… or at least nearly dead. Before the Fall Fest I was running the leaf vac to clean the front and back yards. I was nearly finished with the front when the leaf vac came to halt. I shut down the tractor in its place in the lawn and climbed off to inspect it. Not only would it not restart, I couldn’t get the pull handle to budge. Nothing, Nada, zilch. I realized that I had never really serviced the thing after getting it several years ago and putting 50 to 75 hours on it a year. Could I have locked up the cylinder?
Locking up the cylinder was definitely one possibility. It could have also been vapor locked. But whatever it was, its not good. I set the machine aside for a few days before I could look at it more extensively. Pulling the spark plug and trying to turn it over told me it was not vapor locked. However the sludge that came out of the oil drain told me that poor maintenance, (some of mine, some probably from previous owner) was the culprit and I might be in for a significant overhaul if not replacement.
I’m so ashamed that I nearly killed one of my favorite mechanical assistants. Now that the part was wrapped up and one of EPG’s crazy events was behind us, I had a few hours to figure this out. I had purchased a gasket kit for the engine as well as a few elixirs in hopes of revitalizing the damage done. After lubricating the cylinder heavily with PB Blaster, I was elated to get the cylinder to turn freely again. I had hope. I re-oiled the machine with synthetic 5W40 and a mix of Marvel Mystery Oil (does anyone actually know what it is, or does it just come out of a rock somewhere?). I remounted it on the trailer, and hoped for the best.
To my amazement, she sprang to life and even sounded pretty good. Whew! This serves as a lesson for myself and ensuring that I stay ahead of the maintenance schedule for these machines.
