Donna decided to mow the lawn yesterday evening around dusk, because it was as cool as it was going to be until about 3:00 AM this morning (and the neighbors might not appreciate it happening then), but she never did get it done. Never even started.
Because I never got the lawn mower started. After about 30 pushes of the little red button and 80 pulls on the cord thingie with no luck, I started to think there might be something wrong. The gas tank had plenty of fluid. I knocked a thin layer of dirt of the foam air cleaner filter. I removed the spark plug. AHA! The end of the plug that is stuck inside the engine was covered in an awful lot of black powder, sort of looked like a Wooly Willy face toy. I sprayed it with some brake cleaner and that got rid of the fuzz, but it was still so black that no light could escape it’s surface. I tried to small file I had and managed to turn it light gray, so I tried it in the mower again. After a half dozen pulls, I knew I wasn’t going to get the thing started.
Today, on the way home from work, we stopped in the little hardware store downtown and bought a Champion CJ8 spark plug. The lawn is now several inches shorter.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 279
Last year I went through about 4 spark plugs. I tried cleaning them, filing them, adusting the gap, etc. As a kid, I would have kept it running, but it was just cheaper to buy a new plug.
Finally, after having to stop twice in one cutting, I gave up. I went to the nearby big box store and bought a new mower. Both the old one and the new one were low-end mowers, not a lot of wasted money.
I figure mowers are only made to last 3-4 years now.
That’s kind of the way we are. When the thing refuses to start, I buy a new spark plug. As soon as the plug doesn’t revive it, off we will go to get another mower.