Hey everybody, Don here—the Small Engine Doctor. In this video I show you, step by step, how to replace and install a recoil starter spring so you can stop fighting with it. If your pull cord won’t retract, or you replaced the rope and it never gets tight again, odds are the spring is broken or the loop is bent out of shape. I walk you through pulling the recoil off the engine (this one’s from a snowblower, but the same principle applies to pretty much any small engine recoil), removing the center bolt, keeping track of the parts, and doing it safely—because these springs can fly out and they’re sharp. I cover three practical ways to get the new spring back in. First is the “easy” way when the spring stays rolled up—line up the inner and outer hooks and press it in while keeping your fingers on the pawls so you don’t lose the tiny springs. Then I show the worst-case scenario where the spring is fully unwound, and how to either wind it in your hands and drop it in with needle-nose pliers, or feed it into the housing and wind it in place. I also show how to reinstall the pawls if they fall out, how many turns to preload the spring (usually 4), and how to fix it if the rope sticks out by adding one more turn. Finish it off with a bit of lube to prevent rust and make it recoil smoother.