If owners of power equipment like lawn mowers, weed eaters and chainsaws took Keith Ford’s advice, he probably wouldn’t have nearly as much work to do at his small engine repair business near Houston.
But he would be OK with that.
“Wear and tear exists and I definitely fix things that are broken,” Ford said. “But sometimes it would be pretty easy for people to avoid a fairly expensive bill.”
A resident of Houston for six years since moving here from northwest Georgia, Ford owns Herndon Sales and Service on Lilly Road east of Houston. He and his wife, Amanda, have a daughter, Stormy, who will graduate this month from Houston High School.
When a small engine becomes clogged with debris (like grass cuttings), it can overheat to the point of becoming severely damaged.
“I’ve seen riding mowers with front ends literally burned up because they were so clogged up couldn’t breathe properly,” Ford said. “Sometimes all it takes to avoid that kind of thing is blowing or wiping stuff off.”
Ford is convinced the vast majority of the problems experienced by machines people bring to him are related to fuel.
“I’d say about 70-percent of what comes through her is fuel issues,” he said. “One thing that happens a lot is that people let things sit for a year or two in their garage or shop or even outside, and the gas evaporates and everything gets gummed up by the varnish and other materials left behind. What you end up with is a substance resembling petroleum jelly.
“And that can do a lot to mess up and engine,” Ford said. “And I have to frequently tell people that manufacturers’ warranties don’t cover fuel-related issues, and if they bring in something with that kind of problem, they get the $75 bill, not Briggs, Kohler, Husqvarna or whoever else.”
Ford said today’s gasoline is part of the problem.
“I think it’s more of a problem that it was 20 years ago,” he said. “Most of the gas and diesel nowadays contain additives and alcohol and that all contributes. I suspect the EPA’s Environmental Protection Act is at least partially to blame.”
Using high-octane gas helps, Ford said, but even then you have to be careful.
“If the person ahead of you pumps 87 octane gas, that’s what you’ll get for about the first two or three gallons because that’s what’s in the lines,” he said. “So I recommend putting the first few gallons in your truck – then you get the 91 octane you want for your small engine.”
Ford offered a solution to the problem of small engines sitting idle all winter and gas leftovers gumming up internal parts.
“Start the engine up once every week or two and let it run for 10 or 15 minutes,” he said. “Just warming an engine up and allowing the fuel to circulate will do a lot of good.”
The second leading problem Ford deals with is damaged riding mower decks.
“That’s due to all of the fine rocky soil around here,” he said. “Once there was a lady who came here and I told her, ‘lawnmower does not equate to bush hog – it’s made to mow grass.’ Also, people want to mow their grass too low, and they become subject to all those rocks that seem to creep up from underground between mowings.
“I think the best height to set a deck at around here is three inches. Then you’ll be likely to be above the danger.”
A retired Army veteran and a freelance writer, Ford pens a monthly column for the Houston Herald called “Veterans Corner.” When he’s not cleaning gunk from a riding mower carburetor or replacing a half-decomposed gas line in a weed eater, Ford likes to turn wood on an old lathe that used be in a school’s shop program or tinker with amateur radio equipment or vintage electronic items.
While in the military, Ford began a reading regimen that started him down the road to being a self-taught repairman.
“My experience was that in the Army – and the military in general – it was always hurry up and wait,” he said. “When you arrived somewhere, you might be there five minutes or five hours. So I started ordering all these home repair courses for a range of things like small engines and electronics, and when I got somewhere and ended up having to sit and wait a long time, I would reach into my cargo pocket and pull out a study guide and read it.
“Later on, I would experiment with my own mowers and equipment.”
Ford said the bottom line in his line of work is much of the business comes from people not knowing (or caring) about proactive and preventative steps they can take.
“I don’t say all this because I don’t want the work,” he said. “It’s just information that helps people avoid unnecessary spending. It’s the little things that prohibits bigger negative things.”
“I don’t say all this because I don’t want the work. It’s just information that helps people avoid unnecessary spending. It’s the little things that prohibits bigger negative things.”
– KEITH FORD