Repair or Replace?

[porkweez]

Years ago Dad gave me his MTD 660/679 series lawn tractor, and it's done well with a few minor repairs here and there. On Saturday, I started it up and left it idling a minute while I walked away for a moment. Suddenly I heard a loud metallic 'pang'; even my wife heard it inside the house; and it stopped running. Now, when you turn the key, it's like the flywheel responds to the battery easily, but there's no umph from the engine. I'm not sure what to check, what to take apart, or whether to look for a used mower on craigslist. Any ideas?

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

Years ago Dad gave me his MTD 660/679 series lawn tractor, and it's done well with a few minor repairs here and there. On Saturday, I started it up and left it idling a minute while I walked away for a moment. Suddenly I heard a loud metallic 'pang'; even my wife heard it inside the house; and it stopped running. Now, when you turn the key, it's like the flywheel responds to the battery easily, but there's no umph from the engine. I'm not sure what to check, what to take apart, or whether to look for a used mower on craigslist. Any ideas?

I don't know what you could check, but if you wanted to upgrade your mower, this would be a good excuse to do so!

 

[scott47429]

if the fly wheel is turning easy but you have no compression then you may have dropped a valve or broken a rod what type of engine is it if its a flat head then its pretty easy to pull the head and spin the engine over to see if the piston and valves are moving

 

[porkweez]

I will check the engine type when I get home later and post more info. Would the repair for either of those problems cost more than a used mower?

 

[scott47429]

thats a hard call to make without much info and you would need to find out what the problem is first but yes either one could be more then a used mower you will save money by doing it yourself if you can if not then you may want to look for a used mower or even a used engine for yours but remember with used you never know what your getting most of the time its someone else's headache but at the same time you can find a good one i bought mine used and haven't had any problems with it and i have sold alot of good used mowers but you never know

 

[chance123]

Sounds to me, if it was "that" loud, it probably blew a rod.

 

[scott47429]

thats what it sounds like to me also but i never want to assume anything

 

[porkweez]

That sounds bad.

 

[chance123]

You might be lucky. Since it was only sitting there idling, it might not have damaged the block. To be sure the rod blew, remove the spk plg and put a long thin screwdriver in the spk plg hole over the piston, and rotate the crank by hand and feel if the piston is indeed moving.