Where is the Carburetor on a Lawn Mower (Explained)

Properly maintaining a gas-powered lawn mower requires knowing where the carburetor, air filter, and spark plug are located. If you're wondering where is the carburetor on a lawn mower, this location diagram will guide you.

Find the air filter housing, first

Because the carburetor on a lawn mower is typically located behind an air filter, finding the air filter cover/housing is a good first step to finding the carburetor itself.

In this image of a common lawn mower, the carburetor location is shown, but as you can see, the carburetor is partially hidden behind the air filter housing.

To access the carburetor, remove the air filter

To give yourself a better view of the carburetor on a lawn mower, remove the air filter and air filter housing.

In the following Image I've removed the bolt holding the air filter in place so that and you can see the carburetor clearly.

What the Carburetor Looks Like

The carburetor on a push lawn mower typicaly has a purge bulb on one side that looks like a ball. It also has one or more carb linkage springs attached to make it work properly.

As you can see in the following closeup image, the carburetor looks like a tube surrounded by mechanical components.

The carburetor on my mower looks different, why?

There are many brands of lawn mower and each mower brand has many mower models. This means that there are a lot of different carburetors on lawn mowers.

Don't worry, all carburetors do the same thing. They mix air with fuel and deliver it to the engine in the right amounts. That means, regardless of what your carb looks like, it will be located near the fuel tank and have an air filter attached.

Following the steps above will help you locate your carb regardless of what it looks like.

The carburetor used for demonstration in this guide is a common plastic model made by Briggs and Stratton. Another common model is called a pulse-jet carburetor. Both do the same thing.

What can I do with the carburetor?

Once you know where the carburetor is located on your mower, you can perform several mower maintenance tasks and troubleshoot several common mower problems yourself.

For example, as you can see in the image, needing to clean the mower carb is a normal occurence.

While you may not need to remove the carburetor, you can do that too. If it has stale fuel in it, or needs a purge bulb replacement, or needs the gaskets or jets replaced, removing the carburetor from the mower is advised.

Now that you know what your lawn mower carb looks like, and where it is, you can do all of these things yourself and save some money by not needing a mower repair shop to do it for you.