Engine service - am I forgetting anything?


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Old 10-26-15, 12:10 PM
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Engine service - am I forgetting anything?

Along with a previous post I started about repairing my lawn tractors hood/side panels I want to spend some time over the winter giving the engine a bit of an overhaul before spring. While it runs fine 90% of the time, I am fairly sure it needs a new battery (despite the one being fairly new on there) and occasionally backfires, albeit quiet sort of popping more so than a loud bang.

In the past I have never done anything with mowers over the winter other than leave them sitting, but at the same time only ever had little push mowers so never felt the need. However I want to keep this tractor running as long as possible as it does a nice job on the yard. This is what I believe should be enough to give it a good basic tune up, but I want to be sure I am not missing anything:

Replace fuel lines - I noticed one of them had cracked, figure on a 15+ year old mower it's going to make sense to replace them all as it's cheap, should be fairly simple not to mention the safety aspect. I am also thinking of adding a fuel shut off valve to help drain fuel if needed.
Replace spark plugs.
Replace fuel filter.
Replace air filter - if needed, looks fairly clean.
Change oil + oil filter.
Clean / Service carburetors - A new carb is $75 x 2, am hoping to find a service kit, if anyone knows of one for a Tecumseh 640221 I would appreciate it.

I am not sure if I should check/adjust the valves. The engine runs fine other than the small pops it occasionally makes and the difficulty starting. I am not sure though if valve adjustment is going to be outside of my realm of experience. But, if I can find instructions then am confident enough to tackle it.

Anything else I should be doing? anything I have missed? Most of it appears fairly simple and I am hoping to get my oldest son involved in helping with the work.

Thanks.
 
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Old 10-26-15, 01:00 PM
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If you didn't have trouble with the carbs just crank it once a week or so keep non ethenol gas in it and you should be good on the carb part of it !!
 
 

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