Change the air filter and the oil filter. If it is possible to clean the air filter, you can do so, but if it is made of paper, it must be replaced. The air filters and oil filters can also be replaced just before re-using the lawn mower, but it pays to do this while winterizing as you might forget doing so before starting.
13. Fill up the tires with air and wheel it to its resting place for winter