So I have a Craftsman riding lawnmower with a 16 HP B&S single cylinder OHV engine. It was given to me by a neighbor last year. It had stopped working and he had purchased a new John Deere, and just wanted it gone, so he was happy I took it. So it sat in my garage for this year collecting dust while I worked other things, but was finally able to find time for it a couple months ago.
So the battery was dead of course, I charge it up and give it a spin. Now keep in mind, I never got any information from the previous owner as to why "it wasn't working". So I turn the key and see that the starter is laboring to spin the engine. With a little bit of help from me she's able to kick off and cough to life, albeit a smokey and stuttering life. So after a few minutes the smoke cleared and everything seemed pretty good.
Fast forward a few months, I've given the lawnmower to a buddy of mine who needed one who has used it a dozen times over the summer. I had been meaning to get over to his house to address the starter laboring issue for some time and finally made it over today.
So I started with the valve lash adjustment to see if that could be causing what appeared to be an over compression issue. When I popped the valve cover my first comment was "wow, that's really thin oil!". Well, it wasn't oil, it was gas. Having never seen that before, I cleaned it up and completed the valve adjustments. When I was done and everything was all sealed up, I was interested to see if this would solve the problem. So I turned the key and while still slightly labored, the starter was able to turn the engine over without assistance. So after letting the engine run for a few minutes I shut it down.
It was at this point that I started thinking about that fuel in the valve cover. I checked the oil on the dipstick just to see what it looked like and could definitely smell fuel. So at that point I decided to drain the oil out of the crankcase to see what it looked like.
Well, I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it. When I took the oil drain plug out, black tinted gasoline came pouring out filling up two 2 liter Coke bottles! This stuff had absolutely no oil-like viscosity or properties at all. So for the last 2-3 months my buddy was running this thing with raw liquid gasoline in the crankcase, and it didn't seize...or explode!!??
So no, neither of us poured gasoline in the wrong hole, but I cannot rule that out for the previous owner.
My question is, does anyone know of a maintenance issue that would cause raw fuel to be dumped into the crankcase at that volume (3-4 liters)?
We put oil into it and are going to keep an eye on it for the rest of the season. This winter I'm going to tear into it to see if any internal damage was done.
Any comments are much appreciated.
BN
So the battery was dead of course, I charge it up and give it a spin. Now keep in mind, I never got any information from the previous owner as to why "it wasn't working". So I turn the key and see that the starter is laboring to spin the engine. With a little bit of help from me she's able to kick off and cough to life, albeit a smokey and stuttering life. So after a few minutes the smoke cleared and everything seemed pretty good.
Fast forward a few months, I've given the lawnmower to a buddy of mine who needed one who has used it a dozen times over the summer. I had been meaning to get over to his house to address the starter laboring issue for some time and finally made it over today.
So I started with the valve lash adjustment to see if that could be causing what appeared to be an over compression issue. When I popped the valve cover my first comment was "wow, that's really thin oil!". Well, it wasn't oil, it was gas. Having never seen that before, I cleaned it up and completed the valve adjustments. When I was done and everything was all sealed up, I was interested to see if this would solve the problem. So I turned the key and while still slightly labored, the starter was able to turn the engine over without assistance. So after letting the engine run for a few minutes I shut it down.
It was at this point that I started thinking about that fuel in the valve cover. I checked the oil on the dipstick just to see what it looked like and could definitely smell fuel. So at that point I decided to drain the oil out of the crankcase to see what it looked like.
Well, I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it. When I took the oil drain plug out, black tinted gasoline came pouring out filling up two 2 liter Coke bottles! This stuff had absolutely no oil-like viscosity or properties at all. So for the last 2-3 months my buddy was running this thing with raw liquid gasoline in the crankcase, and it didn't seize...or explode!!??
So no, neither of us poured gasoline in the wrong hole, but I cannot rule that out for the previous owner.
My question is, does anyone know of a maintenance issue that would cause raw fuel to be dumped into the crankcase at that volume (3-4 liters)?
We put oil into it and are going to keep an eye on it for the rest of the season. This winter I'm going to tear into it to see if any internal damage was done.
Any comments are much appreciated.
BN