I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started to
smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in drive it
started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was completely
fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a fair amount
of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it again, still
smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to get it to start
again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full throtle - still
smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of trying a engine
addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I busted a seal. I
could really use some help here. Its really not worth taking to a mechanic
for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John

News Groups wrote:
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started to
smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in drive it
started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was completely
fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a fair amount
of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it again, still
smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to get it to start
again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full throtle - still
smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of trying a engine
addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I busted a seal. I
could really use some help here. Its really not worth taking to a mechanic
for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John

Will it actually drive? If not, it could be that the drive belt has
popped off the pulley on the transmission. That's happened to my
craftsman tractor, and the result was clouds of smoke.

Did you check the crankcase oil level, If you ran it with oil the extra
that drained into the motor will burn out.

jrv,

Your method of changing blades should not damage the engine but may have
caused some oil to leak into the wrong places. Clean the oil out of the air
filter, and run the engine for 1/2 hr. If it's still smoking then you know
why it was given away. If you're handy a new engine is not hard to put in
but rebuilding the old engine is hard.

Dave M.

A very common problem. Most likely base oil ran out through the crank base
vent. If you can get it started, that's good. Top up the engine oil, start
it and let it run until the oil is burned off. Smoke should stop then. It
may require cleaning the plug a number of times. next time don't hoist it up
as high. lol
"News Groups" wrote in message
. com...
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started to
smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in drive
it started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was
completely fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a
fair amount of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it
again, still smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to get
it to start again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full
throtle - still smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of
trying a engine addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I
busted a seal. I could really use some help here. Its really not worth
taking to a mechanic for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John

Thanks for all the replies, it runs fine except for the smoke. The blades,
pullies and belts are all ok. The tractor ran fine for several days before I
jacked it up so I know its something I did. I had a mechanic tell me that I
might want to use a higher viscosity oil to see it that may help ast all(
long shot) so today I changed the oil from 30wt to 50wt. I let it run
another hour and still smokes. I filled the oil level to just below full.
Any suggestions if the additives will work?
Thanks
John


"John Lawrence" wrote in message
...
A very common problem. Most likely base oil ran out through the crank base
vent. If you can get it started, that's good. Top up the engine oil, start
it and let it run until the oil is burned off. Smoke should stop then. It
may require cleaning the plug a number of times. next time don't hoist it
up as high. lol
"News Groups" wrote in message
. com...
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started
to smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in
drive it started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was
completely fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a
fair amount of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it
again, still smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to
get it to start again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full
throtle - still smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of
trying a engine addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I
busted a seal. I could really use some help here. Its really not worth
taking to a mechanic for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John

"News Groups" wrote in message
news
Thanks for all the replies, it runs fine except for the smoke. The blades,
pullies and belts are all ok. The tractor ran fine for several days before
I jacked it up so I know its something I did. I had a mechanic tell me
that I might want to use a higher viscosity oil to see it that may help
ast all( long shot) so today I changed the oil from 30wt to 50wt. I let it
run another hour and still smokes. I filled the oil level to just below
full. Any suggestions if the additives will work?
Thanks
John


"John Lawrence" wrote in message
...
A very common problem. Most likely base oil ran out through the crank base
vent. If you can get it started, that's good. Top up the engine oil, start
it and let it run until the oil is burned off. Smoke should stop then. It
may require cleaning the plug a number of times. next time don't hoist it
up as high. lol
"News Groups" wrote in message
. com...
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started
to smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in
drive it started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was
completely fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was
a fair amount of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it
again, still smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to
get it to start again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on
full throtle - still smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking
of trying a engine addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I
busted a seal. I could really use some help here. Its really not worth
taking to a mechanic for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John




If you have been just letting the engine idle it probably has not gotten hot
enough to burn out the oil. Try mowing with it under a pretty good load
while monitoring the crankcase oil level. It can take quite a while to clear
up a badly over-oiled engine.

Don Young

Today I ran it for about 15 minutes then it started sputtering then
backfired a few times then stopped. I cleaned the spark plug and it started
right up, but did the same thing again. Its been running the past half hour,
its making a sputtering sound, like when a car sits too running to long and
water gets in the muffler. It would sputter for a few moments then blow a
big cloud of smoke then run fine and start all over again. Still getting oil
in the air filter compartment though. I had to take the deck off, it looked
like a fog machine when I turned the blades on but Im driving it around the
yard on high speed to put some strain on the engine. Some times its starts
to die and I have to stop for a few moments. Any ather suggestions
Thanks
John
"News Groups" wrote in message
. com...
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started to
smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in drive
it started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was
completely fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a
fair amount of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it
again, still smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to get
it to start again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full
throtle - still smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of
trying a engine addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I
busted a seal. I could really use some help here. Its really not worth
taking to a mechanic for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John

Was it an oil burner when you got it?, you might have cracked a piston
ring by starting it when the cilinder was oil flooded, oil does not
compress, the compression might have been to high on starting.

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:04:42 -0500, "Don Young"
wrote:


"News Groups" wrote in message
news
Thanks for all the replies, it runs fine except for the smoke. The blades,
pullies and belts are all ok. The tractor ran fine for several days before
I jacked it up so I know its something I did. I had a mechanic tell me
that I might want to use a higher viscosity oil to see it that may help
ast all( long shot) so today I changed the oil from 30wt to 50wt. I let it

But this doesn't conform to the fact that it ran fine before you
jacked it up. It was running on 30wt then. You're talking about
straight 50wt, not 50W-30? 50W-xx shouldn't be any different in a
lawnmower than 30 weight, because the W stands for Winter (tbat is,
cold weather, not a Florida winter) and people don't mow the lawn cold
weather. So 50W-30 is basically the same as 30weight oil in the
spring and summer.

But if you went to straight 50, I think I'd go back again. You didn't
break anything jacking it up. I take my push mower and put the
handlebar on the ground, under a bush to hold it there, and that
doesn't do any damage. Maybe you went a little farther. Sometimes I
turn the whole mower on the side. I think then I turn it on the side
away from the muffler for some reason I can no longer remember.

I agree with the below, that idling is not running. In a car it only
uses a tiny amount of gas. And in a lawnmower it probably doesn't get
very hot, so part of the oil is smoking but other parts are just
sitting there.

run another hour and still smokes. I filled the oil level to just below
full. Any suggestions if the additives will work?
Thanks John

"John Lawrence" wrote in message
A very common problem. Most likely base oil ran out through the crank base
vent. If you can get it started, that's good. Top up the engine oil, start
it and let it run until the oil is burned off. Smoke should stop then. It
may require cleaning the plug a number of times. next time don't hoist it
up as high. lol
"News Groups" wrote in message
. com...
I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started
to smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in
drive it started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was
completely fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was
a fair amount of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it
again, still smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to
get it to start again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on
full throtle - still smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking
of trying a engine addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I
busted a seal. I could really use some help here. Its really not worth
taking to a mechanic for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John




If you have been just letting the engine idle it probably has not gotten hot
enough to burn out the oil. Try mowing with it under a pretty good load
while monitoring the crankcase oil level. It can take quite a while to clear
up a badly over-oiled engine.

Don Young

You most likely tipped it too far and got oil up inside the engine
parts. Change the oil filter for starters. Then run the heck out of
it under load. If this dont stop smoking after a few hours of
operation, you might have a stuck piston ring. That means to either
tear down the engine, live with the smoke, or sometimes it helps to
remove the spark plug, pour kerosene in the cylinder and let it sit
like that for a day or two. Then pour out the kerosene and pull the
string a few times. Then replace the spark plug and start it.
Sometimes that unsticks a stuck ring.

I should mention that one of my mowers started smoking this spring
after sitting all winter. It never did that before. I just changed
the oil and ran the heck out of it. I use this mower almost daily in
the summer. It took a few days to stop smoking. I know a ring was
stuck but it loosened up from use.

PS. I never tried this, but heard that adding a tablespoon of ATF
transmission fluid to the oil helps unstick rings.

They also sell some stuff called Marvel Mystery Oil that is supposed
to work too. That stuff gets added to the oil and the gas. I have
added it to my car a few times but not for smoking, just to clean out
an enine that sat for a long time. I was told that Marvel Mystery Oil
is about the same as transmission fluid ATF.

Mark


On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:49:01 GMT, "News Groups"
wrote:

I was given an old Craftsman riding mover. It needed new blades and not
knowing how to take the deck off I jacked up the front end as high as I
could. It sat overnight. The next morning I started it up and it started to
smoke a little(white smoke from the muffler) as soon as I put it in drive it
started smoking like it was on fire. I checked the plug, it was completely
fouled up, I checked the air filter compartment and there was a fair amount
of oil at the bottom. I changed both of them and started it again, still
smoked heavily. Turned it off and had to clean the plug to get it to start
again. I let it idle for over an hour, then put it on full throtle - still
smoked. Did I screw up the engine? I was thinking of trying a engine
addative and see if that thickens up the oil incase I busted a seal. I
could really use some help here. Its really not worth taking to a mechanic
for any type of major engine work.
Thanks
John