Now that I think about it, it was probably before the pandemic. 🤔
Most mower engines are 2-strokes, they’re designed to burn oil as lubrication basically, it’s added to the gas. You don’t need to change the oil. Unless it’s a 4 stroke engine (unusual due to size/complexity), or you’ve got a transmission or some other motorized mechanical behavior.
I wouldnt say most are two stroke. In fact most mowers available for purchase at your local hardware store are going to be 4 stroke if not all of them. 2 stroke lawnmowers are a thing of the past. Everyone wants 4 stroke and self propelling now.
I never changed the oil in my mower. Never had an issue, except with the power cord getting in the way.
My neighbor had a crazy old Montgomery Ward tiller, I’d guess from the late 60 or early 70s. I borrowed it once and decided to be nice and change the oil in it since I doubted he ever had. Could not for the life of me figure out how to drain the oil without flipping it over… It’s ran for this long on old oil, it’ll run for a bit longer!
I got my lawnmower about 9 years ago secondhand and have never done any maintenance on it. I’m pretty sure that’s how you’re supposed to do it.
Drain the fluids completely for Winter
Genuine question as I haven’t actually thought about this, how does that work when you don’t have a winter? Where I live it doesn’t get below 40° ever, or above 85°. Those are literally the overnight low in Feb, and midday high in Aug/Sep. Do I still need to drain, or just treat it like changing the oil in my car? I.E.: Every 6 months or 3500 miles, whichever comes first.
Like u/possiblylinux127 said, any time you’re not going to use it for more than a month or two, it’s best to drain the fluids. Oil is less important than gas, and you can leave gas in it as well if you add a stabilizer to it.
Personally, I wouldn’t use gas stabilizer for more than one season, but I know many who use it every year with no problem. Just make sure you run the motor with the stabilizer for a few minutes before you store it so the gas in the carburetor doesn’t gum up.
As for oil, I tend to only change it when it looks darker than a piece of burnt toast I’d still be willing to eat. I know that’s vague, but it’s how I do it.
Ideally, you should be using nonoxygenated gas for your mower, in which case stabilizer is unnecessary. The ethanol is what gums up carbs.
