ON THE PLOT
the piston as protection
From page 26
against corrosion. Use this
corrosion.
opportunity to clean the spark
If it is an electric-start
plugs, shining up the sparking
machine, disconnect the
faces with some fine sandpabattery.
per and checking the gap
Remove the spark plug, or
clearance. Or if the plugs are
plugs, squirt a few drops of
old, replace them now.
light machine oil into the
cylinder and crank the engine Ensure you tighten the plugs
by hand to coat the inside of back fully because you will
likely forget to do so come
the cylinder and the top of
summer if you just screw
them in finger-tight now.
Don't, at this stage, drain the
sump and replace the oil.
That's a task you'll do after
your first usage of the
machine in early spring, when
you use the mower in dry and
dusty conditions to remove
much of the dry, dead old
lawn growth. This is a dirty,
dusty job and any dust from
the resultant cloud that you
will be enveloped in that
enters the sump and contaminates the oil has the potential
to act as an abrasive and
increase the wear on the
engine.
So minimise this effect by
draining the sump and
replacing the oil immediately
after this first usage (which
will also have the effect of
loosening and mixing up any
sludge in the sump already, so
that the new oil you put in
enters a relatively sludge-free
engine.
Now is also a good time to
clean or replace the air filter
element.
Under the cutting deck,
scrape away any caked grass
and mud and generally wipe
the machine down well to
remove dust and dirt.
Although it makes sense to
check the blades while you
are grovelling around under
the machine, don't replace
them now unless they are
irrevocably damaged. Rather,
use the old blades to do your
first, abrasive, dusty mow next
season, when they are set as
low as possible, thus abrasively making contact with
uneven ground, mole hills,
stones etc. Then, at the same
time that you replace the
sump oil, replace the blades
with sharp new ones for the
28
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rest of the season.
Of course, if there are any
major repairs or replacements
necessary on your mower,
now is a great time, when
mower repair shops are quiet,
to get these done (and you'll
be surprised at how few
mower owners get around to
doing so, rather leaving their
repairs until the last moment,
when the grass is already
growing, in the spring, and
the mower shops are
frantically busy).
Finally, pack the mower away,
covered in a dust sheet. Don't
use plastic, which allows for
“sweat” to build up under the
sheet, encouraging rust.
Continued on page 30