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I Have a 12hp OHV rear engin riding snapper mower that is 7years old. I keep it in great condition. However, I tried to start is last week and it started gushing smoke. It looks like oil was coming out of the exhaust and it wold stall out. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be. Is this something that someone is pretty handy can fix themselfs.

Tom

Check your oil to A. make sure not overfull B. check if it has gas in it, it may show overfull and have a strong smell of gas, if it does then carb is leaking and letting fuel run into intake and into cly and then past rings into crankcase, if so you need to clean carb as a min, drain the oil , replace oil filter if so equiped. The float needle may not be seating properly, doesn't take much dirt to cause this. Also take plug out and let it crank over for 15-20 seconds to blow anything in the cly out and replace the plug..

Hello Tom ... And WELCOME to LMF...

I believe Duffer72 has you on the solution to your problem... I'd bet the oil will show over full and have a lot of gasoline in it... check the float and needle shut off like mentioned... :smile:KennyV

Duffer72 said:

Check your oil to A. make sure not overfull B. check if it has gas in it, it may show overfull and have a strong smell of gas, if it does then carb is leaking and letting fuel run into intake and into cly and then past rings into crankcase, if so you need to clean carb as a min, drain the oil , replace oil filter if so equiped. The float needle may not be seating properly, doesn't take much dirt to cause this. Also take plug out and let it crank over for 15-20 seconds to blow anything in the cly out and replace the plug..

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Duffer72, thank you & KennyV for the responce. I did what you had suggested and it worked. A repair shop quoted me a price of Aprox. $ 400.00 to repair this mower. I can't thank you enough for this advise.

The oil was in fact loaded with gas .I cleaned the carbrator, changed the oil and "wam", it fired right up and now runs great. Again, thank you..

Tom

Glad we could help. As a suggestion double check the oil in a few days to make sure the carb isn't still leaking, if it is you can drain it again as before and install an inline shut off valve on the fuel line, when you cut the grass and finish park it shut the fuel off and let it run 45-60 seconds and then shut it off, that will keep anymore from running into the engine. I put them on all of my mowers just as precautionary measure.

Just out of curiousity, I checked my oil level and it was fine, but I did notice a slight smell of gasoline in the oil.

I don't have any of the issues that tlaird mentioned. Motor runs great!

gitnby said:

Just out of curiousity, I checked my oil level and it was fine, but I did notice a slight smell of gasoline in the oil.

I don't have any of the issues that tlaird mentioned. Motor runs great!

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Did your oil seem too thin... if you get gasoline in the oil it will greatly reduce the viscosity, allowing it to get by the rings and it will burn off... the oil level may look about right for a while but eventually as the cylinder and rings erode, you will not be able to keep oil in it...
If you have gas in your oil, fix the problem ASAP, before the engine eats itself up... :smile:KennyV

By " cleaning the carb", I assume you mean run some carb cleaner spray through the throat while running?

Not sure what the float and needle shut off is?

How do I check those?

gitnby said:

By " cleaning the carb", I assume you mean run some carb cleaner spray through the throat while running?

Not sure what the float and needle shut off is?

How do I check those?

Click to expand...

Go to this site... scroll down & on the left side when you spot your engine carb select it... it will show you everything you will need to do including a lot of pictures and the reassembly....
Small Engine Equipment Troubleshooting, Repairs and Safety
Follow the steps and you will be able to do it.... :smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

Go to this site... scroll down & on the left side when you spot your engine carb select it... it will show you everything you will need to do including a lot of pictures and the reassembly....
Small Engine Equipment Troubleshooting, Repairs and Safety
Follow the steps and you will be able to do it.... :smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Rather than take the whole thing apart, I took the carb off, cleaned the plates with carb cleaner and sprayed some inside. Let it dry out for a few hours, and ran the mower at different speeds for 1/2 hour.

Exhaust seemed much cleaner, it ran great, and no gas in the oil so far.

Thanks a bunch!

I have a Snapper 28" 2812523BVE. Built March 14, 2011. 12.5 HP Rear Engine Rider. I couldn't believe that my mower has the exact same problem as the other fellow. I had my mower fixed twice by the local repair shop. Same darn thing, gas is blowing out the exhaust. Last year, he put on a fuel shut off valve and I just turn it off after mowing. I never thought about turning it off and running it for a short time after mowing. This seems like a great thing to do. My question is: Why is this carb always acting UP? All my other lawn equipment runs fine, I add Stabil every fall and everything starts up just fine, except for my Snapper? Did I get a bad model? I called Snapper and they do not have a replacement engine for my 2011. This tells me that perhaps this type of engine is failing? It has the Intek 12.5 344cc OHV? The engine is Model 219977 Type 0174 B1. I guess I will have to clean out the carb every fall? Any comments/suggestions are well appreciated.
thanks
Ron
Flat Rock, Michigan

I could just cut&paste the last post, except my Snapper 12.5hp intek engine is a B&S 219907-0131-e1. It was down for over a year when my son asked me to see what I could do. He said gas was "pouring out of the engine" when he last filled the tank. When I took it from him, the tank was bone dry, the pull rope was missing & it had a bad battery; I bought a new battery. Then, after viewing this thread, I did the following:

Checked the Oil: it was way overfilled, so I drained two+ quarts of oil, ~5w consistency (no water, and didn't notice a gas odor, but gas is all I can think of to cause the thinning if spec 30w had been put in). Refilled the oil to the full mark ... took 1 1/3 qts 40w. Then I installed a fuel stop valve, removed the spark plug & cleaned it...a light oil coat was on it; otherwise it looked like new. With the plug out, I easily hand-spun the engine (it turned freely, with no odd noises) , then I spun it for ~5 seconds using the starter motor: new oil sprayed on the garage floor from the rear of the engine. At the time, I thought the oil was coming out the spark plug hole, as anticipated, but it was probably from the exhaust pipe, because when I reinstalled the spark plug, added 1/4 qt more 40W to get back up to the full mark & tried to key start it for ~5 seconds, ~1/2 qt more oil definitely sprayed out the exhaust.

Has the piston got a hole in it or something? Any ideas on what to try next? I still could do a full carb rebuild ( or replacement... aftermarket carb is $13 new on ebay)... but the carb wouldn't cause oil spewing out the exhaust, would it?

It takes a pretty long time to get out all of that oil.
Lose the 40 weight oil, drain it completely, and fill back with 30w.

1/2 quart of oil on the floor, is a lot of oil. Are you filling the dipstick tube up to the top?

40w oil?? Never seen any manual recommend 40w oil yet. Like Fish said, plain old 30w is all you will ever need.

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