Blew Up My Dad's MTD Lawn Tractor

[AdmiralYoda]

Around 2000-ish. I was a teenager and one of my chores was to mow my parents lawn. All 3 acres of it with my dad's MTD lawn tractor. Nothing special, it was a Home Depot unit he got in the early 90's. Probably an 18hp engine and a 42" deck.

If the grass was thick and the motor got a load on it like in wet or tall grass it would load down a bit and begin to blow smoke like a locomotive! Billowing, 1800's industrial revolution type of smoke. I usually did this afterschool before he got home from work so he was never around to see it.

Naturally he didn't believe me. It had begun to get worse and worse and I was adding about a 1/2 quart of oil per two mows. I think it held 1 quart.

He being a mechanic and owning a repair shop I spent most of my youth working in the shop, cleaning up and working on some cars. I knew my way around engines and knew the rings on this mower were toast. I just had to convince my dad.

So as a resourceful teenager I started topping the oil off with power steering fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid, gear oil....whatever "oil" I could find lying around that wasn't motor oil. Let's just say it started to smoke even more at this point, and once it started it was a spectacle.

I finally one Saturday told my dad he needed to take it for a spin. So he did a few laps up and down the driveway....nothing. I then asked him to make a pass around the yard. When that thing started smoking it looked like all the clouds on earth were condensed into our backyard.

He drove it back, shut it off and said....this thing is toast, lets go to Home Depot and buy a new one!

I told him about this years later and he just shook his head. Thought I'd share!

 

[nwjones18]

I mowed 2.5 acres for YEARS on a 14hp 42in Murray.. It finally got to where it used a good bit of oil as well, but the rear axle is what killed it.

 

[Rand]

I have been fortunate to have resources to help me with repairs on older deeres.
I can do all the maintenance and some of the repairs, but sometimes... you just need an expert who has repaired them a few dozen times.
and has a welder and a machine shop

 

[PontiacHO]

Although everyone has their own opinions but those Briggs engines of that era were bad to blow head gaskets. Just enough to actually pull oil from the crankcase into the cylinder. Smoked like a freight train. I’m surprised he didn’t fix that.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

Although everyone has their own opinions but those Briggs engines of that era were bad to blow head gaskets. Just enough to actually pull oil from the crankcase into the cylinder. Smoked like a freight train. I’m surprised he didn’t fix that.

We probably could have. But the mower was undersized/underpowered to begin with for the size lawn and a bunch of other things had been going wrong at that point. We had already replaced the electric PTO twice, the deck spindles were starting to go again, and the Hydrostatic rear end was whining. It was pushing 10 years old and it was time. It was only a cheapy Home Depot lawn tractor, nothing fancy.

He went to a JD L130 with a 52" deck after that.

 

[fantastic]

I mowed 2.5 acres for YEARS on a 14hp 42in Murray.. It finally got to where it used a good bit of oil as well, but the rear axle is what killed it.

Geared trans? Leak the fluid out & died?

 

[nwjones18]

Geared trans? Leak the fluid out & died?

Yeah it was a geared trans. I think one of the outer axle bearings failed and we just continued to drive it until the axle essentially broke. Its untelling how many hours that thing had on it.. It was bagging leaves in the winter so it was running all year.

 

[fantastic]

Yeah it was a geared trans. I think one of the outer axle bearings failed and we just continued to drive it until the axle essentially broke. Its untelling how many hours that thing had on it.. It was bagging leaves in the winter so it was running all year.

Thanks, I'm under the impression that using a bag on the rear of the tractor can definitely reduce the transaxle lifespan but we're not talking about a heavy duty trans in that Murray either.

 

[JTK]

Mowing a true 3 acres with a 42" deck? This had to take hours.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

That's a hysterical story ! I can't believe it ran with all the different fluids you dumped into that crankcase. And in the end, you're pops could care less !!!! Nice dad. My father would've ripped me a new one saying I blew the engine. Good for you ! You tried to do the right thing by keeping it alive, and it paid off with a new machine ! You were a good kid

 

[chorty]

Rings are cooked in my rider.

Wet oil dribbles out the muffler after its shut off.

She pumps out a half quart for every 5 acres, and seems only burns half of it.

Ive been picking through the 5 gallon buckets of spark plugs my dad has been saving for years. One day I spun in one a bit too long. Piston survived, somehow. It does have a small whack/dent in the face. Didn't bother it, or help the rings.

She still runs. Still burns oil. Still fouls plugs a few times a week. Only leaks oil out the muffler, no where else. I notice if I pull the plug boot off, and open the gap a bit more it encourages spark to jump the extra distance, and buys me another week or so before carbon bridges the electrode.

I'm on a mission to run it until it has zero compression, or to the point it won't lite gasoline anymore. Seems endless!!

The best part, I haven't changed oil in 12 years. I just keep adding it.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Atta boy Chorty !!!! You got the right idea. A little oil in the grass keeps the weeds down, and the smoke from oil burning keeps the bugs away from you. At least you have plenty of plugs to foul out !!!!!!!! Keep her goin. GREAT JOB !!!!!!