It ran fine in October. It's April now and it pulls over and does nothing.
Nothing broke over the winter. Nothing wore out sitting in a shed. What happened is the gas went off, the passages in the carburetor varnished up behind it, and now the engine can't get what it needs to fire.
Fuel, spark, air. If it's got all three it'll run, and the whole job is finding which one is missing. That takes about ten minutes once somebody's shown you the order to check them in — and most of the time you finish without buying a part at all.
Sound like something in your garage?
- It ran last fall and now there's nothing.
- It fires, runs ten seconds, quits.
- It'll only keep running on full choke.
- The shop quoted more than the machine's worth, you believe them, and you still don't know what to do with it.
- The saw is hard to pull and you're told that's the compression. It usually isn't.
- You've bought parts for it twice and it's no better than it was.
Inside the book
BENCH, SHOP or BIN
Every fault in the book carries one of three verdicts, printed right beside the fix, so you never have to wonder whether it's worth your evening.
- BENCH. Do it yourself tonight, with a socket set, two screwdrivers and a can of carburetor cleaner.
- SHOP. Pay somebody — and here's a rough idea of what's fair to pay, so you can tell a good price from a bad one.
- BIN. Not worth fixing at any price. Here's why, and here's what to look for when you replace it.
There's no mystery in these engines. They've had the same four needs since before I started, and the faults come around in the same order year after year: gas, gas, gas, then the plug, then the air, then — rarely — something that's actually worn out.
The machine ain't broke. It's dirty. Most of this book is showing you which part is dirty, how to get at it, and how to stop it happening again next spring.
What's in it
What's in the 134 pages
- The no-start flowchart on one page. Fuel, spark, air, compression, in order, ending at the fix — printable, so it can live on the wall over the bench.
- The carburetor, step by step, with drawings: what each passage does, how to clean the tiny ones that cause most faults, and when cleaning stops making sense and replacing starts.
- A machine that's sat since last season, got going again without pulling the carburetor off, when that's possible — and how to tell when it isn't.
- Mowers, chainsaws and snowblowers, each with their own chapter: blade sharpening and balancing, chain filing angles, bar and oiler care, shear pins, and the pre-storm check.
- Gas, ethanol, stabilizer and mix ratios in plain rules, plus the storage routine that stops next season's no-start before it starts.
What you get
Here's exactly what lands in your account.
- The Small Engine Fix-It Book — 134-page illustrated PDF, 13 chapters, 7 × 10 in
- The printable pack — the checklists and charts from the back of the book, sized to print
- Straight away — in your account the moment you pay, and emailed to you
- No copy protection — read it on any device, print it, keep it for good
Look inside
Four real pages
Click any page to enlarge it here. Nothing downloads.
The Small Engine Fix-It Book
$29 · PDF · 134 pages · Instant PDF download
The contents
Everything in the book
- Introduction: Before You Pull the Rope
- 1. How a Small Engine Works
- 2. Tools, Supplies and Working Safely
- 3. Won't Start
- 4. Fuel
- 5. The Carburetor
- 6. Ignition
- 7. Air Filters and Oil
- 8. Mowers
- 9. Chainsaws
- 10. Snowblowers
- 11. Trimmers, Blowers and Generators
- 12. Storage
- 13. Buying Used and at Auction
- Appendix: Charts and Checklists (maintenance calendar, troubleshooting table, spark plug reading chart, two-stroke mix chart, printable checklists)
The details
- Format
- Illustrated PDF ebook, full color
- Length
- 134 pages, 13 chapters
- Page size
- 7 × 10 in – reads well on a tablet, computer or phone
- Printing
- Print any page for your own use. Checklists included.
- Copy protection
- None. Download it and keep it.
- Delivery
- Instant. Download straight after you pay.
Who it's for
This is for you if
- You'd rather fix it than replace it
- You have a mower, trimmer, saw, blower, snowblower or generator in the garage
- You buy used machines, or you're thinking about it
- You can hold a screwdriver and read a drawing. That's the whole requirement
It isn't for you if
- You want brand rankings. The book tells you what lasts and why, not who to be loyal to
- You've got a riding mower transmission apart on the floor — that's past this book, and it says so
Who wrote it
I'm Denny Voss. Sedalia, Missouri.
These days I buy dead machines at auction, get them running, and give most of them away. Charlene says that isn't a business and she's right. I wrote this because I spent years telling people the same ten things across a counter, and they're all things you can do yourself with what's already on your shelf.
Go out and smell the gas.
Read it for 60 days. If it's not for you, I'll refund it.
Email support@oldhands.co within 60 days of buying and you get your money back in full. No questions, no forms, and you keep the file.
Before you buy
Questions
Does it cover my brand?
It covers the engines: Briggs, Honda, Kohler, Tecumseh and the rest work the same way, and so do the clones. Where a brand does something its own way, the book says so.
Do I need special tools?
A socket set, screwdrivers, a plug wrench, carburetor cleaner and a spark tester — that's most of it. Chapter 2 is the whole list, and it's shorter than people expect.
I've never taken a carburetor off anything.
Then start at the flowchart. A fair number of no-starts never get as far as the carburetor, and when you do get there, it's drawn out one step at a time.
How do I get it after I pay?
Checkout is handled by Whop, a payments company. The moment you pay, the PDF is in your Whop account to download, and the link is emailed to you as well. You can download it again any time.
Is this a printed book?
No. It's an ebook: a PDF you download straight after paying. You can print any page, or the whole thing, for your own use.
Will it open on my phone?
Yes. It's an ordinary PDF, so it opens on any phone, tablet or computer. A tablet or computer shows the pages best.
What if I don't like it?
Email support@oldhands.co within 60 days and you get a full refund. You don't need to give a reason.
The book
Less than a shop will charge you to look at it.
$29 once, for every machine in the garage, this season and the next ten.
- 134-page illustrated PDF, 13 chapters, 7 × 10 in
- the checklists and charts from the back of the book, sized to print
- in your account the moment you pay, and emailed to you
- read it on any device, print it, keep it for good
Instant PDF download · 60-day money-back guarantee
Fuel, spark, air. Go out and smell the gas.