Don't Let Your Mower Become a Springtime Headache

Wisconsin winters aren't gentle, and neither is what they do to fuel sitting in a mower, trimmer, or blower all season. If you've got equipment heading into storage soon, a little prep now saves you a lot of frustration — and money — come April.

The fuel problem

Most gas today has ethanol in it, and ethanol loves to absorb moisture. Sitting in a tank or carburetor for four or five months, that fuel breaks down, turns gummy, and leaves behind a sticky varnish that clogs jets and passages you can't even see. That's the number one reason mowers won't start in spring — not a dead battery, not old spark plugs, just gunked-up fuel that turned into glue.

You've got two solid options here:

1. Run it dry. Let the engine burn through whatever's in the tank until it sputters out on its own. No fuel, nothing to break down, nothing to gum up. Simple and reliable.
2. Stabilize it. If you'd rather not run it dry, add a fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil, fill the tank, and run the engine a few minutes so the treated fuel works through the carburetor. Either approach works — just don't leave old gas sitting untreated all winter.

A few other quick things worth doing:

1. Clean off grass clippings, dirt, and debris — caked-on gunk holds moisture and speeds up rust.
2. Change the oil before storage if it's due; old oil breaks down and can leave sludge sitting on internal parts all winter.
3. Give the blades and metal parts a light coat of oil to keep rust off.
4. Store batteries somewhere dry and above freezing if you can — cold kills battery life fast.

And if you don't do any of this?

Here's what usually happens: that leftover ethanol fuel slowly evaporates and leaves behind a hard, sticky residue in the carburetor. Tiny fuel passages get clogged. Rubber gaskets and fuel lines can dry out or get eaten away by the ethanol itself. Come spring, you're looking at a mower that won't start, won't idle right, or runs rough — and a carburetor that often needs to be pulled apart and cleaned (sometimes replaced) to fix it. What would've taken five minutes in the fall turns into a repair bill and a week without your equipment right when you actually need it.

Not up for doing it yourself?

That's what we're here for. Bring your mower, trimmer, or blower in before the snow flies and we'll handle the fuel system, oil, blade care, and a quick once-over so it's ready to go the second the grass starts growing again. A lot cheaper than a carburetor rebuild in May.