Last year on my daily walk around our rural neighborhood my daughter spotted a free lawnmower. She knows we are always tight on cash and I can fix some things, but have many friends that can fix just about anything. She was excited and wanted to see if I could fit something like a dead mower without assistance. So her and I walked the lawnmower the 1/2 mile back home.
The lawnmower must had been cleaned and put in his garage after each use. But he couldn't get it to run for more that 3 seconds. So I decided to take a jab at it.
First I drained the gas tank and fuel lines and flushed them with unleaded fuel. I then let them sit out to dry in the summer sun. I checked the air filter for debris and it was just mildly used, but good enough.
When I got the main cover off I could see heavy amounts of rust around the flywheel and on the points. I took a $.99 piece of moderate grit sandpaper to both the flywheel and points. And to make sure I had plenty of gap between the flywheel and points, I used the trick my dad taught me, a Bicycle brand playing card.
After it was all back together with fuel in it, I wanted a true test of how well I did. I asked my 11-year old daughter to have a go at starting it.
It worked! See ran around the yard, she was so happy her and her dad fixed something. She even mowed the lawn. She wanted to mow more lawns after.
I think the greatest part of this project was the excitement I could see in my kids eyes that something that is broke can be fixed. All you need is something to rough it up and fresh fuel.
The cherry on top of this story is I am selling the lawnmower this morning to purchase a mountain bike I can use this summer with my daughter.
Lesson for myself, don't give up on something just because someone else has written it off.