My nephew purchased a mower. He's used it a few times. I mowed his front lawn yesterday and it ran flawlessly. Then brought it home as I just moved into a new place and don't have a mower yet... mowed the front lawn and marveled how well this inexpensive little guy cut deep grass with no strain. I'm a certified motorcycle mechanic - it wasn't choking down, doing any straining and if it did all I had to do was slow down my push a little and it would just mulch up the deep grass no problem.
Today I go out and I'm mowing and it was barely straining then BUMP it just stopped running. Okay I assumed there was grass wadded up under the deck so I backed it up, tilted it forward and zero grass. Hmmm... so then I start to pull it and it feels SEIZED! Imagine it was running perfectly 5 seconds earlier and I had checked the oil and it was PERFECT!
So... I turn the blade gently by hand to see if it feels like a smudged piston or ring - Hmmm, I pull the starter rope and it fires immediately but with white smoke and oil just puking out of the muffler! I cut it off.
Tried cranking it several more times - and it will crank but it's blowing a mist of oil 4' out of the muffler onto the ground and it's smoking.
This isn't an upright, four valve, overhead cam motorcycle engine. So I thought I'd ask the experts out there... it's a Briggs & Stratton on an MTD 21" push mower. It says it's 158cc.
Clue me in guys what would cause it to instantly lock up then start blowing oil like that?
Double checked it just now at almost 11pm. Cranked it, let it run, it burnt off the first batch of white smoke and got thinner -BUT- the engine wasn't sounding just right. I at one point heard a little rattle and cut it off immediately. I noticed it instantly stopped - sure enough, knew what it was, I pulled the starter rope slowly and it was locked up tight. I'm sure it'll loosen and run again after it cools, but what would cause a Briggs with so few hours on it to just do this so instantly?
Thanks... Mike
Today I go out and I'm mowing and it was barely straining then BUMP it just stopped running. Okay I assumed there was grass wadded up under the deck so I backed it up, tilted it forward and zero grass. Hmmm... so then I start to pull it and it feels SEIZED! Imagine it was running perfectly 5 seconds earlier and I had checked the oil and it was PERFECT!
So... I turn the blade gently by hand to see if it feels like a smudged piston or ring - Hmmm, I pull the starter rope and it fires immediately but with white smoke and oil just puking out of the muffler! I cut it off.
Tried cranking it several more times - and it will crank but it's blowing a mist of oil 4' out of the muffler onto the ground and it's smoking.
This isn't an upright, four valve, overhead cam motorcycle engine. So I thought I'd ask the experts out there... it's a Briggs & Stratton on an MTD 21" push mower. It says it's 158cc.
Clue me in guys what would cause it to instantly lock up then start blowing oil like that?
Double checked it just now at almost 11pm. Cranked it, let it run, it burnt off the first batch of white smoke and got thinner -BUT- the engine wasn't sounding just right. I at one point heard a little rattle and cut it off immediately. I noticed it instantly stopped - sure enough, knew what it was, I pulled the starter rope slowly and it was locked up tight. I'm sure it'll loosen and run again after it cools, but what would cause a Briggs with so few hours on it to just do this so instantly?
Thanks... Mike