Small Gas Engine Repair

Several reviews describe this book like it's difficult to impossible to understand. I disagree. I am not a mechanic by any means but I have some basic knowledge about combustion engines. The book is detailed but not difficult to understand. You just may not need to know all it says. Still helpful and to the point, and written in plain English. I found the troubleshooting sections to be clear and helpful. This book at least helps me decide when I can fix it myself and when it's best to let a repair shop do it. You don't have to know how valves and splash lubricators work to read this book. Skip that part if you want. It helps to know what a spark plug is, and the fact that a spark plus fuel makes fire, which pushes the piston, which ultimately turns the blade. If you know that much, this book can be helpful. If you don't know what a spark plug is, I would recommend not working on any engine for your own safety. In which case, find a friend to give you a crash course. It will be easier and safer than starting with a book. Just my opinion.

I am just learning how to fix my own small engines so i do have to consult other info to fill in the gaps.The instructions are very detailed and illustrations are very helpful.

As others have posted, this book has a lot of very useful information and I'm finding it very helpful in diagnosing and fixing my small engines on my garden equipment. Also as others have posted, it isn't really ideal for someone who knows absolutely nothing about engines. If you know basics (suck, squeeze, bang, blow), then you will probably follow the explanations just fine. If you can't recognize a spark plug two out of three tries, aren't sure how to tell fuel from oil, and don't own a ratchet, you may find much of it a bit mysterious. For the rest, there is useful experience-based information such as which kinds of test instruments work best and which can fool you into a mis-diagnosis, where you need special tools and where you can make do without them, and other very useful information that only comes from years of experience...or a book by someone with years of experience.

Book was easy to use. I have never done small engine repair but this book has a step by step guide and was easy to navigate. I feel more informed about how small engines work after acquiring this book and using the knowledge I gained from this book. I don't even want to share this book as it's very valuable to me as I cannot afford to lose it.

If you have had previous experiences repairing small engines and simply want to know the differences in design between manufacturers then this is probably a good book for you. On the other hand, if you have little or know experience with small engines then I strongly suggest you pass on this book. Overall, the writing is difficult to understand. Although I don't have experience on the small engine side (which is why I purchased the book) I do have experience on the electrical side and found the electrical system chapter to be very confusing. If I didn't have previous experience with electrical systems I would have been lost reading this chapter. It's a great book if you have small engine experience, but then again if you have this level of experience why would you want the book, except maybe as I indicated at the outset for an overview on manufacturer design issues? I bought the book based on the chapter headings alone which was my mistake.

it was a good educational book .. I found out a lot of things I did know. I had a whole bunch of broken equipment, and it help me to repair all of them very inexpensive. I will recommended this book

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.

This book has a lot of information which can be useful for a do it yourself job. I bought this as a teacher reference because it seems to have a lot of good information.

Being a shadetree small engine mechanic since I was about 10 years old. I like to study small engine two and four cycle service publications. Very clear and informative

thank you

Book has a lot of principle information but not enough actual repair tips. Quite disappointing.