Small Engines and Outdoor Power Equipment: A Care & Repair Guide for: Lawn Mowers, Snowblowers & Small Gas-Powered Implements

by Editors of Cool Springs Press

This new book is more than a simple engine repair manual. Designed for the beginner with little or no mechanical experience, Small Engines & Outdoor Power Equipment is a graphically appealing, step-by-step guide that covers all of the most important engine maintenance and repair skills you'll need to keep your equipment running at peak performance. It also shows exactly how to perform mechanical upkeep and repairs on the most common outdoor power implements, including lawn mowers, snow blowers, chain saws, power washers, generators, leaf blowers, rototillers, wood splitters, lawn edgers, and weed whips. With clear 'how-to' photos and detailed diagrams, you'll see exactly what needs to be done. A comprehensive troubleshooting guide helps you define problems and enact solutions. With Small Engines & Outdoor Power Equipment in your library, you won't need to haul the lawn mower off to the repair center and wait a few weeks just because a filter is plugged or the old gas needs to be replaced. Among the many skills you'll learn are seasonal tune-ups, changing oil, servicing spark plugs, cleaning filters, replacing muffler, servicing the fuel tank, overhauling the carburetor, servicing brakes, inspecting flywheels, replacing the fuel pump, and replacing a rewind cord.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

144 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2020

Reviews

[Ramesh Naidu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb resource for anybody who wants to fix the broke down lawn mover. And a wonderful description of the internal combustion engine with lot of pictures

[Brian James Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most people know me as a writer and a book reviewer, but I'm also a mechanic who likes to fix up older vehicles and bring small engines back to life. Since the majority of my purchases don't even come with a user's manual, I have a library of repair manuals that I consult when I get stuck. "Small Engines and Outdoor Power Equipment" edited by Peter Hunn is a pretty decent overview of the small engines used in lawn mowers, snowblowers, chainsaws, weed trimmers. This is all gas engines,with no electric machines included. Positive things are that there's a lot of good detailed pictures, a troubleshooting guide, and even some encouraging vingettes about people who work on small engines. However, organization is kind of all over the place and that can be quite frustrating if you're trying to do something in a hurry.

[Jason Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step by step instructions with very good explanations on how the parts of the engines work.

This book is very informative on the process of repairing small engines. I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning about small engines.

[Samuel Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative if a bit slow at points, especially if you've already been doing a lot of the basic stuff. The advanced repairs section was a bit better for me. Decently written and as engaging as a book on small engine repair can be.

[ピピ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a guidebook to fixing a lawn mower. There ARE other engines covered, but it's for a lawn mower first and foremost.

If you're doing a mower, there's a specific Briggs and Straton one that has it covered with better specific pictures.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Small Engines and Outdoor Power Equipment, Updated 2nd Edition is a reformat and re-release of a care & repair guide for lawn mowers, snowblowers, and other small gas powered tools. This edition, released 28th Sept 2020 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, is 144 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a family with a dad and grandfather who were both engineers. They taught me a fair bit of common sense maintenance (and respect) for tools. This book brought back a lot of fond memories of puttering in the workshop, maintaining the string trimmer, lawn mower, and other gas powered tools we used all the time.

I liked the logical layout of the book. An introductory chapter provides an overview of the parts of different engine systems along with a look at the most common components and configurations. All the information is accompanied by clear isometric drawings and photographs. The basic intro leads directly into a solid chapter on diagnosing and troubleshooting which is obviously vital - having a snowblower which won't blow snow is not ideal. The troubleshooting guide is short, but includes a number of the most common problems the average user will encounter: flywheel won't rotate, engine won't start - or it smokes, ignition and compression problems, and it provides some clues for diagnosing and fixing these problems.

My grandfather always had a proverb for every situation and one of his favorites was "Take care of your tools and they'll take care of you". This manual provides a lot of good basic information about maintenance and safety. The tasks are broken down into tutorial style subchapters covering end-of-season maintenance, replacing spark plugs, checking air cleaners, and more advanced maintenance to keep small gas powered tools working well and safely to prolong their usefulness.

About half the content of the book is used on a good basic engine repair manual which covers both general and advanced repairs (everything from cleaning and removing debris to rebuilding a carburetor and pretty much everything in between).

This is a very useful addition to the homeowner's/smallholder's library as well as a nice selection for public library acquisition. It would also make a good gift. I could also see this being a useful support text in a shop class or other formal classroom setting, maker's group, or similar use.

Five stars. I liked the general applicability of the tutorials. They're not at all brand specific and will be useful for most makes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Sam O'H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this would make a good classroom aid for a beginner shop class. It has great illustrations to show the inner workings of small engines. The definitions are useful. The description of how things work is pretty good.

The book claims to contain enough information and instruction to enable the average homeowner to maintain and repair their own small engine equipment, rather than take the equipment to a repair shop. I don't think the book contains enough information to really accomplish that. This book is very general, and that's okay. But there's a reason that most equipment manufacturers offer a full manual about any given piece of equipment. There are just too many variables.
Which leads me to my biggest complaint... Some of the information in this book is just plain incorrect, and will have the opposite of the promised effect. Rather than fixing the engine yourself, and avoiding a repair shop, you may very well do more damage and make things worse. Thereby adding to your repair shop bill.
For example, the author tells you to tune your carburetor to such that the engine's idle speed is 1,750rpm for aluminum-cylinder engines or 1,200rpm for engines with a cast-iron cylinder sleeve. If only it were that simple! A person needs to refer to the engine manufacturer's specifications to tune the idle speed. Using a 'one size fits all' approach, like the book instructs, can very well lead to running your engine lean or rich. Will could very quickly ruin a small engine. You can go from needing to turn a screw just right, to needing to rebuild the top-end of your motor really easily.

So it's an okay reference guide. For basic information, definitions, and illustrations. But I wouldn't trust it to do any real maintenance.

[T Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a house or a cabin, chances are that you also have several small engines. This book will be very useful for maintaining and repairing these, instead of buying new (as I must admit I have done).
The book has a very good layout, great pictures and fantastic drawings. Of course, not every engine can be covered, but I'm sure you will get help for almost all cases. Another thing is that you'll probably buy equipment of a higher quality, as you know you can keep it for a very long time, along with this book.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for a homeowner who does his or her own snow removal and cuts his or her own grass. You will learn how to keep your equipment from breaking down by keeping your engines in good condition. You will learn how to problem solve common problems in snow blowers and lawn mowers. If you and inclined to do it yourself, I think this book will save you money.

[Sébastien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands-down best beginner book on small motors. We'll organized and illustrated.

[Steven Kaminski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introduction to engines for lawnmowers, snowblowers & small lawn tractors. Gets into the basics about how the engines work & the parts of the engine interact...