Mice and your engine!

[Rocketman]

Last year I was over at a friends house and he started his CC zero turn mower for the first time, and small fibers of grass and a bad stench started blowing out around the engine cowling. With this stuff blowing everywhere he said, wow, my motor must be blowing out all of the old grass from last year.
I told him that he should clean out the mouse nest before he even thinks about using his mower to cut grass, and he looked at me like I was crazy! I went on to explain that his engine would probably over heat once the weather gets hot, and if he wants to spend $900 on a new engine, just go ahead and run it and see what happens.
He really doesn't know how to work on many things, so feeling sorry for him, I went to the truck and got my tools. After removing the cowling the entire area between the cylinders was filled with mouse nest, and it stunk to hi heaven.
I explained that the air from the fly wheel has to be able to move down through the engine and around the cylinders in order to keep the engine at normal operating temps, and he then understood what I was talking about. The 12volt hot wire to the coil had also been chewed on and was close to shorting out.
Moral of the story, if you live in the country, it is wise to remove the cowling every spring before you fire the old girl up!

 

[reynoldston]

This is something I find happens often , mouse damage.

 

[Rocketman]

This is something I find happens often , mouse damage.

Yeah it is amazing that most people never think to remove the cowling and clean out the air passages beneath it. Even if mice don't build a nest, they eventually get pretty clogged up in most cases after a few years of mowing. That and not changing oil is probably the 2 biggest causes of death in lawn mower engines!