ok,here is what I did today. pulled the valve cover and turned the engine over by hand. valves move,so I know one of them isn't broke. Did a compression test and got a zero reading,but not real sure my gauge actually works,been 15 years since I've used it. I did notice when I was cranking the engine with the key while doing the compression test,there was A TON of oil blowby coming out of the dipstick tube and what smelled like gas/blowby coming out of the carb. I have attached a picture of what the key/crankshaft looks like. looks normal to me. If you look close,you can still see the key in the keyway and lined up correctly.
did I blow it up?
- Thread starter cjben
- Start date
ok,here is what I did today. pulled the valve cover and turned the engine over by hand. valves move,so I know one of them isn't broke. Did a compression test and got a zero reading,but not real sure my gauge actually works,been 15 years since I've used it. I did notice when I was cranking the engine with the key while doing the compression test,there was A TON of oil blowby coming out of the dipstick tube and what smelled like gas/blowby coming out of the carb. I have attached a picture of what the key/crankshaft looks like. looks normal to me. If you look close,you can still see the key in the keyway and lined up correctly.
cpurvis
Lawn Addict
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You said early that you held your thumb over the spark plug hole and it had compression. That and the fact that it was running at the time leads me to believe it has compression. Being an ex-gearhead, you can probably tell if an engine has no compression by the sound it makes while cranking.
Seeing fumes coming from the crankcase vent is normal. All engines are pumps and the air in the crankcase gets compressed by the piston moving downward. It has to go somewhere. Likewise it has to allow air back into the crankcase when the piston moves upward. Single cylinder engines are among the worst in this regard. Multi cylinder engines have this pumping minimized by having some pistons moving up and some moving down at the same time, thus canceling each other out.
I can't think of anything that a sudden stoppage could do to cause the engine to not have compression unless the compression release is somehow holding a valve open. Make sure that both valves are closing fully.
Seeing fumes coming from the crankcase vent is normal. All engines are pumps and the air in the crankcase gets compressed by the piston moving downward. It has to go somewhere. Likewise it has to allow air back into the crankcase when the piston moves upward. Single cylinder engines are among the worst in this regard. Multi cylinder engines have this pumping minimized by having some pistons moving up and some moving down at the same time, thus canceling each other out.
I can't think of anything that a sudden stoppage could do to cause the engine to not have compression unless the compression release is somehow holding a valve open. Make sure that both valves are closing fully.
cpurvis,did you look at the picture of the keyway? does that look good to you? By crankcase vent,you mean dipstick tube because that is where the blowby,actually oil was spraying out? also blowby/maybe gas coming out of the carb. It does seem like the timing is off,but everything is lined up so I don't think that is it.
Thanks for the help!! just seems like I am missing something simple. For whatever reason,the engine did crank when the shirt was caught in the blades even though I had the blades shut off. Almost seems like it isn't getting enough spark because of a safety feature or something but I doubt a 10 year old lt2000 is that sophisticated. Wifey is threatening to go buy me a new one,have to get it running before she does that!!:thumbsup:
Well,put a new plug in today. And if it wasn't broke before,I think it is now. :thumbdown: Tried to start it and HUGE pop and backfire through the carb. kids came running out and asked me what I was shooting at.:laughing: so I think the spark is good now,but still acts like it is out of time. Maybe I'll take the wifey up on her offer. bout tired of messing with this pos.:mur:
Does anybody think I could have bent a valve when I tried to start the engine with the blades still on? Engine cranked over real slow like it was under pressure,well because it was. lol How hard is it to replace and adjust the valves?
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
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Get a new head gasket & pull the head off.
Good chance you will find something stuck under the inlet valve holding it open
Other than that, the cam is cactus.
Good chance you will find something stuck under the inlet valve holding it open
Other than that, the cam is cactus.
Symptoms are broken flywheel key. Possibly the key broke, engine spun full turn and stopped with key-way, aligned again on broken key. Timing is now way off, by 180 degrees. Need a flywheel puller and a $1.65 flywheel key.