16HP Vanguard valve adjustment

Scrubcadet10

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Thanks. I didn’t end up having time to testing it today, so I’ll check it ASAP. Maybe I can convince my coworker to put his tongue on the breather tube. :D
While you're at it, tell him to hold the end of the spark plug wire :p
 

Gumby83

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Agreed. White smoke is burning of engine oil, not a "rich" fuel condition.
I don't think it's Seafoam or WD-40 used during assembly, it's definitely engine oil.

My list...
• Change the crankcase oil to the correct weight and grade
• Make sure engine oil is not over-filled
• Check the engine breather system
• STOP with the excessive idle time. 1/3 throttle OK, but not idle.

-Exactly where in this thread did you read that I used the wrong oil?
-As I stated in post #26, oil is not overfilled.
-I’ll test the breather next chance I get.
 

Gumby83

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First, I'm going to clear the air by offering Born2Mow an apology for my poor choice of words and actions.

I wasn't actually mad or upset about anything. My "angry" response was a poor attempt at starting an argument for my own amusement, because I'm a bit twisted like that. I've always found it curious that someone could read a statement or question on a message board as confrontational, agitating, or otherwise argumentative when there's absolutely no supporting punctuation or imagery to suggest that's the case.

Is that how some people read fiction? With the assumption that every sentence is meant to stab them in the eye when there's no punctuation to support that? I suppose it makes Jules Vern novels much more intense.

Point being, I merely asked a question in response to your post. There were no exclamation points, words in all caps, or emoji's to suggest I was upset or agitated by anything. It was just a question.

So then there was your response, and at the time, I just couldn't help myself but respond like I did. Because I find that kind of s**t funny, and I forget that sometimes people might just be having a bad day and message boards are often the outlet for their frustrations, even if the topic is unrelated. Whether or not that was the case for you, I don't know, but either way, I'm owning my a**holery for my post. I'm sorry.

If you choose to forgive me, thank you - if not, well, that's your choice.

As to the cause of the smoke, it turned out to be diesel contamination in the gas. I'll share the details of how that was discovered in a later post, but it had have been "just the right amount" of contamination for this engine to run on it. I've only seen diesel contamination once - and that was in a pickup - but I've heard plenty of stories and it's rare for a gas engine to run at all when diesel has contaminated the gas. From what I've heard, if they run at all, they sound ready to explode.
 

Scrubcadet10

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Glad you got it figured out!
 

Gumby83

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Ok, so (finally) here’s the story with how diesel ended up in the tank.

As this ball drag had been in the shop for about 2 years, and oftentimes would sit for a month or more between troubleshooting sessions, I would only keep a gallon or less gas in it and frequently drained it if the gas was needed for something else at a moment’s notice.

We have a few gas cans on hand as well as 1 for diesel (yellow as opposed to red so [in theory] no one gets them confused). I can’t prove this happened but what I suspect is someone used an empty gas can to catch old diesel and then the can was later filled without anyone being the wiser.

I figure it was either that or one of the other guys wanted to prank me and dumped some diesel in it without me knowing - but no one took credit so I don’t think that’s the case.
 
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