Customer Reviews

Small Gas Engine Repair

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent book all the way through. Great diagrams and explanations on how to repair most small engines. Well written and very useful to the DIY repairman.

However,

If you're looking for a book that shows you how to change a spark plug, this is not the book for you. There are much better books out there for beginners and light tinkerers.

This book assumes that not only are you mechanically proficient and have the tools to repair it yourself but also posess a basic understanding of how small engine mechanisms work already or can figure it out without too much effort.

Not to say the average homeowner won't find it useful, but the author doesn't go in-depth or hold your hand through what should be moderately simple procedures for someone with basic experience in mechanical repair.

That's what makes this either a good book or a bad book. If you know or can stumble your way around engines, this is a great book that gives you the information you need to properly repair many different models and makes.

If you're someone whose lawnmower broke down last weekend and you thought it might be fun to fix it yourself but you don't have a lot of tools or experience on repairing engines then there are probably some better books out there.

I like this book simply because the author doesn't waste any time (or paper) explaining things that you should already know. Think of it like Small Engine Repair 201 instead of Small Engine Repair 101.

I'll probably hang onto this book for as long as I have small gas engines I may need to repair since it makes such a great reference book.

--James

This is, for me, was and is an extremely difficult book to review and to judge. When you read this review please keep in mind that it is being written by a person who has absolutely no mechanical aptitude, cannot tell the difference between a sparkplug and a fuel pump (okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one), and has never "fix" or worked on a gasoline engine in his life. Well I currently have a yard tractor, three regular mowers, a large garden tiller, three weed eaters, a leaf blower, a smaller tiller and a chain saw. I can start them and I can use them. My problem comes in when they refuse to start or refuse to do the job I paid them to do. In addition to the list here, I have a barn brimming with mowers and such that have all given up the ghost. I spend a fortune each year keeping this machinery going.

My wife decided that I needed another hobby and stongly suggested I learn to fix things that are driven by gasoline engines. So with her encouragement, my quest has begun. I have made some progress, I will admit to that, but I can still be classified as clueless. I will also state right here that I have not yet given up!

Enter this book. I admit right here that I checked it out of the library and did not buy it and thank goodness I did not! Remember, I am a mechanical idiot. To be quite frank this book was way, way over my head right from page one. Chapter one is entitled "Basics." The first few sentences under the first subject "Four-cycle engines," reads "Figure 1-1 illustrates the internal components that make up a four-cycle engine. The example shown has a horizontal crankshaft, side valves, and splash lubrication."

Folks, even with a picture I have no clue as to what a four-cycle engine is, or what a crankshaft is, or what a side valve is, and I have absolutely no idea what a splash lubrication is! I am not even sure if this is a part or if it is a method or a function of some other part. See where I am going with this? Well let me tell you, it gets worse. Within a few pages we get in to displacement, Power, Torque and RPM. And it gets even worse, page after page. Choke, Choke Butterfly, Choke Link Clips, Pulsa-Jet malfunctions, Kill Switch, Condenser, Needle Valve, Welch Plugs...For someone like me, this is like trying to read the tech manual for the Star Ship Enterprise written in the Vulcan language.

Now you would think that at this point I would slap a one star review on this book, post it and stomp off in a complete huff. Well I cannot do that. I actually took this book to three other individuals. The first was my neighbor who helps me from time to time keep my motors running. He is no "Pro" just a good old boy who works under a shade tree. I showed him the book and he was as impressed as heck and decided right on the spot to buy one. I then took it to two different highly skilled professional...hey they have made a fortune from me over the years fixing my stuff, and I showed them the book. Both thought it was absolutely delightful. The understood ever word they read and one even stated that it was the best book on the subject he had ever seen. Now both of these professionals did point out to me that they felt it was way and by far over my head and that I should probably stick to their services for a bit longer.

This work covers the basics, troubleshooting, ignition systems, fuel systems, rewind starters, electrical systems and engine mechanical issues. I did not understand one word of what the book was trying to tell me.

Now I did bother to read a great deal of this book and read it with chunks of mowers in front of me and I did seek the advice and judgments of people I know for a fact know what they are doing. I have come to the conclusion that if you have some mechanical ability, have some previous basic knowledge of the subject and are comfortable in this area of mechanics, then you will probably find this book to be extremely useful. The author (I researched this too) is quite competent and a master mechanic. On the other hand, if you are a complete neophyte, and do not know a hammer from a screwdriver, then you probably should look elsewhere and slowly work your way up to this book. I cannot in good faith recommend it to the rank beginner with no mechanical aptitude or skill.

I am going to give this book a benefit of a doubt and give it five stars because I truly feel it is a good book; just not the book that meets my needs at this stage of the game. Bottom line is that I simply cannot bad mouth what is obviously a good book simply because I am a mechanical klutz. I plan to find something more basic and keep on supporting my local economy. Hey, the guys at the repair shop need to feed their families too.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This book is very in-depth. From beginning to end it describes types of engines, troubleshooting,and individual engine components or systems. The book is certainly not a book for someone that does not already have a working knowledge of engines. The tech information and drawings are very confusing. There is little doubt that Mr. Dempsey knows all about engine repair. It is not a book for the average person that wants to learn to repair a lawn mower. If the author's intention was to provide a teaching text--in my opinion, he missed the mark.

This is the best book for troubleshooting that I have seen. There are nice flow charts that really help you to decide where to look. The text is well written and the drawings are clear. You don't even have to read between the lines to understand that an experienced mechanic has written this one. It doesn't just say "remove the flywheel", it tells you how to remove the flywheel. Recommended.

A couple of months ago I spent over $50 having my Homelite blower serviced. Since I'm fairly mechanical I decided to find a book that fully explained small gas engines as they were a mystery to me even though I've rebuilt auto engines and carbs. This book looked like the most complete I could find on Amazon so I decided to try it.

It cleared up all the mystery and was well worth the price. I had 2 string trimmers/edgers not running at all and my 10 yr old lawnmower was running poorly to say the least. With this reference and the cost of a few carb rebuild kits I found on EBAY for $5 ea (with free shipping) a few new spark plugs and a can of carb cleaner I was able to get each of these pieces of equipment running at least as good as new. Next I'll do my Stihl chain saw since its 30 yrs old and has never been serviced!

Aside from the cost of this book I spent appx $30 dollars in parts and probably saved myself at least $100-150 this season. I'll never have to have another small engine professionally serviced again and I can even help some of my friends as I live in Florida and it seems all we do around here is yard work.

I highly recommend the book and would say anyone with a few very basic tools (screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches and a work bench) will probably never have to worry if the mower, chainsaw, weed whacker, etc will start and run consistently ever again.

I purchased this book based on Amazon review samples and it looked like I would get a bounty of useful information. I wasn't at all disappointed by the expert writing, the author is entertaining as well as informative. But the quality of some of the illustrations is very poor. It shows diagrams that have been badly reproduced and details are filling in, some are too small to be useful and many others are way too technical parts break-downs that only a draftsman could appreciate and of no interest to a homeowner trying to repair his lawnmower engine. I am keeping the book because it does have much useful instruction for the backyard repair enthusiast. But considering the lackluster job the with publisher did with the illustrations, the book is limited in value. I sense that the author would agree.

Although I am far from expert in small gas engine repair, I just can't understand all the positive buzz about this book. It is far from a reference work, being barely 200 pages of text, in small format. Frankly, other than some basic pointers on piston, crank, and valve replacement -- which are generic to any gasoline, diesel, or natural-gas powered engine -- there is little to recommend it as a useful guide to single-cylinder gasoline engine REPAIR.

It is particularly lacking in its presentation of any useful insights into diagnosing the many (at times) inter-related problems involving spark, carburetion, aspiration, and timing which can lead the less-experienced into fruitless tear-downs without resulting in a repair. Without a useful diagnosis section elucidating the specific impairments due to faults in the aforementioned four sub-systems, nor any specific tests to separate their effects, mere dis-assembly and re-assembly technique alone are little more than shop tips, certainly not deserving of the title "Small Engine REPAIR". Perhaps a more descriptive title might be, "Useful Tips in Dis- & Re-assembly of a Small Gas Engines".

In summary, the author shares some of his experience gained in the mechanical aspects of engine tear-down and reassembly, but either does not share -- or does not himself know -- how to efficiently diagnose their ills in order to prescribe a proper cure.

Being dissatisfied with books on small engines that I had access to I checked out the Amazon reviews and found two that had particularly good ratings--this one and Jay Webster's Repairing Your Outdoor Power Equipment. I wasn't dissapointed in either book. It seemed to me that Dempsey's book emphasized trouble shooting/diagnosis a little more and seemed to be more of a "from the trenches" kind of appoach to small engine repair. My advice -- get both books -- they complement one another.

When you get the Dempsy book, read the Preface. It is not your usual small engine repair person that quotes from Voltaire's Candide to make a case for keeping your small engines out of the landfill in in good working condition so you can use them to garden.

If you like just reading about small engines generally, this is your book. If you actually want to fix a specific engine that you have, you should look for more specific information elsewhere.

Good information in this repair manuel,you can simply learn to adjust a carb. or learn how to completely rebuild the engine.