"Kicking Bird" redman@tipi wrote in message
. ..
"Lot-o-fun" wrote in message
...
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't do right by my lawn mower last
Fall and just left it in the garage over the winter without doing any
winter prep. It's warm enough today that I thought I'd drag it out and
see if I could start it, and I couldn't after priming the engine and a
few quick on the rope. What should I do at this point? The lawn mower
is a Murray with a 4-stroke engine (model 20617A for those that care).
I bought it used and didn't get a manual or anything like that with it.

As a follow up, what's the right way to put this machine away for the
winter?

Thanks in advance,
-Lotofun

For starters, dump the gas in the tank and in the can. Then drain the
carburetor-- there's probably a drain screw in the bottom of the float
bowl.
If not, just remove the big screw in the bottom of the float bowl and the
bowl will lower. Actually, you probably want to pull the bowl anyway and
spray everything with carb/choke cleaner ($4.00 at Wal-Mart). Also drain
and
replace the engine oil- go to engine mfr's website to see the weight of
oil
to use. If no info, it's hard to go wrong with 10W30.

While you're at Wally's pick up a can of starter fluid to spray at the air
cleaner right before you make your first start attempt. Also, remove and
clean/replace the air cleaner. Also remove the spark plug. You can
clean/gap
it to save money or buy/install a new one. Do the plug last because you'll
want to put a shot of starting fluid in the spark plug hole right before
you
reinstall it and do your start.

Buy a can of fresh gas, fill the tank, set the choke, press the primer
bulb
and she should start.

At the end of the season, do all the maintenance I mentioned above--
except
for the starting fluid of course.



One other thing that I do to mine is add some Sta-Bil (gasoline stabilizer)
to that last tank of gas at the end of summer/fall and then do all the stuff
Kicking Bird said.