3. Canva Lawn Mowers

After essentially hibernating for the last several months, lawnmowers don’t always crank the first time you try. Pumps, seals, and valves in the carburetor can get gummed up if you forgot to empty your gas tank before shoving your lawnmower into storage for the winter. And things like that can be repaired fairly easily.

You may have to prime the engine three or four times to get your lawnmower to begrudgingly turn over. But if your lawnmower won’t start after a few cycles of priming and pulling, don’t start browsing online for new mowers just yet. Here are some incredibly basic things you can do yourself that might get you up and running:

Troubleshooting Your Lawnmower Engine:

Spark Plug: Before moving any further, always disconnect the spark plug. Manually turning the mower blade with the spark plug still connected could cause the engine to essentially “kick start”, and you could lose some fingers. And let’s be honest…no one wants that. While you’re at it, inspect the spark plug to make sure that it isn’t burned out. A burnt spark plug will result in an engine that doesn’t crank.

Gas in the tank? Sounds silly, we know. But sometimes the issue is as simple as forgetting to put gas in the tank. After all, it’s been a while since you’ve used your mower. But if you forgot to empty the gas before putting it away for the winter, bad gas might be the issue. Try draining the tank and refilling it with clean gas.

Air & Fuel Filters: Most mowers only use an air filter, but some have both an air and oil filter. Check your filters to see if they’re dirty. Sometimes oil can seep into the air filter, which can cause your mower not to start.

Oil: Most mowers need an oil change every 20-50 hours of operation. Dirty oil could cause things to jam up and not turn over. Complete an oil change on your mower and try to crank it again. If that doesn’t work and you know that there is plenty of gas in the tank, it may be time to get rid of it.

If your lawnmower still won’t turn on after checking all of these things, you might have a broken machine on your hands. If your mower is older, repairs can get costly because parts are harder to find. That’s an expense that can be pretty hard to justify when you can just get a new mower with all the bells and whistles.