Category: Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Push and Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Repair, Riding Lawn Mower Repair, Zero Turn Lawn Mower Repair

Lawn Mower Repair Shop Near Me

When it comes to finding a dependable and quality lawn mower repair shop, you often have to do some searching to seek one out. Many small engine and lawn mower repair shops have closed their doors permanently as they aged and retired and the big chain stores have hurt the smaller businesses as well.

This is why this website was created. It gives people a place to come and find a local lawn mower repair professional. Finding the right shop for you is important. You might not be able to bring your lawn mower to the shop and you need the shop to come to you. There are mobile lawn mower repair shops as well as brick and mortar stores that are here to assist you.

Each season you should have your lawn mower serviced and if you use your lawn mower more frequently, it should be serviced twice a year. The oil must be changed every 25-50 hours and items such as the blades need sharpened, the spark plugs, oil, fuel and air filters need to be changed as well.

Lawn mowers operate in some very dirty conditions and must be taken care of and maintained well. You can find a lawn mower repair shop near you by visiting our Locations page.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Makes Squealing Sound

When you let out on the clutch or push the go pedal down, you can experience a squealing sound as the drive belts begin to engage. And then it will stop once you disengage the drive system.

This is a pretty good indication that your drive pulleys are going bad. You can verify this by removing the lawn mower deck and locating the pulley and slowly spin them. If you feel any resistance or binding in the bearings, then you know that this pulley is bad and will need replaced.

The pulleys on most mowers today are made of plastic and the bearings are not of the highest quality. Dirt gets into the bearings and then wears them out quickly and they will need to be replaced. Replacing them can be fairly easy to fairly hard as sometimes the bolts go through the chassis and are hard to locate.

Make sure that when you replace the pulleys, you replace all of the plastic ones as a set because sooner or later, each one of them will wear out. And be sure that you have the belt installed correctly when you are finished. Taking a picture with your phone of the belt routing is a good idea to help keep everything aligned properly.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Won’t Crank Over

Won’t crank over is a broad definition. So what does that actually mean? Do it mean that when you turn the key and nothing happens or you turn the key and the starter engages the engine but does not turn it over? Or does it mean that the starter turns the engine over but the engine does not start?

Definitions mean things and communicating the right thing to your small engine repair technician can help eliminate a lot of troubleshooting that could have been avoided.

When we know the exact problem to diagnose, we can get right to that problem and begin to systematically work on the riding lawn mower.

If nothing happens when the key is turned, we will check the battery first to see if it is fully charged. You want to see at least 13.1 Volts DC and then it should be load tested to ensure that it has the correct amount of cranking amps. Amps are the force that moves the electricity through the battery cables to the starter. If you don’t have enough amps, you may just hear a clicking sound coming from the starter.

If the engine cranks over but does not start, then an ignition system diagnosis will be needed and possibly the fuel system. You will need to systematically rule out which one is not working as it should and repair or replaced components in the system.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Brakes Don’t Work

The brakes on a riding lawn mower are almost in two categories. We often use the transmission as a brake to slow us down or allow us to slowly let us down a hill. The go pedal or the handle for our hydrostatic transmission does a lot of work to keep the lawn mower under control.

On the other hand, the brake pedal is to bring us to a stop quickly or to hold the lawn mower and keep it from rolling.

The riding lawn mower brake is often a small disc brake that is mounted on the transmission. When you depress the brake pedal, it pushes a small brake pad against the disc to stop the transmission from rotating.

This type of brake has a few problems if not property maintained. One problem is that they almost never get adjusted as the brake pad is wearing out. So you must push the pedal down further as the brake pad wears out.

Another problem is that grass clippings, mud and twigs can get thrown up in the brake and cause it to stop working.

Lastly, a fluid leak in the transmission can cause the brake pad to get wet and lose its friction ability on the brake disc and not allow the disc to stop rotating.

Check all these items out carefully and make the repairs necessary to resolve your riding lawn mowers brake problem.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Surges at Idle

Is your riding lawn mower not working exactly like it should. Does the engine surge up and down when you start it up and idle warming up the engine? A constant rev up and down of the engine is called surging. It is like the engine gets some gasoline and then it doesn’t and slows down.

That is actually what the engine is doing. A small bit of gasoline comes into the engine and then it doesn’t receive any and then it nearly dies and then another small dose of gas arrives and then the cycle begins over again.

This is called a lean surge when the engine is not getting enough gasoline to air fuel mixture. A lean surge can be caused by the carburetor jets being plugged up or an air leak in the intake tract. Air leaks will cause too much air to enter the intake and reduce the vacuum pulling through the carburetor which in turn reduces the amount of fuel being pulled out of the main jet. Then the surging begins.

An air leak can be in the carburetor itself or in the intake manifold or where the carburetor connects to the engine such as an intake gasket leak. Check all these areas carefully to find any air leak before you go and pull the carburetor apart to clean and inspect it.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

My Lawn Tractor Won’t Start

So you are dealing with a finicky lawn tractor that doesn’t want to start when you turn the key?

That is not uncommon and should not surprise you because it is a machine and every machine will breakdown from time to time. A machine is only as good as the quality of its parts and the maintenance that is performed each year.

Let’s check some easy stuff first.

Is the battery fully charged? Does it have at least 13 volts? Do you have the lawn tractor in neutral? Do you have the clutch pedal fully depressed?

Are you sitting in the seat so the seat switch is engaged?

Those are the most common problems that cause a lawn tractor to not start. The other not so common ones are that the main fuse has blown. You can check it by finding it under the hood or near the transmission area. It is normally close to the battery. If you find the fuse has blown, replace it with a new one and that will probably fix the non starting issue.

Continue to check for power to the starter if it doesn’t and if there is power to the starter, then most likely the starter is bad. Replace it and test the lawn tractor for proper operation.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Won’t Start

It is a frustrating experience when your lawn mower will not start. You are all ready to mow your lawn and turn the key and nothing! And it is not like you have time in your day to just wait around to figure out what is wrong with it and your yard need cut.

Let’s look at some simple things that you may be overlooking.

First, is the clutch pedal pushed all the way in? Is the mower placed in neutral? Those are simple but overlooked items that will prevent your lawn mower from starting.

Another common thing that happens is people leave the key turned to the on position. This eventually drains the battery and when you turn the key to start, you might hear a clicking sound or nothing at all. Check the battery to make sure that it is fully charged. If not, charge it on a trickle charger and try again.

One final item to check is the main fuse. It could be under the dash or under the rear seat above the transmission area. Check the fuse to make sure that it is not blown. If it is, replace it and your lawn mower should start unless there is some other electrical problem in the system.

Lawn Mower Repair Tips, Outdoor Power Equipment Reviews, Push and Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Repair, Riding Lawn Mower Repair, Zero Turn Lawn Mower Repair

My Lawnmower Makes a Big Bang or Backfire While Mowing

You are just mowing along and your engine suddenly backfires and then it starts to continue running like normal. What could be causing this and how do I resolve it?

An engine backfire can be caused by an electrical problem or a mechanical one. In most cases it can be tracked down to an electrical problem, more specifically in the ignition system. If the ignition coil becomes too hot or has an internal breakdown, the spark will become intermittent and the combustion chamber can be ignited at the wrong time and cause a backfire out of the intake or exhaust.

The ignition kill wire could also have been compromised and partially broken because of rodent damage or heat and vibration. So you want to check it and is usually a black or gray wire that is attached to the ignition coil.

There could also be a problem with the ignition switch.

If the ignition system is working normally, then the search begins on the mechanical portion of the engine. A leak down test will need to be performed initially to determine if the intake or the exhaust valve is leaking. If one of them is leaking, the burning gasses will pass through them and cause a backfire while the engine is running and particularly under a load such as cutting the grass.

If you need a lawn mower repair shop near you to fix your mower, visit our Locations page for assistance.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Freewheels Down Hill

It is quite a scary ride when your lawn mower decides it wants to descend down a hill uncontrolled all on its own. But why is it doing this?

Normally your riding lawn mower will go down a hill at the speed you have your gear or hydrostatic transmission set at. If it doesn’t there is a problem in either the transmission or the belt drive that may be the issue.

Transmission problems are something you want looked at by a lawn mower repair shop to determine the exact cause of this problem. Transmission issues can be complex by nature and troubleshooting them is not recommended unless you have experience working on them.

You can of course check to see if your drive belts are loose or if something doesn’t look right with a pulley, spring or belt hanger. These things can also cause your lawn mower to freewheel. Also check your tow bar rod to make sure that it is fully pushed in.

A lawn mower repair shop will perform  a series of tests to determine the exact problem and recommend a corrective action for you. You can find a riding lawn mower repair shop near you on our Locations page.

Riding Lawn Mower Repair

Riding Lawn Mower Won’t Move When I Press the Pedal

Are you all ready to get your yard cut and you press the old go pedal and there is no go in the pedal?

This does happen on occasion and let’s check the easy stuff first. Some mowers have a parking brake, so check to be sure that it is not on. If it is on, disengage it and then try to go pedal once more.

If the parking brake checks out, move to the rear of the lawnmower and make sure that the tow bar rod is pushed in. It is normally at the bottom of the metal plate that is between the rear wheels.

If the tow bar rod is functioning correctly and you still have no go in your go pedal, then take a look under the mower and see if the drive belt has either broken or has come off of the drive pulleys. If it has come off the pulleys, reinstall it and then test the mower to be sure that everything is working correctly.

If the belt is broken, replace it with a new one and an OEM is preferred as aftermarket belts tend to be sized a little differently depending on who makes it.

If you need a riding lawn mower repair shop in your area, visit our Locations page.