Good day all,
I recently picked up a John Deere L120 with a 20 horspower Briggs & Stratton Intek (V twin). When I picked it up, the mower didn't run but would crank, I put in fresh fuel, new spark plugs, new oil and a new oil filter. The mower ran after that but very rough. I determined the carburetor was dirty and cleaned it. The mower started right up and ran well on full choke but will die if you try to remove the choke. I guess I missed something in the carburetor so I will have to reclean it. When I pulled the plastic cover off initially, the area between the V was cover in oil and dirt build up but I initially paid it no attention as I assumed it had never been cleaned or someone spilled oil on it at some point.
However, the mower smokes pretty heavily and the smoke is white/blue in color. I have ran it for about 45 minutes and the smoke never went away and it burned off oil in that time. I don't have fuel mixing with the oil so I think my float assembly is ok. However, when I run it with out the air filter I can see smoke coming from the intake, I assume that it is from the valve breather line. When the motor is running, the smoke is wisked away quite forcefully by air flow but when I kill the engine a cloud of smoke lingers in the intake.
I pulled the spark plugs wires from one side and then the other and both sides seem to run equally smooth. The right side is the one that smokes. I assume that because the two sides run equally well, my piston rings should be ok or else one side would suffer from decreased compression. This leads me to believe that I have a blown head gasket on the right cylinder. Would a blown head gasket cause oil to discharge on to the exterior of the engine block and carburetor?
Would anyone be able to confirm this or suggest anything I may have missed? I would like to have the parts in hand before I tear the engine down to prevent any for objects entering the engine during down time waiting for parts. I know it is hard to say for sure without investigating visually but I am trying to put together and educated guess to prevent further damage.
Thank you in advance for the help and please let me know if there are any questions I can answer.
- Zane
I recently picked up a John Deere L120 with a 20 horspower Briggs & Stratton Intek (V twin). When I picked it up, the mower didn't run but would crank, I put in fresh fuel, new spark plugs, new oil and a new oil filter. The mower ran after that but very rough. I determined the carburetor was dirty and cleaned it. The mower started right up and ran well on full choke but will die if you try to remove the choke. I guess I missed something in the carburetor so I will have to reclean it. When I pulled the plastic cover off initially, the area between the V was cover in oil and dirt build up but I initially paid it no attention as I assumed it had never been cleaned or someone spilled oil on it at some point.
However, the mower smokes pretty heavily and the smoke is white/blue in color. I have ran it for about 45 minutes and the smoke never went away and it burned off oil in that time. I don't have fuel mixing with the oil so I think my float assembly is ok. However, when I run it with out the air filter I can see smoke coming from the intake, I assume that it is from the valve breather line. When the motor is running, the smoke is wisked away quite forcefully by air flow but when I kill the engine a cloud of smoke lingers in the intake.
I pulled the spark plugs wires from one side and then the other and both sides seem to run equally smooth. The right side is the one that smokes. I assume that because the two sides run equally well, my piston rings should be ok or else one side would suffer from decreased compression. This leads me to believe that I have a blown head gasket on the right cylinder. Would a blown head gasket cause oil to discharge on to the exterior of the engine block and carburetor?
Would anyone be able to confirm this or suggest anything I may have missed? I would like to have the parts in hand before I tear the engine down to prevent any for objects entering the engine during down time waiting for parts. I know it is hard to say for sure without investigating visually but I am trying to put together and educated guess to prevent further damage.
Thank you in advance for the help and please let me know if there are any questions I can answer.
- Zane