delo made my engine smoke :\

[cryptokid]

i recently changed oil in my lawnmower, its an old briggs and stratton 3.5hp engine horizontal shaft.

after about 10 minutes of running it, it started dumping out little puffs of smoke, later on the smoke became constant. i checked the oil level and it was full, so i figured the engine was going to burn out and i would just run it till it breaks so i kept mowing my lawn. about an hour later the smoke disappears. i rechecked oil level again, and it was still full.

previously, i used only cheap generic oil and changed it every 30 hours.

what preplexed me was that the smoke disappeard after a while, i am now thinking perhaps i had a sticking ring, or somthing that the delo cleaned and unstuck. maybe it smoked while the ring was re-seating? maybe it dislodged some sludge from the valves or somthing else, im not really sure.

what do you guys think?

 

[MolaKule]

Horizontal shaft? Is this a reel type mower?

Most small Lawn Mowers are vertical shafts.

You may have tipped the mower towrd the spark plug, which let oil flow past the rings into the combustion chamber.

But the Delo should help clean it up.

 

[Bror Jace]

My guess is you just slightly over-filled it.

When one of those engines is over-filled with oil, they smoke heavily until the excess oil is burned off and then things return to normal.

If it was borderline over-filled, 'Kule's theory about tipping probably also came into play.

--- Bror Jace

 

[cryptokid]

nah, i didnt over fill it, and i didnt tip it over. im really good about avoiding that kinda stuff.

it is a horizontal shaft, one of them belt driven things for cutting the grass around walkways and fences.

this engine would smoke just_sitting_there without eveb being moved, just idleing.

 

[MolaKule]

My Quantum 6.5 hp B&S was smoking on startup this year, and had never done it before. I found the panel type air filter needed changing. Hadn't changed for over two years!

 

[darrenc]

All of my horizontal piston (vertical shaft drive) engines puff a bit of smoke on startup. This includes a 5.5 HP B&S Quantum and a GV series 5.5 Honda OHC. I just figure oil seeps past the rings after shut down since the engine is always on its side. Doesn’t see what type of oil I use, synthetic or otherwise.

Edit: Opps, just saw that you wrote horizontal shaft! There goes my theory.

[ May 23, 2003, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: darrenc ]

 

[cryptokid]

just an update:

it no longer smokes anymore at all.

today i took off the cylinder head and machined it down for higher compression. it was one of those "im bored" days.