I was washing my driveway over the weekend and the hose got tangled a bit. I looked up and the washer was up side down! Spewing bluish smoke. I turned it off ASAP. After that, it wouldn't start. Before I try to start her again, I thought I'd ask for advice.

 

Pull the plug, clean it or replace it, fill the oil, and give it a shot. It'll probably smoke a bit, but if you shut it down and it didn't just die on it's own, it should be somewhat ok. I would run 15w40 diesel oil in it though, for extra protection.

 

Good idea on the oil. I'll give it a shot. Seems the worst problem was running without lube in the right place.

 

Pull the air cleaner also, It's gotta be oil soaked.

 

Right. Sort of a mini overhaul. What exactly happens when you run a small engine (Honda 5.0HP OHC) up side down for 10 seconds? I know she sure smoked alot!

 

Like what was stated before, If it was still running when you shut it down. Chances are you did nothing to the motor. The smoke was from the oil getting into the top of the motor. Clean it up, and change the oil, and you should be good to go.

 

if you got it shut off in 10 seconds then you most likley didnt hurt the motor. i have seen small briggs motors run for a while with no oil in them. the smoke you seen was the motor burning oil. like in was said above pull the air filter you likley got oil in the carb and what not so it will smoke when you start it up.

 

Another thing you might want to do is turn the engine over a couple times with the plug out of it. That way it'll be easier to expel any oil, gas, etc. that may have built up in the cylinder and you won't take the chance of hydro-locking it if there is a lot in there.

 

Thanks all you all!

The air cleaner was saturated with oil, and there was a tablespoon in the air cleaner housing.

The plug was remarkably clean. Oil level was down some (duh).

I changed the oil, cleaned the air filter housing and replaced the filter, cleaned and gapped the plug, and pulled the starter cord several times with the plug out.

I replaced the plug and she started right up. Smoked a bit until warmed up. Thanks all for the advice!

 

Life is good! Glad we could help.