So I picked up a well-used riding mower, 13hp OHV B&S engine. Came with a dead battery, no surprise there. While looking it over I went to remove the dipstick, just to see what would happen--the seller indicated it wouldn't run that way, and sure enough, it bogged down. I overlooked that fact... maybe I shouldn't have. Should these motors run with the dipstick out? The 10hp or flathead in my Toro will run happily with it out, splashes oil out so it's not wise to do, but it doesn't care.
Have to ask as this new-to-me mower refuses to start for me today... First it was full of gas, hydro-locked full (didn't think to turn the gas off last night, my old mower doesn't have a shutoff). Got it blown out but it just keeps flooding and won't hit. I did drop the bowl and the both shutoff and the needle/float seem to work; maybe the float is full, didn't think to check that, just thought of it now actually... Got spark, and after a few cranks it was over 140psi on a compression gauge. Bit of a project at the moment. Anyhow, it looks to me that the crankcase just ventilates to the air filter (and not to the carb, like for some pushmowers for lifting fuel), so I'm thinking, maybe it just plain has more blowby than I thought and is just plain knackered out.
Have to ask as this new-to-me mower refuses to start for me today... First it was full of gas, hydro-locked full (didn't think to turn the gas off last night, my old mower doesn't have a shutoff). Got it blown out but it just keeps flooding and won't hit. I did drop the bowl and the both shutoff and the needle/float seem to work; maybe the float is full, didn't think to check that, just thought of it now actually... Got spark, and after a few cranks it was over 140psi on a compression gauge. Bit of a project at the moment. Anyhow, it looks to me that the crankcase just ventilates to the air filter (and not to the carb, like for some pushmowers for lifting fuel), so I'm thinking, maybe it just plain has more blowby than I thought and is just plain knackered out.