Bobby Guy D.I.Y.- Lawnmower Repair

This is definitely not a how-to video. I am NOT a do-it-yourselfer, so it was a major win when I was able to fix my lawnmower.

To explain how I fixed my lawnmower, I first have to tell you why I had to repair a mower that was brand new less than two years ago. I had been busy (probably more play than work, but hey, that happens) and my lawn was neglected and growing fast so I thought I'd quick mow the front before I headed to work to be on the radio in the afternoon. The front yard is small and manageable, I could get to the bigger back yard later. (You can't really see that from the street, anyway.)

The engine was running very rough and then begun to stall. I got it restarted and did a few more strips, then it kept stalling, and finally wouldn't restart at all. It had gas, and that's about the limit of my knowledge of how engines work. so, what next? Off to YouTube. "The carburetor, it's got to be a dirty carburetor," I thought after quickly skimming a couple of videos, I can fix that. By the time I came into the house, my girlfriend, who is working from home, had texted her sister and her partner and they were on their way over. Help was on the way without my asking for it. Ouch. A blow to the male ego.

By the time Rodney got there to take a look at my lawnmower, I had already taken the carburetor off, cleaned it and, when that didn't produce any results, reattached it. Then I belatedly realized that it was out of oil. That's all it needed to run properly, IF I had simply refilled it without doing anything else. It took an entire quart of oil, so I put the whole damn thing in. (I told you, I have no mechanical disposition.) So, after Rodney and I dumped most of the overfilled oil back out of the mower, he realized that a gasket had broken on the carb when I was fiddling with that. It's and easy fix, if you can get the part.

Twelve days later...my special order part comes in and I'm able to try to fix the damn thing again. (In the meantime, my dad had driven over an hour from Holland to mow my lawn and keep the City of Portage form stopping by with their ruler to see how tall my grass was.) See, you can't buy just a gasket for the carburetor, so I could order a kit for $15 or an entirely new unit to just bolt on for $25. That sounded closer to my skill level. Sure enough, I was able to take it apart again and add the new equipment. Let's fire this thing up! Wait- what's that? I spotted another gasket that had come free, so I had to disassemble everything and, luckily, was able to get it put back together. Now...gentlemen, start your engines!

Once I filled the gas tank, my mower fired right up and my 12 day do-it-yourself lawnmower repair was finished. Next time, I'm hiring the neighbor kid to mow my yard.