Looking after your lawn mower

Having purchased your lawn mower there are a few things you need to do to look after your it, take care of it and make sure your lawn mower lasts you for a good many years. Most lawn mowers require weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance to keep them running in top condition. Keep in mind that many of these things are only small but can effect how long your mower provides good service. Note: if you are not mechanically inclined, there are those who can do the work for you at a nominal cost.

Weekly lawn mower maintenance:

After each mowing, wait until then engine has cooled down and then use a hose to wash off the grass that will be clinging to the underside of the deck of the mower( note some lawn mowers like IBEA mowers have deck cleaning ports). This will keep grass clippings from building up around the mower blades. If they aren't removed after cutting the will start to rot down, corrode the metal of the lawn mower and become more difficult to remove.

However, before doing any maintenance work around the blades of a lawnmower, make sure they have stopped spinning, and if electric, it's disconnectedfrom the mains.

Monthly lawn mower maintenance:

Regular lawn mowing, and hitting debris such as stones etc whilst mowing, will start to blunt the blades. It will therefore improve the cutting capability if you sharpen the blades frequently. Blunt blades will decrease your mowers capability, create an uneven cut, use more fuel, and put greater strain on the lawn mower engine.

We realize that most people wont go to the trouble and expense of sharpening the blades often enough, but it is worth doing if you can and have the faciclities to do it.

It is also possible to replace blades for most lawn mowers( contact us as we can supply spare parts for all brands of lawn mowers ). Whilst this is certainly not a monthly job, it may be an option when your lawn mower blades are looking in bad condition.

Annual lawn mower maintenance:

Your lawn mower manual will give you some tips and advice on annual mower maintenance (take a look at our sister site Mower Mart, if you done have a manual).

Change the oil in the mower. If you run a two-stroke engine, then your oil is already mixed in with the fuel and you can skip this step. However, you should first check your owner's manual and follow manufacturers recommendation, if possible. Most smaller engines also have a drain-plug located under the deck of the mower. Most decks have a small cut-out area on the bottom that exposes the bolt to drain the oil.

Replace the spark plug. older spark plugs can fowl-up and should be replaced at least once a year.

Replace the fuel filter. Some smaller sized and older engines may not have a fuel filter. If your engine does, it is typically located on the fuel line between the tank and the carburetor. It's usually an off-white or black color.

Replace the air filter. If you kick up a lot of dust and debris while mowing, then your filter could be choking your engine. In such cases, you may want to replace the air filter more then once during the year.

If you have completed these steps and your mower still doesn't seem to run properly, then go back and make sure everything was completed correctly.

Lawn Mower Storage:

After the last mowing of the year, you will need to get your mower ready to put away for the winter. Most mowers have an instruction manual to follow, but if you don't have one, here are two things you can do prior to storage:

Drain the remaining fuel from your mower. Warning: Always disconnect your spark plug connection prior to draining. In general, the longer your mower sits in storage, the more likely it is for your petrol (either in the mower or can) to go bad. By draining the fuel from your mower, you are preventing the remaining fuel from aging and potentially going stale inside your mower engine and carburetor.

Once the fuel has been drained, reconnect the spark plug wire and run the engine until it burns all remaining fuel and runs out of petrol. Simply turn off the petrol supply, and let the mower run until it stops itself.

There you go, keep on top of it & your lawn mower should last for many years, happy mowing