Help with lawnmower belching white smoke

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Help with lawnmower belching white smoke

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:37:05 AM EDT

I have a problem with my lawnmower and am hoping someone here can help me. I was mowing my lawn, which due to the recent rains in Texas, is taller than I usually let it get. The grass is maybe six inches high. Anyway, I mowed about two thirds of the lawn, when all of sudden the mower began belching white smoke. Can anyone tell me what might be causing this?

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:41:48 AM EDT

[#1]

Did you ever tilt the lawn mower to its side? Sometimes the oil can leak onto the muffler, and burn.
c-rock

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:43:00 AM EDT

[#2]

Um, it would depend on where the smoke is coming from.

The blades are probably all gummed up.. Common if the grass is wet. This will cause the drive belt to slide over the pully and eat it up, sending smoke everywhere.

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:44:28 AM EDT

[#3]

Maybe your oil and gas mixture is not right.

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:47:44 AM EDT

[#4]

Ah, c-rock, that may be it. I did tilt it and I think the cloud of smoke did come off the muffler.

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:48:30 AM EDT

[#5]

Mowers don't typically need 2-cycle oil. And that wouldn't account for a sudden start to the smoking. The blades getting jammed up would.

Posted: 7/9/2002 7:52:34 AM EDT

[#6]

I will check and report back later. Thank you all for your help.

Posted: 7/9/2002 8:29:29 AM EDT

[#7]

The new Briggs and Stratton Quantem engines are terrible about puking oil into the cylinder when tilted a little. This will get to the combustion chamber and smoke like crazy. It only takes a small incline to do it. Good luck.

Posted: 7/9/2002 9:49:12 AM EDT

[#8]

I'd worry if my LawnBoy didn't belch smoke.

Posted: 7/9/2002 4:45:42 PM EDT

[#9]

You may have too much oil in the mower. Try emptying some. Also check the air filter.

Posted: 7/9/2002 5:50:54 PM EDT

[#10]

Try changing the oil. If I tilt mine too often during maintenance, gas somehow fills the combustion chamer and then leaks down into the oil, thus thinning it. Then there's not enough compression to keep the thinned oil back where it's supposed to be and it gets burned up. Lots of white smoke.
At least that's the case with my mower.

Posted: 7/9/2002 8:05:26 PM EDT

[#11]

I left it alone for a while, and then came back and started it. It ran fine without smoking, and I finished the rest of the yard. It must have been a temporary oil-burning thing.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Help with lawnmower belching white smoke

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