Don’t Know How To Clean Lawn Mower Carburetor? Follow These 6 Simple Steps And Do It Today
The carburetor is the most crucial part of a lawn mower. Some people argue that without a clean and efficient carburetor, this lawn care tool can never work like it should, even if other components are in their best conditions.
While the new-age robotic lawnmowers have done away with carburetors, the traditional ones still depend on it heavily. Therefore, it becomes important that the owners pay attention to the maintenance and cleaning of the carburetor. In this article, we shall teach you how to clean lawn mower carburetor effectively.
The operator manuals of lawn mowers have several tips related to carburetor maintenance. Therefore, you should first read the lawn mower manual before following the steps mentioned below.
Steps For Cleaning The Carburetor
1. Check If Cleaning Is Needed
Most people think about cleaning the carburetor only when the lawn mower does not start or gives problems while running. While it is the most prominent cause for a jammed lawn mower, cleaning the carburetor does not always solve the problem. Moreover, the carburetor is a sensitive part of the lawn mower.
Therefore, if you do not know how to detach the carburetor gently, there are chances that you may cause damage to it, while it was not even needed.
To check whether a clogged carburetor is the reason behind the malfunctioning of your lawn mower, take the carburetor cleaner, or an aerosol spray prescribed for your lawn mower, and spray it on the outer surface of the carburetor. Clean the carburetor from the outside as much as possible. Once you are through, start the lawn mower.
If the lawn mower is still not working normally, the fault lies somewhere else. Maybe the carburetor has worn out completely, in which case, just knowing how to clean a lawn mower carburetor will not work. You should either know how to repair it or buy a new one.
2. Removing The Filter And Cover
Once you have analyzed the carburetor and the lawn mower thoroughly and still want to clean the carburetor, you will first need to expose its interiors. However, do not touch the carburetor until the machine cools down completely.
Note- These steps will only teach you how to clean a carburetor on a riding lawn mower and may not work well for other types of mowers.
First, remove the cover of the air filter using a screwdriver. Once you do this, it becomes easy to access the interiors of the carburetor.
Now, start removing the linkages and the exterior cover of the carburetor gently. Do not use excessive force for doing so, as it can damage the carburetor. After removing these parts, the interiors of the carburetor will be fully exposed. Use water and clean it once.
Leave it for some time to dry and check if it is working by turning the engine on. If the lawn mower starts, proceed with the cleaning process.
3. Choosing And Applying The Right Cleaner
As stated before, removing the carburetor from the lawn mower machine can cause unnecessary damage. Therefore, you need a strategy to clean the carburetor without having to remove it from the lawn mower. It can only be possible if you use a good quality carburetor cleaning aerosol spray.
Once you find the ideal carburetor cleaning spray for your lawn mower, place the tip of the spray at the center of the carburetor. Ensure that you switch on the engine and carburetor at this time.
As the engine and carburetor start working, start spraying the aerosol cleaner on the interiors of the carburetor. The movement of the engine and the carburetor ensure that the spray gets circulated evenly inside the carburetor.
Moreover, you will have to hold the spray firmly and close to the carburetor. It is to ensure that the cleaner can reach the throat of the carburetor, where most of the dirt gets accumulated.
4. Cleaning The Choke Shaft
After this, turn off the engine and check the lower throttle of the carburetor. Dirt and grease that gets accumulated at the lower throttle of the carburetor are difficult to remove. To remove this dirt, locate the choke shaft of the carburetor. It will be somewhere near the lower end.
Now, respray the choke shaft until every bit of the grease is removed. To scrape off the dirt, you can use a thin wire as well. However, be careful that you do not scrape it too hard or rub it against any other part of the carburetor.
5. Fixing It Back
If you think all the dirt is removed from the interiors of the carburetor, it is time to fix the exterior cover and linkages back. Although you can fix the same linkages and cover with a screwdriver, it is always advised that after a round of thorough cleaning, you should replace the old linkages and exterior cover for better results.
Since we are teaching you how to clean a lawn mower carburetor Briggs and Stratton model, it will be better if you buy the cover and linkages of the same company. Their exterior cover and linkages are readily available in the market. Once you purchase them, you can fix them easily on the carburetor.
Finally, it is time to fix the air filter back. Suppose you do not fix the air filter tightly, all the dirt that you removed while cleaning will eventually settle again on the interiors of the carburetor in no time. If you do not attach the air filter tightly, the carburetor can even catch fire while working.
6. The Final Check
Before you close the machine and start using the lawn mower again, a final inspection of all the components is necessary. It is because in cleaning the carburetor thoroughly, you might have unsettled some part of the lawn mower like the wires, screws, etc.
Therefore, turn the engine on and see whether the lawn mower starts normally or not. When you clean the carburetor, the start should be smooth, and you should not hear any muffled sounds coming from the engine.
Conclusion
In this article, we taught you how to clean lawn mower carb. The method that we use does not involve the removal of the carburetor from the machine. In most cases, the removal of the carburetor leads to unnecessary damages in its interiors. You can follow this guide to clean the carburetor of any riding lawn mower model from Briggs and Stratton.