Smoky Toro

Hi - have a 22' Toro mower (vertical with blade under deck) made about 2006. It has always smoked a little on starting for the first 3 or 4 seconds even when new. There is a slight puff then it is normally gone. The other day I worked on its blade to sharpen it, and laid it on its side. When it started there was a puff of smoke (cloud) much more than normal. I equated that to a little oil getting past the rings when it was on its side. Started it up a few days later and it did it again. Yesterday it was running for about 5 to 10 minutes after the initial cloud, completely normal, and I shut it off to go do the other yard. On starting got another huge puff, another small cloud. Anyone have an idea where the oil might be hiding that is suddenly causing this, or what may have happened? The oil isn't all that old but I can change it again to see if it has thinned out or something. I am not loosing gasoline, or seeing the oil level increase. There is no rattle or click like a broken ring. Reminds me of my first car - you know that one you hated to be behind at the light because the valve guides or rings were worn out.... but this happened so suddenly I am prone to thinking it had something to do about lying on its side.

I’m guessing that when you tipped the mower to remove the blade, you tipped it with the carb down, allowing oil to enter the carb and soak the air filter. If this is the case, no harm done, just replace the filter. Any oil will burn off. A couple of puffs of smoke during start-up is normal and nothing I would be worried about.

Thank you - I'll check that out. It's been getting harder starting over time so maybe time to rebuild the carb and check the breather area too. I don't recall if I have ever done a tune up on this engine other than the oil. I know I replaced the drive belt once so maybe it is time for a full winter tune-up too.

Neighbor did same thing tipping his, cept he hydro locked it with a lot of oil in the combustion chamber. I told him to remove the spark plug & pull the rope till you see no more oil coming out.

And I asked him if he tipped it, which I saw him do. No, I wouldn't do that. :laughing:

Easy fix.

In that case check the valve lash

bertsmobile1 said:

In that case check the valve lash

Click to expand...

I thought on many of these small engines the lash was controlled with grinding the valve tip. Do these engines now have adjustable screws or shims that control lash and make it adjustable?

OHV engines adjust similar to a car valves. Lots of videos on the internet to show you how. If you give us the model number we can tell you what the valve lash should be.

probably a flat head so I don't think there are rocker arms. I haven't had it apart but Toro push mowers of the 2066 - 2007 era had a 6.5 HP Tecumseh flat head.

My old MTD w/Briggs Flathead has adjustable valves.

Flattys have no rockers, just upside down valves & the cam followers that are adjustable.