Patting Myself On the Back - I Fixed It!

Push Mower Madness

I am not mechanically inclined but I've managed to actually fix a few things that would have cost me if I called a repair person. Yes, I failed at the attempt to fix generators, but I successfully repaired my dryer last year. So, when my handy dandy self propelled craftsman mower wouldn't start I thought about the pros and cons of me fixing it and decided to go for it. Why? Because the mower was given to me for free and I felt more comfortable fixing one that I didn't pay anything for than fixing one that I paid money for, does that make sense?

Step 1

Internet research for videos, manual and any trouble shooting information I could find and read it.

Step 2

Make sure I had the correct size tools.

Step 3

Make sure someone had 911 programmed into their phone just in case. :)

Step 4

Diagnose the issue. Spark plugs were good, that was easy to check. Now that I knew the 'ol sparkies were working I had to move on to removing the filter to see if it was clogged. That had a little spider web or something in it and it all cleaned up nicely.

I got out some gasoline and poured directly on to the carburetor area after watching a video about 10 times on how to do this without catching the mower or myself on fire. Stepping back to the handle I pulled the chord and it fired up and shut off immediately. In my book that's a great sign. I checked the little primer button and it didn't seem to be building up resistance.

Ahh ha! There is a leak somewhere!  I tore every little thing off that mower that I could. I took the gas line off and verified there were no leaks in it. Then I had to check the carburetor and it was dry as a bone. The float was stuck. But, the gasket that seals the carburetor was damaged and wasn't sealing correctly. I found my "leak".

Step 5

You know that idea about prepping and always being prepared for everything? Yeah, well guess what? I did not prepare for a mower break down and didn't have any extra gaskets on hand. Sigh. Unfortunately, no stores in my area carry this handy little gasket and I had to order it. I ordered the gasket, actually, I ordered 4. One to replace it with, a 2nd one just in case I broke the 1st one and needed a back up and two more to store for later use.

Step 6

Gasket arrives and I remove the bad gasket and replace with the new one.

Step 7

Start up my handy dandy self-propelled craftsman push mower and start mowing!

I'm so excited that I did it! But, valuable lesson learned. Everything and I mean everything needs to have a back-up plan. I've certainly got a lot of prepping to do, how about you?