Just the basics
Push lawn mowers are persnickety. Most are vacuum based fuel systems with tee tiny little jets that allow the fuel to get to the carburetor. Actually most are relatively simple combustion systems that are darn near indestructible. However there are things you can do to keep your mower in tip top shape. Lets look at what mowers don’t like. Fuels with heavy ethanol content are going to give your mower a clogged throat which will require some version of the Heimlich maneuver or a tracheotomy. (Video to follow) This occurs when fuel is allowed to sit dormant for an extended amount of time. Sometimes as little a two weeks. This seems to be the number one issue I see with mowers every year. To greatly reduce the chances of this happening try the following. Only use 100% pure gas. Add a fuel additive like “Sea Foam” to your fuel. Sea Foam will help dispel any water in the fuel and seems to thin out the ethanol. Draining the fuel from your mower at the end of the season sounds like a good idea but it won’t necessarily remove it from the carbonator’s float bowl where most of the problems occur. So at the end of the year store it with the freshest and cleanest fuel you can find. Ok now let’s talk blades. Take a big stick, find some high grass and try to chop it down with your stick feel the resistance. Ok now take a big knife (like a machete) and try to cut it down. Now imagine multiplying that feeling thousands of times per second. It is like Chinese water torture to your engine and the one cut with the blade just looks better. Change your oil. How does oil work? Imagine bouncing on balloons. They are soft and squishy but eventually they will break and you will be bouncing on a flat balloon that offers no comfort what so ever. Same thing happens with oil. Oil bubbles (viscosity) keeps the pieces of your engine from bumping together when it gets old the bubbles break and there is no protection. Its still there it just doesn’t work. So change your oil often. You should check you air filter every so often (depending on how much you mow) at least twice a year. Air filters clean the air that your motor uses to breath letting it run dirty is equivalent to pinching someone’s oxygen line and that’s just not nice. I hope this helps. Have fun and happy mowing.