I own a push mower, a string trimmer and a pressure washer, all petrol, all past warranty. My shed has no bench and I have maybe 150 to spend on tools before this stops being cheaper than the shop. I do not want a career, I want to fix a no start and do a service without watching six hours of video every time. Where does that start and what is worth buying on day one?
I bought a two hundred piece tool kit and no service manual, which is the wrong way round. The manual for your specific engine gives you valve clearances, torque figures and the carburettor exploded view, and without it you are guessing at exactly the numbers that matter. Find the engine model number stamped on the shroud first, then find its manual, then buy tools for the jobs it describes.
Every no start is spark, fuel or compression. Test them in that order and stop guessing. Most of what looks like skill in this trade is just refusing to skip a step.
Politely disagreeing with the usual advice to learn on free curbside mowers. You learn faster on your own machines because you actually care whether they work afterwards, and because you already know their history. Practice machines teach you to take things apart, your own machines teach you to put them back together properly.
Get one anyway. Free mowers on the kerb in spring are everywhere and half of them run again on fresh fuel and a clean carb, which is the most encouraging first lesson you can have.
That is a fair point, although the idea of having a spare mower to butcher is very appealing while I learn.
Two safety habits before any of the tools. Pull the plug lead off before your hands go anywhere near the blade, and drain fuel outside into a proper can, not into a bucket in a shed with a water heater in it. Neither costs anything and one of them is the reason I still have all my fingers.
@attic_server · 4mo ago · 3 replies
Learn one sequence and you have covered most of what a shop does to a small engine: spark, fuel, compression, in that order. Buy an inline spark tester, a can of carb cleaner, a decent nut driver and socket set, a spark plug socket, and a small torque wrench when you can afford one. That is well inside your budget and covers every job you listed.
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@bedtime_bargain · 4mo ago
Buy it when you meet an engine that has spark and fuel and still will not run. Until then it will sit in a drawer. Rope trick and a thumb over the plug hole gets you most of the way for a homeowner.
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@lowell_frame · 4mo ago
Is a compression tester worth it at this level or is that where I should stop?
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