Print this chapter and fill the blanks with your own equipment’s specs — oil, plugs, PSI — then keep it in the garage. Tap a step to expand the full walkthrough.

1. Disconnect the spark plug wire. ›

   Pull the wire off the plug before anything else touches this machine — before the blade, before the deck, before any of it. A mower that fires while a hand is near the blade doesn’t offer a second attempt. This takes ten seconds and it isn’t optional. Tuck the wire somewhere it can’t fall back and make contact on its own.

2. Inspect the mower deck, belts, and cables. ›

   Look underneath first. Caked grass and rust build up where you can’t see them from standing height, and a cracked or glazed belt is easiest to catch here, in the quiet, before it’s asked to do any work. Scrape the deck clean with a putty knife or deck scraper — everything after this step is easier to see and do on a clean deck.

3. Remove, sharpen, and reinstall the blade. ›

   Tip the mower on its side with the air filter and carburetor facing up, so oil and gas stay where they belong. Wedge a block of wood against the blade to keep it from turning, then break the center bolt loose with a socket wrench. Wire-brush the blade clean once it’s off.

   A blade with light nicks can be brought back with a file or grinder — work both edges evenly, then check the balance before it goes back on. An unbalanced blade vibrates the whole deck for a full season. A blade that’s cracked, bent, or badly chipped gets replaced outright, not sharpened. Reinstall and torque the bolt down snug.

4. Drain and change the engine oil. ›

   Old oil carries a season’s worth of combustion byproducts, and those don’t do the inside of an engine any favors over a dormant winter. Tip the mower so the drain plug sits at the low point, or run an extractor pump through the dipstick tube if that’s how your model is built. Let it run out fully — a quarter cup left behind still dilutes the fresh fill.

   Replace the drain plug, add the type and amount your manual specifies, and check the dipstick before you call it finished.

5. Replace the spark plug. ›

   With the wire still off from step one, remove the old plug and check the gap on the new one against the spec on the engine tag or in the manual — a feeler gauge makes this exact instead of a guess. Thread it in by hand until snug, then give it a modest final turn with the wrench. Overtightening strips threads that are expensive to fix. Reconnect the wire when it’s seated — the machine is live again.

6. Replace the air filter. ›

   The cover is usually one screw or clip away. Paper filters get replaced outright — they can’t be cleaned back to working order. Foam gets washed in warm water with a little dish soap, wrung dry, and lightly re-oiled before it goes back in. Clear anything that’s collected in the housing itself while it’s open; that dust doesn’t belong there either.

7. Check and set tire pressure. ›

   Low pressure on one side tilts the deck without you noticing until the cut comes out uneven. Check all wheels with a tire pressure gauge against the spec printed on the tire sidewall, not a guess at “close enough.”

8. Run the engine to verify fuel condition. ›

   Gasoline degrades in storage, and ethanol-blend fuel absorbs moisture and separates over a winter sitting still. Start the engine and listen — rough idling or hesitation is the sound of varnished carburetor passages, and it’s easier to deal with now than mid-mow in June.

9. Inspect and clean all hand tools. ›

   Rake tines rust, handle wood cracks and splinters. Go through each tool individually rather than as a pile — a thin coat of linseed oil on wooden handles extends their life considerably, and it’s a five-minute job while everything else is already out.

10. Inspect trimmer line and head. ›

    Check the head for cracks and confirm the line feeds the way it should. A pre-wound spool swap is faster than re-stringing by hand in the field, and worth keeping a spare of on the shelf.

11. Check blower housing, tubes, and throttle. ›

    Clear debris from the air intake and housing — a blocked intake overheats the motor faster than you’d expect. Confirm the throttle and choke move freely without sticking before you put it away.

12. Inspect edger blade. ›

    Look for chips and general wear. A dull edger blade wanders off the line instead of following it. Replacement blades are inexpensive enough that keeping a spare costs less than the frustration of not having one.

13. Drop at a service center if not self-servicing. ›

    Most shops sit empty in February. The same service takes two to three weeks once April arrives and everyone else remembers at the same time. Get it in now, while there’s a bay open for it.

Service center:

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