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Hello,

I have a 2006 MTD mower, with B & S, engine model 31X707, type 0777E2, 17 1/2 HP that had not been cranked or used in a while. I went to start it & it would
not turn over. I also noticed all the gas was gone out of the tank. I thought I must have used all the gas. It does not have a fuel shut-off value, but does have the
value on the carburetor. It must have stuck, open, and the carburetor float was not working, stuck-open. So , no gas in the tank.
I took the spark plug out and turned it over by hand. Cylinder was full of gas. I removed the oil drain plug and about 3/4 of a gal. of gas run out of the crankcase.
Does it need a teardown-cleaned and oiled? Are there any particular oil I can put in it to save it? Would it help if I put the oil in it and turned it upside down to help
lubricate the areas the gas washed the oil off? I was planning to junk the frame, but the engine was running fine, the last time it was cranked.
I know I will need a carburetor and fuel shutoff value. I do not know if this model has an oil pump, but it does not have an oil filter. The mower is a Calif. model,
but not located there. I currently am still draining the crankcase and will do so, several days, until I figure out what to do.

Can I save this engine? How can I do it?

Thanks!

It was running when you put it away? If so:

Rebuild or replace the carburetor.

The gas in the crankcase won't have caused any damage. Drain it out and refill with oil.

Start it up, run until it reaches operation temp, then change the oil again.

Keep the fuel shut off valve closed when parked from now on.

edit: If the thought of gas fumes in the crankcase gives you the creeps, bear in mind that two cycle engines run with gas fumes in their crankcase 100% of the time. But if you like, you could also flush the crankcase with kerosene or diesel fuel before filling with oil.

You are under the common misconception that the solenoid valve in the bottom of the carb has anything to do with gas flooding the crankcase and cylinder, it does not. Do install and use an inline gas shutoff valve regardless of whether or not you replace the carb float needle. Your engine has not suffered as a result of this mishap.

Walt Conner

Got It Running! One Problem?

Got it running!

I followed advise posted from the others. Also new battery installed, another carburetor, new fuel filter, added fuel cutoff value, fresh fuel and it fired right up.
Runs good. It smoked for about a couple of minutes, until it burned the oil out of the muffler. I used a carburetor off an old 15 1/2 HP I had, after cleaning
it good. Both carburetors were Walbro LMT, only 9 years difference in their ages. I could find no major differences in the two carbs, other than their ages.
The older one looked much better internally than the newer carb, which that one filled the engine with fuel. Not knowing if I was going to able to save the engine,
I decided on using the older carb and not buying a new one that I might not be able to use.

ONE PROBLEM?
I could not find any 30 reg. oil-anywhere. They make all kinds of multiple grades, but no one had any regular 30 weight, non detergent.
They now made a 10w30, 10w40 & 5w30 detergent and regular, but nothing as 30W. I bought the 10w30, regular and thought it was a little thin. I need to
change the oil out, now that it has run for a while but don't know on the oil what I need to use. I have checked 5 parts stores, 2 big box stores and nothing
found such as regular 30W non-detergent. The book says 30W regular or 30W HD.

Shop guys & others,
What kind of oil do you use on the Briggs & Stratton engines?

Thanks, you guys are the greatest!

You are suppose to use the detergent oil. So any regular ole 30w motor oil will work. Briggs, kohler and maybe somebody else sell 30w under their own names. Multigrade can be used but may lead to higher oil consumption. Synthetic is also a possible alternative if you like.

30 weight is hard to find now and will probably not exist at all much longer.

I run heavy duty oil, rated for diesel engines, in my air cooled engines. Chevron Delo, Mobil Delvac, Rotella, etc., in 15w-40. In one engine, I run Valvoline Syn-Power 5w-40 synthetic because it consumes less (almost none) of this oil.

strait 30 is made especially for mowers and infrequenty used engines.
It has a lot more anti corrosion addatives in it as these motors sit fr a long ime between uses.
Mower oil is generally dyed red.
Should be available from any mower shop and most hardwear shops that sell mowers.

most engine makers also sell their own blend at a premium price.

Honda & Kwaka both use 10W 30 which goes long way to explain the easy starting of the Honda walk behinds.
multigrades won't hurt and neither will plain old engine oil just make sure that you change it at the end of each season,

In our area Walmart has SAE 30W in their brand which I am Leary of but carries the same SAE rating as name brands. It is also available at the farm supply store and O'Riliey Auto Parts Store in name brands.

Walt Conner

What makes you think that you need to run non-detergent oil in mowers engines? The only place I use non-detergent oil is in hydraulic systems like in a wood splitters. You should use SAE30 in engines, which I have never seen any shortage buying. Not that the non-detergent oil will do any damage in your engine but it should be changed more often. It seems that back in my earlier years at a young age when I was still living on the farm that non-detergent oil 30 was used in a lot of the farm equipment engines, and don't recall any oil problems back in them years. My father would buy oil by the barrel and it had pump that you pumped into a special oil can with a spout that folded up or down and a valve you pushed to let the oil flow.

Tinkerer200 said:

In our area Walmart has SAE 30W in their brand which I am Leary of but carries the same SAE rating as name brands. It is also available at the farm supply store and O'Riliey Auto Parts Store in name brands. Walt Conner

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We run the Walmart 10w 30 in all,of our mowers and have had no,problems with it. I think you will find that it is brand name oil anyway in their bottle.

jekjr said:

We run the Walmart 10w 30 in all,of our mowers and have had no,problems with it. I think you will find that it is brand name oil anyway in their bottle.

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Myself I use Amsoil synthetic, best oil out there. Its a little pricey at 12 dollars a quart but well worth the money. Now for my shop customer's mowers I agree with you on the Walmart (Supertech) oil, been using it for years now and never had a problem with it. I also use the Supertech oil in my camp mower.

reynoldston said:

What makes you think that you need to run non-detergent oil in mowers engines? The only place I use non-detergent oil is in hydraulic systems like in a wood splitters. You should use SAE30 in engines, which I have never seen any shortage buying. Not that the non-detergent oil will do any damage in your engine but it should be changed more often. It seems that back in my earlier years at a young age when I was still living on the farm that non-detergent oil 30 was used in a lot of the farm equipment engines, and don't recall any oil problems back in them years. My father would buy oil by the barrel and it had pump that you pumped into a special oil can with a spout that folded up or down and a valve you pushed to let the oil flow.

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Non detergent oils are usually put into dry sump engines with external oil tanks that rely on sludging ( setteling ) impurities out of the oil.
A lolt of anchient motorcycles run non detergent oils unless we have secreted a filter into the system.