Did a side job cleaning up a house for sale.

Hauled lots of rubbish, and got to keep a few things.

Got a 2002 17hp I/C with sleeve Briggs powered Murray.

Owners didn't want it, bought it new in 02', ran it for a season, moved out (military), rented house, next season a renter lost the key, no one has used it since.

Been under a leanto at the back of the garage.

I changed the oil, new plug, new filters, new fuel line, new wiring from the batt to ground, batt to solenoid, solenoid to starter, new batt.

Cranked several times, and she lit off.

Slowed her throttle down to low to try and ease her into use, and once warmed up we got lots of oily smoke out the exhaust.

Valve seals, ring, what am I looking at here?

I can't afford to buy anything, even used, my Craftsman from the other thread is still in line at the shop.

I've done lots of auto shadetree stuff, even rebuilt my 352 v8.

This has to be fixable by me.....or can it?

Let me know what ya think. Excellant power and smooth running until she gets warmed up and starts billowing smoke.

Blair

 

Are you sure that nothing leaked onto the exhaust while it sit? One of my mowers if i let it sit for a while.. it drips some oil on the muffler, which looks like its coming out of the exhaust.
A different mower i have if i let it sit for a while it will smoke for a little bit after start up. But if i dont let it sit real long it wont smoke hardley any on start up.

How many time have you started it and it keeps blowing smoke?

 

Started it several times, twice yesterday.

Seems like the plug is fouling, but it was getting dark, so I didn't bother pulling it.

I'll take a look today.

The oil is definitely in the exhuast pipe. It's spraying on the tire as it cranks and runs.

I'm going to dump a couple ounces. I was very careful when measuring, but just for the sake of it, I'm going to pull a few and see if it's over filled.

Thanks

Blair

 

The easiest way to determine if it's the engine or oil residing in the muffler is to take off the muffler and see if you have blue smoke coming out of the exhaust port. Wear hearing protection as unmuffled 17 HP B&S engines are quite loud.

If you still have blue smoke, more than likely it's overfilled, the rings are worn, or the valve seals are shot. All very easy to replace, done them myself a couple of times, though be very careful reassembling the engine - when I "rebuilt" my 17 HP engine for my murray last summer I didn't get the "oil flicker" assembly in quite right, fired it up and about 1/2 way through the summer it seized

Lesson Learned: Never assemble an engine with a 2-1/2 y/o distracting you. Bad!

 

Thanks frederic.

Any special tools required, and what did you use as a ref guide?

Like to have something to follow if I have to get into it.

I'm going to clean the plug after I dump a little oil.

Then I'll pull the muffler.

I'll post up what is going on.

 

Another tractor Blair,well check your oil and make sure there isn't any fuel in it, if all is good and it still smokes most likely the cylinder got rusted up (common problem from sitting) and nothing can be done with it as it will cost you as much as a new engine to have it rebuilt if you can't do it yourself. I can't believe your other tractor isn't repaired yet.I wouldn't wast my time pulling the muffler as the oil would burn off after a few minutes of running at full throttle.

 

Yea it seems like I have a penchant for finding free stuff that needs fixing.

Well tonight I dumped out the oil. Lots of gas.

I cleaned the crap out of the carb (again), the exhaust (not much oil in it, mostly residue), cleaned the plug, just cleaned it top to bottom.

I put in fresh oil, but kept it about 8 ounces less. Calls for 48oz, I went right at 40. Triple check the level.

I'm thinking maybe I had too much oil in there? I took my damn time measuring too. Shoot I feel like a complete newb.

Anyway, I fired, it smoked some, waiting for it to get warm, see if she billows.

Not yet, burning just residue it seems. Seems to be so slightly revving up and down, will hold a steady idle at lower engine speeds, so I'm just going to run it some tomorrow.

I have several fuel filters and spark plugs in case things get fouled.

Anyway, she started and ran maybe 10 minutes, with minor smoke, seems like residue, gonna tinker some tomorrow see I can get her to smooth out.

My dalmation & lab is up to their shoulders in grass, the little dog, well, he just craps on the deck now. I think he gave up on me.

 

Depending on the configuration of your intake manifold, it is possible that gas has leaked into the crankcase, raising the oil level.
I have seen this happen with a bad float or float needle/seat. The float doesn't shut off the flow of fuel to the bowl, and on some engines, the gas has nowhere to drip to except into the crankcase.

 

Well she is running.

I guess the flaot was stuck or something.

Now the single issue is that at full power she revs up and down. At say 90% power or less she will idle smooth.

What controls the butterfly in the carb closet to the engine?

That valve is bumping slightly back & forth.

If I can get that to smooth out, looks like she is running good then.

Oh and the gas tank leaks too, but I think I can handle that one.

WAs wondering where all the gas went I put in yesterday.....

It is dripping out in the back.

 

The throttle is controlled directly by the governor. If the linkage is rubbing against something and binding, then that will cause it to overspeed then kick back to below governed speed, just as you described. If it runs smooth at 90% throttle, I would run it there, you'd save a little gas too.

 

Well first with the hunting problem sounds like there is some dirt or varnish in the carb and it is running to lean and or the governor needs to be reset but I think it would be the carb still has a little dirt.
Now the fuel tank problem just before Murry went belly up and Briggs bought them out they had a problem with their fuel tanks leaking and on their web site they recommended that you junk the tractor as you can not get a replacement tank(what the hell) but now that Briggs owns them a new tank might be available but you will need to check with a dealer.

 

Thanks fellas.

I'll check to make sure all linkage is free and clear, I'm on my 3rd filter, but when I opened the bowl last, still junk in there.

I'll clean it out again, then use a new filter.

Maybe a couple more cycles and she'll run smooth.

AS for the tank, not sure what to do about it, might see if Johnny Appleseed mower mechanic has one laying around.

 

You and them mowers....LOL The "hunting" issue is a carb issue that the governor is constantly trying to fix. I have seen that this is caused by varnish in the main jet. I use a small peice of wire and compressed air to clean it out. The main jet is in the middle where the fuel bowl screw usually attaches. Try running sone Seafoam through it, that will take care of some of the varnish but it is best to take it apart and clean it. This varnish is also what caused the oil and gas to mix. A inline fuel shut off is a temporary solution. As for the tank, try some JB weld and let it cure overnite before you put it to the test. Good luck.

 

Thanks Kevin.

This tractor had tons of varnish in the bowl and on the needle, so it makes sense.

I'll pull her apart and clean the jet, and do some seafoam too.

Yea, I hear ya on these mowers. This was to be my last season with a regualr rider, then I was going for a 0 turn.

Oh well, lack of funds, lack of steady work, looks like I'll have to nurse this one along.

When the other is fixed I will sell it. Maybe this one too.

Anyways, thanks!!

 

Been busy, haven't taken the Murray apart yet.

Ran a couple of ounces of Seafoam through the carb, seemed to do slightly better.

Got the Craftsman back, blown coil (new).

He tested the seat switch. Works fine.

OK, so I'm ignorant, and one thing I like about the guy is he tells me what he did and why, and explains what he thinks the problem is.

There is some wiring, I think he said it goes the deck switch.

There is a diode in the positive side, and the wiring also has a odd ground to it. (He was pointing directly at the wires and talking, I'm not fuly sure of what he was trying to explain but I tried to understand)

The diode had burned out, and the ground wire had started grounding out inside the plastic connector.

Anyway, it runs, runs strong, and I used it to cut last night.

When I get back in town after my long weekend, I'm going to clean it up, and list it on CL for sale.

The Murray will do me for the rest of the summer once I get it running 100%, then I will sell that too.

I think I'm going to go ahead and bite the bullet, get me a zero turn, next season.