Background: this mower was my neighbors for all of its life. A few months ago, one of the rear wheels had sheered off after years of it scraping along the frame. The frame literally cut through the axel! Anyway, my neighbor bought a fancy new electric mower and when I was over there, I saw his old busted Honda and he asked if I wanted it... I said "YES!". I've always wanted a Honda mower! I took it all apart and figured out what I needed -- it was like $200 in parts but I ordered them and put it all back together and I was in business! This is a REALLY nice mower compared to the Craftsman I have used for the last two decades.
So, this past weekend I was out mowing my lawn with it. I got almost done and the mower's engine starts slowing down... it's not heavy grass and it sounds like something is going wrong so I kill it quick. I check the oil dipstick and it's dry! I checked it before I start mowing every time and there WAS oil on it when I started. I ran back to the shed and grabbed the fresh oil, I put some oil in it and start it up, it fires up and sounds good. I kill it and check the oil and it's empty again. I tip the mower up on it's side to check out underneath and there's a huge oil slick under the mowing area!! The oil is just gushing down from all around the clutch. FML! I finished the yard with my Craftsman.
I tore into it and got all the way to the main seal. It had just popped out of its bore! That's why the oil just came spilling out everywhere. I got a replacement seal, it just arrived today. I just went out to put it on and something struck me. Whenever I'm pushing the mower around on my bumpy lawn, it makes a kind of popping sound like something is loose. It's been bugging me because I can't figure out where the popping noise is coming from but I think I may have discovered it.
The crankshaft has vertical play in it. I took a short video of it so you can see, it's probably only like 1/16" of movement but I think it's enough to make the popping noise and I think it probably contributed to the main seal walking down out of its bore with gravity assisting it.
Anyway, my question is: any idea why this might happen? AND is there anything I can do to fix it aside from rebuilding the whole engine?
Thanks for reading.
-SpikeyGG
So, this past weekend I was out mowing my lawn with it. I got almost done and the mower's engine starts slowing down... it's not heavy grass and it sounds like something is going wrong so I kill it quick. I check the oil dipstick and it's dry! I checked it before I start mowing every time and there WAS oil on it when I started. I ran back to the shed and grabbed the fresh oil, I put some oil in it and start it up, it fires up and sounds good. I kill it and check the oil and it's empty again. I tip the mower up on it's side to check out underneath and there's a huge oil slick under the mowing area!! The oil is just gushing down from all around the clutch. FML! I finished the yard with my Craftsman.
I tore into it and got all the way to the main seal. It had just popped out of its bore! That's why the oil just came spilling out everywhere. I got a replacement seal, it just arrived today. I just went out to put it on and something struck me. Whenever I'm pushing the mower around on my bumpy lawn, it makes a kind of popping sound like something is loose. It's been bugging me because I can't figure out where the popping noise is coming from but I think I may have discovered it.
The crankshaft has vertical play in it. I took a short video of it so you can see, it's probably only like 1/16" of movement but I think it's enough to make the popping noise and I think it probably contributed to the main seal walking down out of its bore with gravity assisting it.
Anyway, my question is: any idea why this might happen? AND is there anything I can do to fix it aside from rebuilding the whole engine?
Thanks for reading.
-SpikeyGG
