It is easy to just put the old lawnmower away after the mowing season and forget about it until next spring, part of that may be from you being glad to be done with it for a few months, but before you put the lawnmower away you should do some basic maintenance procedures first.
1) The engine should be cleaned of all of the cut grass that has accumulated in the cooling fins of the engine. First step is to take off the top cover, the one with the pull cord in it and expose the cylinder cooling fins. Once the fins are exposed you should see cooling fins surrounding the whole cylinder and head. The grass cuttings usually accumulate around the curved section of the cooling fins as they go behind a cover between the engine and the carburetor. Just take a garden hose and push the grass cuttings out using water pressure. When you spray the coarse stream of water into the fins the debris should come out on the bottom of the engine.
Once the debris is out of the cooling fins the next step is to clean under the cover that was on the engine over the cooling fins.
2) Wash and scrape the dried grass cuttings from all around the machine so they don't cause rust to form during the winter. Be extra careful to remove the spark plug wire before starting any of the work.
3) After everything has been washed and cleaned you will have to leave it apart for a while so it can dry thoroughly. When everything has dried reassemble the engine and start it and let it run until it gets warm that way you can be sure that all of the water has either dried by air or the heat from the engine.
4) After the engine has cooled remove the spark plug and squirt some Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinder and turn the shaft a few times to spread it around. Reinstall the spark plug.
5) Store the lawn mower somewhere where it will stay dry, if at all possible, so rust doesn't attack the metallic parts.
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Bob Crane is the author of http://www.americanwrenches.com - a site that helps many find tools they need for their projects.
