Goss’ Garage

                 by Pat Goss

TOY & TOOL WAKEUP

            Although they’re snoozing quietly right now your hibernating warm-weather toys will soon be crying for a wakeup. When spring wakeup time comes you could be facing a ton of aggravation if they weren’t properly prepped for their winter’s nap. When you can no longer deny their call there is a restart procedure. Mowers, trimmers, motorcycles, cars, boats, etc. that were out of service for the winter could all bite ya! So if you don’t like butt bites and wallet munching some pre-startup steps should be followed. 

            Batteries are a huge source of problems after sitting so the battery should be tested and properly charged before putting it back into service. If you used a battery maintainer last fall you should be okay but if not you’ll probably be buying a new battery. But with or without a maintainer step 1 is to check the battery’s water level. Low water level in a sealed battery automatically means replacement because you can’t add water. Non-sealed batteries can be topped off with distilled water and might survive.

            Fact is, unused and uncharged batteries go dead by themselves whether they’re in or out of the vehicle. To make matters worse allowing a discharged battery to sit for weeks or months almost always kills it.

            Freshly tested and charged or newly purchased and charged means its time to start the engine but there’s another procedure to avoid damage. During winterization you should have used fogging oil to prevent internal engine corrosion. Didn’t do it? Too busy, forgot, or didn’t know; means you probably have some corrosion inside the engine. If the engine wasn’t lubricated at lay-up don’t crank it until you pre-lubricate it.

            To pre-lube; remove the spark plugs, squirt a couple tablespoons of rust penetrating oil into each cylinder, and allow it to soak overnight. After soaking use a wrench on the crankshaft bolt and carefully turn the engine. Do not use the starter! Starters can’t feel a thing and have zero ability to ease-off if something binds. But you can feel binding and slack off before a piston ring breaks or a stuck valve bends.

            After several rotations by hand it’s okay to use the starter to get rid of remaining oil in the cylinders but disable the ignition system so nothing catches fire from sparks. Then install the spark plugs, check all fluid levels and start the engine, we hope! We hope, because for an engine to run we need both fuel in the cylinders and high voltage spark at the plugs. Unfortunately either or both frequently go away during layup.

            If you didn’t use fuel stabilizer to preserve any residual fuel last fall it probably morphed into sticky, brown goo. Because gooey gas can’t pass through tiny passages in the fuel system no gas makes it into the cylinders and the engine won’t start! It happens in all engines but especially on small and fuel injected engines due to the tiny amount of gas that remains in some parts. The smaller the amount of gas the faster it evaporates and goes bad.

            If the engine cranks but doesn’t start begin by checking for lack of spark using a cheap spark tester from the auto parts store. This is the easiest test plus most folks don’t use any anti-corrosion products on ignition system parts so lack of spark is common. If there is no spark test the parts in the ignition system.

            If there’s enough spark check for lack of fuel by carefully spraying a small amount of starting fluid (ether) into the engine’s air-inlet. Starting fluid is extremely dangerous so carefully follow all label directions. If the engine starts momentarily using starting fluid check fuel level, fuel condition and test for fuel blockage. Once started change oil and other fluids as needed and enjoy!

            Following proper fall layup procedures and basic spring wakeup steps will keep your tools and your toys fun and humming along for many years.

© Copyright 03/02/10 Pat Goss all rights reserved.

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