How to Start Your Lawn Mower-For the Beginner: A Step-By-Step Guide

Starting a lawn mower is not as daunting as it seems!

Whether it's brand new from the store, purchased second-hand, or inherited from previous homeowners, all walk-behind lawn mowers generally follow the same procedure for safe starting.

Please remember that this general guide does not replace the information in your machine's user manual, which provides the proper startup and operating procedures to safely and efficiently use your machine!

This guide assumes the machine is mechanically sound and capable of starting. Make sure the machine's oil is filled to the proper level! Follow this guideline to start your machine:

Step 1: Ensure the gas tank is filled with relatively fresh gas, and add some to a cold machine if necessary in a well-ventilated area. The gas tank will have a gas cap with a recognizable and universal gasoline symbol.

Step 2: Determine which type of priming device your unit has. It will either have a primer bulb (which looks like a button and may be transparent so you can see gas drawn into it when pressed) located near the gas tank and carburetor. It should be near some kind of decal indicating its function and possibly how many presses are required to effectively prime the engine.

If your unit has an auto choke function (and thus no primer bulb), all the operator has to do is pull the starter rope (we will get to that part later). The important thing is to determine if you have a primer bulb. If so, you must prime the unit by pressing it the specified number of times before proceeding to the next step.

Primer bulbs look similar to this, simply press to prime

Pro Tip: Avoid excessive priming; 2-3 presses are usually sufficient for a healthy unit. Too many presses may flood your unit. Refer to our No Start Fixer Guide: Maverick Mowers No Start Fixer to remedy this situation.

Step 3: Once your lawn mower is primed and ready to start, look for a safety engagement bar. It must be depressed and held in the depressed position before you attempt to pull the starter rope. This feature acts as an operator safety device to prevent unintended starts in unsafe positions. Never operate a lawn mower with the safety mechanism bypassed.

Step 4: Pull the starter rope while simultaneously holding the safety blade engagement bar. With all these conditions met, a mechanically sound mower should start within three pulls.

Step 5: Continue to hold the safety blade engagement bar down for the duration you want the engine to run and the blade to spin. Releasing the bar should immediately stop the engine. Never operate a lawn mower where the blade engagement bar, when released, fails to stop the engine. It should do so within two seconds of being released.

Pro Tip: After the engine has started, allow it to run for a few seconds and slowly move the choke to the open position, allowing the unit to reach top running RPM.