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Intek 26 HP pushrod disappeared... likely in oil pan.

#1

C

cmw

I was mowing and tinkering with the electrical system of my recently scavenged 26 HP Intek. It is a MODEL: 445877 TYPE: 0760 B1 CODE: 080228YG style engine. Anyway, there was a backfire and the engine suddenly lost a lot of power and sounded horrible like it was popping out the intake.

Anyway, I pulled on plug wire while it was running and there was no change in how it sounded. This told me that cylinder was dead. I then pulled the opposing side and the engine died so it was running on one cylinder. The left side cylinder (as when mowing) was dead.

I removed the valve cover found that the lock nut setup that allows for adjustment of valve lash had backed off and was laying in the valve cover. I hadn't messed with this as I checked lash earlier and it was right on the money so left it alone. The problem was there was no push rod. Apparently these can slide back into the oil pan once they are loose as I found other references to this problem.

The exhaust push rod fell off in this case so it is steel. I saw a Youtube video of someone using a magnet to fish it out the oil fill hole. The dipstick and fill tube have to be removed. Has anyone done this here? I would probably replace the pushrod no matter what but was wondering about leaving it in there. I don't like foreign debris inside of engines and suspect this would eventually lead to interference inside the engine. Has anyone left this alone? If so, did it cause further problems down the road?

I drove the thing a couple hundred yards like this to get it back to the place. I checked the oil once I realized what had happened and didn't see any metal particles so that is a good sign.

Should anything else be replaced while I am in there? Is the locknut or rocker likely damaged by this as well? Should I use red loctite when re-assembling? I think I may check all of these when fixing this one.

Thanks.


#2

7394

7394

I definitely would NOT leave it in there. No telling what other havoc it could cause.

Do you have an extendable pencil style magnet ? That would be what I would use to start fishing.

Red Loc-Tite is too strong for this application. You will break things if you ever have to loosen them again. Unless you heat em up to over 400 * Not recommended.


#3

C

cmw

Thanks. I figured leaving an object like this in there would likely interfere and destroy something down the road. I plan to get a flexible magnet deal tomorrow and start fishing.


#4

7394

7394

OK, the better quality magnets are the Rare Earth magnets, they are super strong. That's what my extendable pencil style has.

Hope you catch a push rod.


#5

B

bertsmobile1

cmw said:
I was mowing and tinkering with the electrical system of my recently scavenged 26 HP Intek. It is a MODEL: 445877 TYPE: 0760 B1 CODE: 080228YG style engine. Anyway, there was a backfire and the engine suddenly lost a lot of power and sounded horrible like it was popping out the intake.

Anyway, I pulled on plug wire while it was running and there was no change in how it sounded. This told me that cylinder was dead. I then pulled the opposing side and the engine died so it was running on one cylinder. The left side cylinder (as when mowing) was dead.

I removed the valve cover found that the lock nut setup that allows for adjustment of valve lash had backed off and was laying in the valve cover. I hadn't messed with this as I checked lash earlier and it was right on the money so left it alone. The problem was there was no push rod. Apparently these can slide back into the oil pan once they are loose as I found other references to this problem.

The exhaust push rod fell off in this case so it is steel. I saw a Youtube video of someone using a magnet to fish it out the oil fill hole. The dipstick and fill tube have to be removed. Has anyone done this here? I would probably replace the pushrod no matter what but was wondering about leaving it in there. I don't like foreign debris inside of engines and suspect this would eventually lead to interference inside the engine. Has anyone left this alone? If so, did it cause further problems down the road?

I drove the thing a couple hundred yards like this to get it back to the place. I checked the oil once I realized what had happened and didn't see any metal particles so that is a good sign.

Should anything else be replaced while I am in there? Is the locknut or rocker likely damaged by this as well? Should I use red loctite when re-assembling? I think I may check all of these when fixing this one.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

What you do not get shown on BOOB TUBE is the motor throwing a rod three weeks latter because a tiny fragment of the rod got stuck between the teeth on the crank & camshaft.
If you are ardent upon going down this route, take the good rod out and weight it to 2 decimal places .
When you have retreived the bad rod weight it as well.
Not the same then continue fishing.


#6

I

ILENGINE

I have found the missing pushrod laying in the oil straight and undamaged to wrapped around the camshaft.


#7

C

cmw

My plan is to first start fishing for this with a magnet. If any pieces are present or parts of the rod are missing I guess I will pull the oil pan. I haven't looked but is this a lot like a push mower where the pan unbolts and just slides off the crank? I would need a new gasket and maybe a seal as well.


#8

T

Tinkerer200

Yeah, new seal and $26 sump gasket. I made a special fishing tool which my buddy used along with his flex shaft scope to successfully fish an intact pushrod out.

Walt Conner


#9

C

cmw

How hard is it to fish these out? I would rather do that than partly disassemble the engine of course. Also, is blue loctite in order? Apparently this isn't uncommon......


#10

T

Tinkerer200

Unusual to get them out without a scope to see where it is but if you are lucky - - . Properly torqued locking screw should not come loose - problem people do not use torque wrench.

Walt Conner


#11

M

motoman

Years ago my Intek ate a pushrod. There is a picture somewhere here of it. It was processed through the crank timing gear and was mangled and chewed into several pieces. I thought I had helped that journey into the sump by clearing out some casting "web" in the oil return hole, but since you have this problem it appears these things "launch" or "weedle" their way through. I fear a teardown is required.


#12

C

cmw

I am coming to that conclusion myself. It looks like you might have to remove the flywheel to properly remove the oil fill/dipstick tube and that odds of this working are low. Removing the engine and pulling the lower pan/sump is looking like the best option.

One of my Kohler Command 16hps did this a few times when I first got it. It always happened on startup because I guess the oil hadn't been changed often enough before I got it and the hydraulic lifters would act up. It stopped happening after a few mowings once things got freed up with clean oil and has been an exceptional engine since. In all the times this happened the pushrod was just laying there waiting to be put right back in. It never ended up where it didn't belong.


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