Small engine maintenance day

[Whiskerfish]

A chore I have been putting off too long. Flushed all the fuel tanks with fresh non eth gas and warmed everything up then changed all the oils. Lawn Mower, Chipper Shredder, Pressure washer, Big generator, small generator, and Tiller.

0620201256.jpg (148.8 KiB) Viewed 1998 times

[Liam]

Spent a few happy days in that shop last year.

[pidjones]

I need to do similar maintenance on all of our outdoor power equipment. 2 tractors, push mower, chipper-shredder, tiller, mule (4x4 side-by-side). Then another oil change on two of the GoldWings and the daughter's SX4. Have to do all of mine outdoors (well, except for the bikes). Bother.

[Liam]

I have 2 lawnmowers. One is an Efco push mower that I bought new in 1994. Briggs and Stratton 5Hp engine.
Always starts first pull once you go the right way about it.
I also have one like this, again with a Briggs and Stratton engine. I only have 10 hours on it yet from new.

castelgarden.JPG (54.9 KiB) Viewed 1983 times

[Liam]

18 months ago I bought a power washer. I had a choice of 2 engines when I was buying, some Chinese whizbang thing or a Honda GX390 13.5Hp which was about €300 extra.
I went with the Honda option, as I figured it would always start for me. Wrong! Earlier this year I nearly bust a bloodvessel trying to start the darned thing and pushed it back into the shed in disgust.
It has only done about 3 hours work. Getting no spark.

pw393-htr-a-washer.jpg (27.4 KiB) Viewed 1982 times

[Whiskerfish]

I was just happy they all started as well as they did. I think the tiller took 7 or 8 pulls but the rest were all 2 or 3. Some of them have sat for more than a year so I was Very pleased with that. I think draining the fuel tanks and putting in fresh from the get go was worth the effort.


Dang Liam. Usually those Honda's are pretty good. 3 in the pic above are Honda and the other 2 are B & S

[Liam]

Yes, Briggs and Stratton engines in my experience have always given good service. I have had quite a few lawnmowers in my time, the only disappointing one was a Husqvarna machine I bought new around 2004. It had a 16.5Hp Briggs and Stratton engine, but was a useless thing to cut grass. Left it parked up for a couple of years, used the Efco which always worked. Got the Husqvarna going again after a couple of years but got reminded about how useless it was. I bought an old Countax mower which was a super machine to cut grass. It only had a 12.5HP Briggs and Stratton engine, but would run rings around the fancy Husqvarna when it came to cutting grass. It had problems with the hydrostatic transmission, did not want to climb an incline when warmed up, so I bought another for spares. I ended up fixing up them both but they were too old and gave me some mechanical problems, and the decks were in bad shape. I sold them all and bought the new Castelgarden.

$_86.JPG (195.3 KiB) Viewed 1977 times

[Liam]

The power washer is the only engine driven appliance I have ever had without a Briggs engine. Also the only one to fail to start. The only one with a Honda engine.

[Liam]

I also have a couple of Fork trucks in the workshop. One is an old Nissan Diesel which is the sulkiest thing to start ever. Needs tons of heat to get going, and if you stop it for an hour you have to heat it again. Never fails to start though. Last year I bought a 2013 Hyster which has a Yanmar Diesel, it is a sweet thing. A bit scruffy looking, mind you, but mechanically sound. I was offered a Chinese fork truck new for the same price I paid for the Hyster 6 years old, but I think the Hyster was a better buy.

[Whiskerfish]

SNIP . I was offered a Chinese fork truck new for the same price I paid for the Hyster 6 years old, but I think the Hyster was a better buy.

See you are smarter than you look

[Liam]

See you are smarter than you look

That's up for debate.......