Inherited a power mower this week.

[TallPaul]

My father-in-law gave me his old (1997) Craftsman EZ3 5 hp lawn mower. Ran it today for the first time and put a little Neutra 131 in the crankcase and in the fuel. I have spent the last 15 years mowing with an electric mower, so this is a big change. Anyway, I need to change the oil soon. The manual says SF or SG straight 30 oil. I assume an SL has too little zddp so I got a 20 oz ACE Lawnmower Engine Oil SAE HD30 at my local Ace hardware today. I assume this is as good as any mower oil. Anybody know about this oil, or is there another oil I should use instead? What about Redline (seriously as I got it for discount on the Adv Auto clearance)?

 

[like a rock]

TallPaul I have used straight 30 weight pennzoil in my air cooled lawn equipmet for years which has worked very well. It is formulated for air cooled engines. Redline might me a little overkill for the mower because I have a briggs 12.5 hp engine that is 12 years old using only that oil. It runs like a top.

 

[like a rock]

 

[slalom44]

I'm not that picky about the oil I use in my lawn mowers. I ususally use SuperTech 10W-30 in my push mower or riding lawn mower. The important thing is to change the oil regularly, since these small engines don't have filters.

I usually change the oil in my mowers 2 to 3 times a year. It seems to be a good plan, since my Toro push mower still runs fairly well, and I bought it new in 1980.

 

[TallPaul]

I pulled the plug and it was burning clean, but the rim was oil and crud encrusted. Needs a lot of combustion chamber cleaning. Wonder how much Neutra I can run in the fuel?

Air filter was very dirty and the breather line was separated. I fixed those two items and put in a new plug. Next Saturday it should run even better.

 

[TallPaul]

Mower runs well but for two annoying things. When I first start it it will vary the rpms so much that it dies until I have started it several times, then it runs but the rpms are going up and down, up and down, but eventually there is less swing in the rpms. What could this be?

The second thing is that when I shut it off there is a puff of smoke comes out the muffler. I pulled the muffler and it is black inside, perhaps carbon, but the smoke, I think, maybe was a bit bluish. Not sure.

The fresh oil has been run about 45 minutes and, despite 10% Neutra, is still extremely clean.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by TallPaul:
Mower runs well but for two annoying things. When I first start it it will vary the rpms so much that it dies until I have started it several times, then it runs but the rpms are going up and down, up and down, but eventually there is less swing in the rpms. What could this be?

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Sounds like fuel problem of some sort, maybe a hosed up carbruetor, maybe just too a lean mixture.

Is there a high speed mixture screw you can richen, or is it one of the non-adjustable carbs?

You might try tearing the carb down and cleaning it. They only have about 3.5 parts in them.

 

[Islandvic]

Tall Paul, I would clean the carb and fog the engine with SeaFoamDeepCreep.

It may help the idle.

Like what XS650, tearing down these type of carbs are easy.

 

[TallPaul]

Think I will start with the fog and see what happens. The Neutra will clean it up, but it may be so bad that the Neutra would take a long time. Then can try the mixture screw and see if it levels out the rpms.

I have heard of Sea Foam, but Sea Foam Deep Creep?

Thanks.

 

[Islandvic]

quote:

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I have heard of Sea Foam, but Sea Foam Deep Creep?

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I only discovered SeaFoam last year.

I though it was BS, but have used it many times in (2) lawnmowers and (3) vehicles and works well.

SeaFoam DeepCreep is Seafoam in an aerosol spray can.

Just take off the air filter, start the engine, and spray liberaly in the carb. If it dies, then let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then start and cut the grass. The smoke from the carbon burning off will go away.

SeaFoam (& DeepCreep) works excellent as a combustion chamber de-carbonizer in any IC engine.

It works great in the gas tank, but you already have the Nuetra.

quote:

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I assume this is as good as any mower oil.

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Just change the oil once a season, and you are doing better than 90% of gas mower owners! Any 4cycle Lawn Engine oil will do.