When the officers arrived, one rolled down his window and immediately realized the homeowner was not gasping for air, but his lawn mower certainly was.
Without further incident, the officers assured the reporting party that everything was just fine, at least with her neighbor.
Okay, you know this never occurred, but this does happen to lawn mowers, and other gas powered tools. They start to whine, wheeze and have this sort of I think I can thing going on. It is this odd, almost rhythmic sound they never had since first being out of the box, assembled and first used. Yet, most of us overlook (ignore) this.
I hear this sick sound quite a lot from neighboring properties when visiting customers and it's not just coming from homeowners' equipment. I hear it coming from the pros' equipment too, sometimes for weeks on end.
There are three things most gas-powered tools need us to provide, refill and monitor occasionally - fuel, oil (or a mix thereof) and air. Okay, so we don't provide the air, but we need to make certain the poor thing is getting enough of it, perhaps as clean (filtered) as possible.
Most of these task masters have a fuel and air filter and if these aren't checked, cleaned or replaced when need be, then little Mr. TROY-BILT and Miss Toro aren't going to be happy, not run well or may not start at all. Fuel and air are both key components of this whole internal combustion thing so you may want to check and clean out that air filter or replace it. Usually, unless some moisture or oil gets in an air filter, they can be blown or tapped enough to get some decent air flow.
This also applies to other gas powered devices such as blowers, trimmers, chain saws, etc.
The other things which you can also affect without having to go to the local mower medic are the condition of the spark plug and the quality of the gasoline you use. And, change the oil and try not to use old gas, whatever that means (I know.) - see your owner's manual.
Many automobile repair places will accept small quantities of motor oil for recycling/disposal so you don't need to (should not) pour it down the kitchen sink or a storm drain, or trying using it to barbecue or start your fire pit.If you drain old gasoline from your mower, save it until you have driven a few miles after you have filled your vehicle's fuel tank, and add it. Unless you have some really awesome and truly large gas tank on your mower, the proportion of new to old gas should be enough for a dilution which will not harm your vehicle. I'm not emphatic about this because there have been so many changes with automobiles, but I have never experienced any noticeable change in performance after doing so.
So, the next time you purchase that shiny new thing to help you maintain your lawn more easily, you may want to keep the owner's manual, and men - perhaps peruse it and get familiar with what maintenance it may need from you. If it's going to make your life easier, how 'bout returning the favor.
I know, us guys think we know all there is to know about these things, but technologies and equipment do change. Yes, there is so much content in these manuals which probably is mostly due to legal liabilities.
An owner's manual is not a marketing tool. I guarantee you no lawn equipment salesman is going to whip out ye olde, usually cheaply-produced, owner's manual while you are shopping. So, no manufacturer is going to recommend you do something to or use their product a certain way just to piss you off. They probably do so, so that the product will perform better so you will want to buy their brand the next time.
I am waiting to see this in an automobile owner's manual:
To longer enjoy the look, performance, feel and handling of your new vehicle, you should avoid driving into the following at a high rate of speed: masonry structures, other vehicles, mature trees, telephone and power poles, large domestic animals, anyone's home, division I stadiums, boat launches and swimming pools. Oh, food trucks and rather large hot dog carts, as well.It's probably already been done.
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