The "I'm Obsessive With Lawn Tractors" Thread

[ck80]

Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you have to rub it in.

I’m working on tuning up the wacker - catch ya on the flip side 🙂🙂🙂

PSA: 64nailhead you should be aware this thread is about tractors.... there is so much low hanging fruit in that comment I can't bring myself to target it.... and, also in the same vein, pun not intended to coincide with your fruit hanging lower with age either.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Got them both off my trailer and did a quick look. The Craftsman definitely has gas mixed in the oil, it's way over full. There is a spot near the linkage of a bunch of oil all over the block coming down it, but no hole. It's around the rod it pivots on, probably blew the seal.

Muffler has a bunch of oil in it that came out and it's all over the front dripping down fresh. Guy said his wife started it last week, it smoked a ton and she shut it down, and he didn't want to mess with it.

My thought is someone left the gas on (it does have a manual valve), and it all ran into the oil making the level of fluid in the crank case quite a bit higher than it should have been, and when the engine started it blew what collected in the cylinders all out into the exhaust. Some of it is burnt. I didn't see any metal fragments to suggest a wrecked Piston. Leak on the side of the case is where it pressurized and blew out the seal.

Once I get into it I'll drain the ruined oil, pull the plugs and spin it over by hand to see what's going on. If all checks out well I'll get new oil & filter, plugs, fresh non-E gas, hook a battery up and see if it holds together or scatters. Blades are shiny so it was used recently.

 

[78Delta88]

Hmmm... Big block Chevy is next?

 

[Streetbu]

Float probably just stuck and caused crankcase to fill with gas

 

[78Delta88]

At least Briggs and Stratton is fairly easy rebuild.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Float probably just stuck and caused crankcase to fill with gas

I'm leaning towards this being left open..

 

[Streetbu]

I'm leaning towards this being left open..

View attachment 215265

That just shuts gas off to the carb. If the needle/seat for the float worked, no gas would leak out.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Which I completely agree, these have some electric solenoid that controls the float, and all over the internet it says they fail. Someone put in that shut off valve at some point to bypass that faulty solenoid.

 

[ck80]

Which I completely agree, these have some electric solenoid that controls the float, and all over the internet it says they fail. Someone put in that shut off valve at some point to bypass that faulty solenoid.

This is correct. It's a problem that got scattered all over the lawn tractor world because it started as a MTD issue, except. Mtd had bought up a bunch of brands and them made rebadged units for a bunch of others, end result giving riding mowers a bad and and black eye

 

[CopperNick]

Also possible that the float sank. The brass floats are developing pin holes in the solder that holds the halves together. Old gas had lead in it and the new stuff doesn't so it is more corrosive and "eats' the lead in the solder which weakens the seam so it leaks. The gas penetrates the damaged seam and down goes the float.

If the float is plastic and the halves are glued together then the gas softens the glue over time, allowing gas into the float so it sinks. i had that happen on a carb on my snowblower; gas all over the place and it wouldn't idle and barely started even with the primer being pushed almost continuously. Pulled the carb and dropped the bowl and you could hear the sloshing in the float. New float and reset the idle mixture screw with a couple of further tweaks to it to fine tune the idle once running and no problems that way since. Did buy a spare carb jic the problem was more serious or terminal.



Nick