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When I put my mower away for winter storage back in September 2011, I forgot to put any oil in the cylinder via the spark plug hole, so to avoid it "dry starting" when I fire it up later this year, would you recommend spraying some WD-40 into the cylinder and pulling the cord a few times prior to starting ?

Millions of mowers get started after setting all winter without being winterized first so don't worry about the dry start. Oil from the rings if vertical shaft has seeped into the cylinder anyway. If horizontal there is still oil residue on the rings for short term lube for starting.

If your worried about it, spray it in there now and turn the mower over. or just tilt the mower and turn it over a few times and it should lube the cylinder walls.
How cold is it there now?

RobertBrown said:

If your worried about it, spray it in there now and turn the mower over. or just tilt the mower and turn it over a few times and it should lube the cylinder walls.
How cold is it there now?

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It is around 0*C/32*F most of the time.

That's probably the worst possible scenario, as you have condensation freezing and re thawing. I suppose your proximity to the ocean means a lot of fog and humidity.
Just go out and tilt the mower so the cylinder is sloping down and pull it a few times when it warms (outside temp 45-50)
If I were you I would not worry about it too much.
I watched some of your youtube videos.......:biggrin: didn't see the one of your mower. post a link

Well firstly, it actually doesn't get very humid here, and the mower is in the shed where it is 100% dry.

As for pulling it when it gets to the temperatures you stated, that will be months away!

If you go to my YouTube channel - jmurray01's Channel - YouTube and type "mower" into the search box, you'll find the video.

jmurray01 said:

Well firstly, it actually doesn't get very humid here, and the mower is in the shed where it is 100% dry.

As for pulling it when it gets to the temperatures you stated, that will be months away!

If you go to my YouTube channel - jmurray01's Channel - YouTube and type "mower" into the search box, you'll find the video.

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Currently, the humidity in Edinburgh is 89%.
Where do you live?
Weather Forecast Edinburgh, United Kingdom | Edinburgh Weather | Wunderground

RobertBrown said:

Currently, the humidity in Edinburgh is 89%.
Where do you live?
Weather Forecast Edinburgh, United Kingdom | Edinburgh Weather | Wunderground

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It is 87% humid here now, yes, but the mower is in the shed, which has no leaks, so I presumed the humidity would be less in there ?

Unless your shed is hermatically sealed and/or has a heating system, it will probably have the same temperature and humidity as the outdoors. An unheated shed just stops the wind and rain/snow. My attached garage is perculiar in that I have oil fired back-up to my heat pump, with the furnace in the garage. The garage will gradually get colder, approximating the outdoors until it gets down to 38 degrees F/3.5 degrees C (outdoors at the heat pump thermostat), then the oil burner lights off and the radiant heat from the furnace actually raises the garage temerature to about 50-55 degrees F/10-13 degrees C

jmurray01 said:

It is 87% humid here now, yes, but the mower is in the shed, which has no leaks, so I presumed the humidity would be less in there ?

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only if the temperature is lower in the shed. Cool air hold less moisture than warm air. But it's not enough to matter., and should the relative humidity drop outside the shed, will trap moisture inside.
But anyway, you don't have any extreme weather, cycle the mower and you will add oil to the cylinder walls preventing corrosion to the surfaces there. If you want to spray something in there, I would look to something other than wd40 as it evaporates and I suspect it's somewhat of a solvent for the oil in the crankcase and consequently the cylinder walls.
Is there a way to search your page without searching the youtube site. I'm not a susbcriber and don't plan on registering.

When you search jmurray01 you windup watching someone with a mask and accent saying something i can't understand....not very entertaining.

RobertBrown said:

only if the temperature is lower in the shed. Cool air hold less moisture than warm air. But it's not enough to matter., and should the relative humidity drop outside the shed, will trap moisture inside.
But anyway, you don't have any extreme weather, cycle the mower and you will add oil to the cylinder walls preventing corrosion to the surfaces there. If you want to spray something in there, I would look to something other than wd40 as it evaporates and I suspect it's somewhat of a solvent for the oil in the crankcase and consequently the cylinder walls.
Is there a way to search your page without searching the youtube site. I'm not a susbcriber and don't plan on registering.

When you search jmurray01 you windup watching someone with a mask and accent saying something i can't understand....not very entertaining.

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Oh that b******, he was a hater a while back and made that video as a spoof of mine.

Here is a direct link to the mower video - Walk Around Of My Mountfield Lawn Mower - YouTube

Watched your video. Nice clean mower. Did anyone every tell you that you have an accent:laughing: