Mower smoking. I need to look like I know what I'm doing!

[SteveSS]

The maintenance guy texted me becuase he knows I'm a car guy. Our company's riding mower is blowing smoke real bad. I know this means it's burning oil (I think.) So he wants me to take a look. I figured bad rings or a scored cylinder but... Any 4 stroke small engine guys out there that can make me look good? Is the some engine restore additive that can fix it? I dunno you tell me.

 

[WileE]

What color is the smoke. Could be the mower now knows weed is legal, so it's going crazy.

 

[SteveSS]

The engine was also surging

 

[RemCharger]

First things first, what's actually in the fuel tank

 

[RR Fan Dan]

Tell him it’s a 2 stroke.

 

[Photon440]

What is the actual engine in the mower?

 

[ckessel]

Its killin skeeters free of charge!

 

[eldubb440]

someone may have put 2 stroke mixed gas in it

 

[RR Fan Dan]

someone may have put 2 stroke mixed gas in it

You may be on to something.

 

[eldubb440]

You may be on to something.

I'm not sure a 40:1 mix would make all that much smoke?

 

[DeltaV]

The rings are shot if it's a Kohler engine.

Maybe their newer engines are better.

 

[toolmanmike]

I'm not sure a 40:1 mix would make all that much smoke?

Try it and report back to us. Mom put diesel in one. It ran like crap and smoked like a bitch.

 

[RiverRaider]

Check for overfilled crank case. Or if the mower just did some steep side hill mowing or tipped on back or side to work on it.
Check the air filter to see if there is oil inside it. May have oil blow by coming in from the vent tube. If the air filter is plugged up with junk I have seen in
older mowers oil draw from crankcase into the carb from the vent tube. If there is oil in the air filter (plugged or not), try running it without the air filter to see if the smoke clears.

 

[68-500]

Try it and report back to us. Mom put diesel in one. It ran like crap and smoked like a bitch.

That was my first thought

 

[DeltaV]

 

[QuickBpBp]

Depending on what it is it could be a bad fuel regulator. Saw one go bad on a John Deere 2 years ago. Customer kept using it and ended up having a dead cylinder as it fouled the plug and washed the rings out... They ended up having the engine rebuilt instead of getting a new one cause the old JD is a better design.

 

[74gtx]

A lot of the Briggs twin cylinder engines have issues with the heads coming loose and shooting oil everywhere once they are warm. I’ve seen several do this. Good luck. Mike

 

[kiwigtx]

Try it and report back to us. Mom put diesel in one. It ran like crap and smoked like a bitch.

I put AV-Gas in my mower so I could get the job done faster.

 

[jimbosride]

When I was young I once ran a mower on camping fuel....

Had to use a grass rake to put it all away.

 

[RemCharger]

I put AV-Gas in my mower so I could get the job done faster.

I like to run a bit of C12 in the snowblowers at the end of the season for the fuel system marinating, but yeah, it's the smell..