Sam Rourke
Sam Rourke is the maintenance & care editor at Mower Mentor. Sam covers the routine, preventive side of mower ownership: oil changes, blade sharpening and balancing, air-filter and spark-plug tune-ups, deck cleaning, fuel care, winterizing and spring start-up, and the by-the-hours maintenance schedules that tie it all together. Sam came to this work through fifteen years of small-engine service, holds Equipment & Engine Training Council (EETC) certification, and has run a Briggs & Stratton and Honda GCV service bench long enough to know which maintenance steps actually matter and which are dealership upsells. Every procedure on the site is one Sam has done on a real machine, photographed step by step, with the torque values and part numbers that the manual buries. Sam's own fleet - a gas walk-behind, a battery mower, and an aging riding mower - is the documented test bed for the maintenance calendar. Sam lives in the US Great Lakes region.
Published work
Articles by Sam Rourke
Maintenance & Seasonal CareCompare mobile vs drop-off shop for a lawn mower tune up near me: real 2026 price ranges from 12 quotes, the 7 questions to ask, and when to just DIY it.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch a lawn mower spark plug repair kit to your fault in 30 seconds. 7 kits tested on 9 engines: M14x1.25 sizing, insert lengths, and the $5 boot fix.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareCompare lawn mower tune up cost by mower type: $70-$150 push, $150-$280 riding, from 9 real 2026 shop quotes. Plus the same parts for about $18 DIY.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareOnce a year, or every 50 hours. How often does a lawn mower need a tune up? Engine-by-engine intervals, the 5-task list, and timed 32-minute results.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareReplace it once a season for reliable starts, but how often to change lawn mower spark plug really depends on your engine: Briggs says 100 hours, Honda 200.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareClean foam at 25 hours, paper at 100-300. How often to change lawn mower air filter depends on filter type, not the calendar. Briggs, Honda, Kawasaki, Kohler.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareFix oil in air filter lawn mower problems in under 30 minutes. Covers all 4 causes ranked, the exact fix for each, burn-off timing, and the right way to tip.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch your plug to the engine, not the mower. Champion-NGK-Autolite cross-reference table, gap specs, best picks for Briggs, Honda, Kohler and Kawasaki.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareCompare lawn mower air filter prices at Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart and 6 more stores. Typical $9-$16 walk-behind, plus who has one on the shelf today.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch your John Deere model to the right LG or AUC tune-up kit: LG266, LG275, LG276, LG265 and AUC13705, with exact contents, prices and fitment traps.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareTune up your Husqvarna in 40-85 minutes: read the model tag, then oil, air filter, plug and blades, plus 2026 costs by body style.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch your Husqvarna model and engine to the right tune-up kit. Decoder table for LC221A, YTH22V46 and Z254, plus what 6 kits actually contained.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch your Husqvarna to its engine, not its model: NGK, Champion and HQT part numbers, the 3 real gap specs, socket sizes and V-twin plug counts.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareFind the exact air filter for your Husqvarna by model: 593260 for LC walk-behinds, 594201 for YTH riders, 17211-ZL8-023 for 7021P. OEM vs aftermarket, tested.