Craftsman lawn tractor burning oil
- Thread starter bkenobi
- Start date
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I tested compression prior to pulling the head the other day and found that I was getting 90-95psi. The only thing I had done was pull the head cover, clean the oil, and reinstall. After rebuilding, I now have 120psi! I killed the battery by leaving the switch in the wrong position, so I couldn't start it up after getting everything back together, but this morning it fired up with pep and engaged the deck with a small puff of exhaust. Should run MUCH better now!
davesl708
Elite Member
Good news.
The motor seems to run great after it warms up. Prior to the gasket failure (the large plume), I could turn the mower on and engage the deck immediately if desired. Now if I don't let it run for a couple minutes the motor will bog down and try to die. After it's been run for a few minutes, I haven't seen any issues.
I checked the spark plug and it has black on the sides but not the spark points. I haven't done anything to the carb, but I'm wondering if somehow it could have been bumped enough to require tuning? Black soot to me suggests it's running rich but I don't see any exhaust so I expected it to be a clean plug. Perhaps these engines have some small amount of soot even when running clean?
I checked the spark plug and it has black on the sides but not the spark points. I haven't done anything to the carb, but I'm wondering if somehow it could have been bumped enough to require tuning? Black soot to me suggests it's running rich but I don't see any exhaust so I expected it to be a clean plug. Perhaps these engines have some small amount of soot even when running clean?
Wouldn't black soot indicate that it's burning oil ?
I was under the impression that rich gas engine didn't procude soot unless it burned oil as opposed to diesel.
I don't think it's not burning oil at this point. I ran it for a couple hours now and the oil is pristine and at the original level. I should pull the plug after it's run for a while to see if it looks the same or if the thin coating is burned off.
I didn't adjust the valve gaps as they seemed pretty close to the correct setting. The manual gave a gap tolerance and they were within that so I didn't bother trying to exactly center the gaps.
I can't think of any other tweaks that could be made other than tuning the carb. But, since it runs fine with no backfires/surges/choking/etc, I don't want to create a broblem for something of a minor issue (I think). The only other thing I can easily do (and should anyway) is change the fuel filter.
I didn't adjust the valve gaps as they seemed pretty close to the correct setting. The manual gave a gap tolerance and they were within that so I didn't bother trying to exactly center the gaps.
I can't think of any other tweaks that could be made other than tuning the carb. But, since it runs fine with no backfires/surges/choking/etc, I don't want to create a broblem for something of a minor issue (I think). The only other thing I can easily do (and should anyway) is change the fuel filter.
davesl708
Elite Member
You might add some Sea Foam to the fuel to help clean it out. Expect some white smoke when you first use it.
davesl708
Elite Member
Sea Foam will clean the complete fuel system. From the tank to the cylinder. If I remember correctly one small bottle treats 20 gallons of fuel. Using more per gallon will not have any ill effect. I filled my 5 gallon storage tank and added 5 oz. Sea Foam to it and fill the mower from it till it was used up.