OT Small Engine Repair Shops

John B.

Well-known Member
This year I had a friend give me a push mower, rear bagger mulcher. He took it in because it was hard to pull the rope. The repair shop pulled the head off and told him the cylinder was scarred. He gave it to me and the cylinder looked good. I cleaned out the grass under the deck and it ran fine.

Last weekend I bought a woods zero turn with an 18hp Kohler engine. The man I bought it from said it was running on one cylinder so he took it to a repair shop. They told him the engine was totaled. I got it running now to diagnose it. It only has a leaking intake valve.

It's a shame what these shops are doing to customers. I believe they are just trying to sell a new mower and make money on a used one they take in on trade after they tell the previous owner it's junk.
 
Need a mechanic to make repairs, these people are certainly not even qualified parts replacers LOL !
 
This is exactly why I recommend Gordies in Gregory, MI Gordie is honest to a fault, often tells you how to fix something so you do not have to bring it in and pay the big bucks. He sells Dolmar chainsaws, Simplicity mowers and stocks a lot of parts. Gordie is a real treasure!
 
I agree with you that a lot of the time they give you a bogus diagnosis. To be fair though in some of the cases they may be concerned that the customer with refuse to pay the repair bill and tell them to keep the machine that they now have too much time and money invested in. It is part of the problem of a throw away society. Why pay to have something fixed for $100 when you can buy new for $150. I do not know who created the problem but there is defintely a problem with the simple/small repair situations in general.
 
I've quit even trying to get small engines repaired. I took a weed whip in for a no-start problem and got it back a few days later in a cardboard, totally disassembled. The "mechanic" said it had too much ring end gap and had no compression, which I knew couldn't be true. I reassembled it myself and eventually got it running -- with the original rings and good compression. Disgusting service.
 
I do small engine work part time.The problems I have found with the system.

Just parts and labor. Can sometimes cost more then the item being repaired.

You can spend hours looking for out of stock parts.

Some items can be impossible to find.

You can get stuck with a bill and the item you were working on

Having to listen to crying customers.Not my fault there is grass growing out of the air filter. Or you have never changed the oil.

To open a shop full time. Will put a very large dent in your wallet.With insurance,shop and inventory cost. So you have to work on items that will bring in money.
 
Yes there are some bad parts changers out there.Had a lady bring me an Efco weed eater. Was told it was shot. Put in some gas adjusted the carb and cranked it up.
 
Very few buyers today know anything about engines and mechanics, so they are easy targets. I often wonder why people don't educate themselves more -- maybe it hurts their head to learn thngs so they can protect themselves?
 
I went through the same when I was in the boat and outboard motor repair business.

People who wouldn't think of driving a five year old car would bring in a 30 year old, off brand, outboard motor and expect you to have it running like new in an hour. And then you were the bad guy when you tactfully told them you would both be money ahead if you didn't even try.
 
No doubt a lot of shops give you a bum steer. On the other hand, with labor rates near 100 how can you expect a mechanic at a dealership to work on your small engine that is only worth a couple 100. That mechanic has to account for all the minutes he spends on your machine on his time card even if it is just talking to you about what he thinks it might need. It's called percent of labor that is billable. I worked in one of those shops for new owners but left after four years because the stress to put out billable hours was too much. Now being retired and doing work on my own time and pace I charge what I feel is fair. Some times it doesn't even pay the gas bill running around looking for parts. But I think it is fair.
 
The thing around here. Is someone driving a 60 thousand dollar truck. Dragging a 10 thousand dollar trailer. Complaining about a 100.00 dollar repair bill on their 5 thousand dollar mower.
 
Any good repair shop should be able to be up front and honest with a potential customer and say, we will call you in 2 days with an estimate and if it costs more to fix it than what it is worth they should say so.

I had a guy at a hardware store 2 years ago that tried to fix an old crapsman leaf blower that I had, 20 years old too. He could not fix it for under $40 so....I bought a new husxy blower that his employer sold. $ 180 I think. This guy put less than an hour into my old crapsman. He made an effort and that is what most folks expect.
 
I sm semi-retired and work on the expensive larger equipment. So, no matter what I charge the farmers know it is cheaper than a dealer.
Do not try to do small engines, but they come in.
They usually come in after a dealer mechanic has said they aren't worth fixing. Sometimes it is as simple as a stuck shutoff cable. Or, one guy
brought in one of the new Briggs engines off a Cub Cadet Z-turn. Did not see any oil in it. He said he bought it new and had it three years. And, he saw no reason to check the oil in new engines(it had broke 2 rods and the crankcase).
This kind of stuff probably would not have happened 40 years ago. A lot of people today do not have a clue how to change a flat tire on their car(wife might know how). Zero mechanical skill, do not want to get dirty or think. The sad thing is today we have something called the internet and u-tube.
If I had to fix just snall engines, I would sit in the house and go down and get on feed bag that people call Social Services. We used to call it welfare and it was for people that really neeeded. Boy, small engines make a guy do z rant instead of a post.
 
I know two different people who took running ZTRs in for tune ups only to be told their engines were worn out and replacement would cost so much that they'd be better off with a new machine. Now a couple of years later both machines are still running and mowing.
 
I hear guys talking about how much it going to cost them to get a belt put on their mower, blades sharpened, and delivery fee.

I want to ask them, What's wrong with you? Why don't you fix it yourself? But I don't.

I grew up on a dairy farm. We things needed fixed we fixed it, we didn't call someone. One exception, the new ford 6000 that spent more time in the repair shop than in the field. After 2 years Ford gave up and gave us a new 6000 that was blue instead of red.

My 20 hp kohler has hydraulic lifters. Does your 18 hp kohler hyd or solid lifters?

The only time I had an intake valve leak was on a briggs with solid lifters and someone had the governor running to fast causing valve seat recession.
 
I have been on both sides of the small engine repair business.

1) IF your just doing small engine repair you would be hard pressed to make a living at it. In rural areas there just is not enough of it to keep busy on work that will make you money. In larger towns most people just replace it rather than repair it.

2) If your a customer you really do not want to have 60-70% of what a new unit would cost in a used one that may need more work in not that long of a time.

An example of the issue is one I just went through. I have an older Stihl string trimmer. It has gotten hard to start. The compression is at the low end of where it should be. The carburetor need a kit at the least or really replaced as the shaft holes are worn. So to really fix it you would need rings, piston, gaskets and a new carb. The parts alone are within $20 of what a new one costs.

So I think many repair guys make an educated "guess" at what is wrong with small engines. They take very little time to seriously diagnose the problem as they usually will not get paid for the time it takes if the repair is too high.

Some shops are telling customers up front that there will be a charge of $50 to even look at any small engine. That makes it kind of tough on a $75 hand mower.
 
How old were the mowers? If they are over five or ten years old they probably don't have much life or value left. They will also require more frequent repairs and maintenance in the future.

I still enjoy puttering around on things like that. I will often spend $20 for parts and 2 or 3 hours learning how to keep an old machine running when it could be replaced with a new one for only $200. If I had to pay someone else for the labor it would be half the price of a new machine, so I would not hesitate to just replace them.

In the mid 1970's a classmate went went to trade school for small engine repair. He was honest and was a very good mechanic, but within a year he saw there was no money in it even back then. He got a dealership license and did better.
 
I work for a lawn equipment dealer. I am a Service Technician.

Yes, sometimes we do mis-diagnose a problem. BUT usually we try to get a good idea of what the problem is within a 1/2 hour.

Some people apparently bring us the cheapo box store stuff-trimmers, push mowers just so we can tell them it will more than 1/2 the cost of another one to fix. Then we usually have a non-running trimmer and time on the books.

Some people think we are supposed to be omnicient or something. If we service a mower, they think we should pick up/repair it for free 3 months later if they break a belt, or a bearing goes out, apparently just be cause we had our hands on it at one time.

I have worked full time in this field for 6 years, mainly because jobs were scarce around this area here in NC and I have only worked full time through one Fall and Winter (2008-2009) and that was just because the dealership was bought out and we moved everything in January.
It sounds like lots of other dealers around here get rid of all but one mechanic-(Who can work on chainsaws because there's not enough snow around here to need snow removal equipment in the winters)- in the Fall and hire a whole new crop to train every spring.

Nobody thinks a Small engine tech. needs to make just as good a living as the technician that fixes their car. After all its JUST a lawnmower.

OK, I'm done ranting now.
 
I found it interesting reading all the posts. Just makes me angry that these customers are being lied to.
 
Good Evening J B

I started working on Small Engines in about 1975 . I have worked in Good Shops & have worked in Bad ones . When I retired from the Service in 1978 I wanted to open my own shop but the Wife said NO , She said that if someone came in a gave a Sad story that I would just tell them to take the Item .She said she wasn t going to Support the free loaders .
Out here in AZ, a lot of the Shops charge $65.00 & up an Hr.
I still work on them if someone wants me too , but I always check it over & call with an estimate . I don t change anything that it doesn t need . Save all the old parts for the Customer , Charge about a third of what the Shops charge . I always tell them that I am not trying to get rich but the work I enjoy & relaxes me .
I don t work on anything big as I don t have the room .
Everyone that I have repaired for people are Pleased with my work & send others to me .
Must be doing Something right .
John In AZ.
[email protected]
I have several commercial people ask me what they could to keep their machines out working instead of the Shop , I told them to get an air compressor & keep the trash blown off . they just didn t get it.
Untitled URL Link
 
It is true that many customers will get upset when you tell them their machine is not economically worth repair, on the other hand, a lot of dealer/repair shops do rip off their customers. I was in one of the largest dealers in our town a few years ago and their "shop" was in a dimly lit basement with a couple of boys who looked like high school drop-outs doing the work. My neighbor carried his riding mower to them and they removed the counter balance mechanism from the engine and told him it would run better. It blew all to heck in no time, but he did not go back and raise heck with them. That's how a lot of shops get by with stuff.
 
ok, i've read all the post and calmed down a bit. here's my rant.
years ago i bought a generator for about $ 1,100. from lowe's this was before i got solar. i had batteries and an inverter, i would run the generator for a couple of hours to charge the batteries for over night, then switch over to inverter and go to sleep. well, mom came out to visit and she got up in the middle of the night and turned on the generator while the inverter was on and blew them both up. my fault, should have not wired it that way. the generators under warranty, so i take it to the only certified shop for miles from me and they tell me that the stator is fried and the warranty won't cover it. they offered to toss it for me for a price and i told them, no thanks, i'll look at an almost brand new $ 1,100. yard art before i pay to get rid of it. i got solar soon after, so it sat for 7 years. i was talking to my neighbor and he says to check the brushes, wire connections, fusses, etc... it might be something simple. turns out, there is a little mother board on the bottom of the generator that cost $ 45. replaced it and now it works just fine. hmmm, wonder why they get a bad name. worst part of it is if i need a replacement part for something, sometimes, even when i go online, i end up having to go there, gritting my teeth and support them. i always put some 8 penny sinkers in my mouth first to chew on while im in there. rant over.
 
well said trk!

Especially the part about the repair tech owning all future problems.

I see SOOO many people do that. They'll bring something in for repair - and if something else breaks, the first reaction is "they just FIXED this thing, those incompetent... "

Once a tech touches something - EVERY problem for the next year is his fault.

To a lot of people, "we went through it and it all looks good" seems to sound like "everything in this machine is absolutely perfect and I personally guarantee nothing will fail"

That kind of thing can get real expensive for even the best repair shops.
 
Thank God for the internet where I can download parts diagrams, watch youtube videos, and order parts and do it all myself.

I've always done it myself but I've never been very good at diagnosis. The net has saved me a lot of wasted time, money, and grief.

I have no problem with a shop charging what they do for service, provided it's a qualified person doing the work. When it's not is where the trouble is.
 
I do small engine work on the side. I'm not a "technician" of any sort. I'm a mechanic. Seems to me that when the title "mechanic" morphed into "technician", that was when things went down hill. No offense to the good technicians out there, they are few and far between and worth every penny. But I've seen too many people with a lab coat and a framed degree from Belsaw that couldn't change a spark plug, much less figure out whats wrong with a machine.

I miss the days of quality made machines with engines that had a life expectancy measured in years, not hours, with HP ratings that meant something and with real bearings and machined surfaces. I'm a dinosaur.
 
If you had originally purchased the generator from the dealer, you could have expected better service. It's really not fair to expect a dealer to bend over backwards to repair something he didn't sell, especially a discount brand from a big box store that undercuts his sales.

The big box stores are not in the repair business, only sales, no service. When I get something from them I also accept that I will have to repair it myself, because I know that no one else will want to work on it.
 
Then again, how many times have they done the troubleshooting and the customer tells them to fix it, but when the bill comes due, it's too much and the customer refuses to pay and says he'll just buy a new mower?

We've become a throw-away society. Everybody wants the latest and greatest with all the bells and whistles. But if it gets a little scratch in the paint, it's often cheaper to replace it than fix it.
 
Boy do I agree on the tech stuff. If you want to be a tech, fine with me, but I started out being a mechanic when I turned 19 in 1955 at engine rebuild school in the Army and I still am a mechanic. To me a tech is someone who draws your blood at the hosp or works on your television set. Last ten or so years I worked it was always tech. I just said, I'm a mechanic.
 
Everyone is a "Technician" in todays world.
I had a job delivering gas and diesel for a major truck stop chain.
My job classification was.....
"Delivery Technician"

Heck if you ask me steering wheel holder did just fine because the pay was the same no matter what you called it.
 
Does our military still rebuild their own engines today or do they switch them out and send the old engine to a vendor or a subcontractor to be rebuilt? I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm just asking how the military does it today.
 
(quoted from post at 20:43:10 07/20/14) Does our military still rebuild their own engines today or do they switch them out and send the old engine to a vendor or a subcontractor to be rebuilt? I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm just asking how the military does it today.

25 years ago they did both. Don't know what they do now.
 

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