The Blog

Wash foam filters in warm soapy water, dry fully, then re-oil. Never wash paper. Includes a safe-vs-unsafe cleaner table and the light-box replace test.

Soak the threads 30 minutes, then rock it loose with a 6-point socket. The full escalation ladder, plus extractor and Heli-Coil fixes if it snapped.

Crimp a new terminal onto a torn lawn mower spark plug wire for about $4, or replace the coil when the wire is cracked. Decision table, steps, air-gap spec.

Change a lawn mower spark plug in 8 steps: 5/8 or 13/16 socket, gap it to your engine spec (the box's 0.035 is wrong), 3/8 turn past seated.

Match your air cleaner cover to your engine number, not your mower badge. Briggs, Honda, Kohler and Toro part numbers, plus the fix for a cover that falls off.

Match your air filter to the engine number, not the mower brand. Cross-reference table, size chart and 40 filters measured on calipers.

Stop - don't start a mower with gas in the air filter. The carb float is overflowing. Check the oil for fuel, swap the filter, fix the needle and seat.

Tested B'laster's tune-up spray on 6 stored machines against a real oil, filter and plug service. See what the can fixes in 22 minutes, and what it can't.

Tune up any gas mower in 6 steps - fuel, oil, air filter, plug, blade, deck. Push vs riding, DIY vs shop costs, and a printable checklist.

Clean your Husqvarna air filter the right way: tap the paper, wash the foam, and skip the oil on dual-stage. Locator by body style, plus replace-now signs.

Change a Husqvarna spark plug in 15 minutes: find it by body style, gap it to your engine spec, torque it right. V-twin riders, you have two.

No. Dirt scores the cylinder within one dry cut, and 17 test sessions show how fast. Plus why yours runs better with the filter off, and what to do.

Check 7 clogged air filter symptoms, run the 2-minute light test, and get the clean-or-replace call for paper, foam and dual filters.

Match a black, wet or oily lawn mower spark plug to the decoder: dry soot means rich, wet gas means flooded, oil means rings. Cause plus fix.

Check 5 symptoms, read the plug, then run the blue-spark test. Includes gap specs by engine brand, the stale-gas triage and when to clean vs replace.