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Hi,

A family member just bought this at a yard sale for $10. Prior owner, who she trusts, said that the carb need cleaning. Foolishly, I agreed to get it running.

The engine is a Tecumseh VLV55 model 501029A. The mower is an MTD/Yard Machines model 124-477D013. The engine also says 'Vector XL/C' on the top. Suspect that this is the name of the mower.

My current problem is how to drain the old, black, engine oil. Pictures from internet parts sellers suggest that there is a drain plug on the bottom. I can't see it. Might be covered by sheet metal. The user manual is apparently made of unobtainium. The engine service manuals refer the reader to the same unavailable manual.

Does anybody remember how to drain the oil from one of these? I'm beginning to think that tipping the mower over to drain through the dipstick port may be the answer.

Thanks in advance!

The factory manual is available as a free dowload from here "K&T Parts House Lawn Mower Parts and Chain Saw & Trimmer Parts"
Yours is the last one before the yearly updates

The oil drain plug is under the mower and you might have to drop the engine pully to get at it properly.
Some times the machine maker puts a pull out plug on a hole on the chassis.
It is about 1/3 the distance from the crank to the edge of the motor towards the cylinder.
There are several good reasons why all mower shops use pumps to remove the oil and this is one of them.

Thanks!

I would still like to find a copy of the User Manual. The mower doesn't belong to me. The deck of the mower might be getting an access hole for the drain plug. It's out of warranty anyway.

Here is your units Owners manual. http://manuals.mtdproducts.com/manuals/770-8560j.pdf

Simplest way to change the oil is: warm the engine up, remove the dipstick and tip the unit on it's side, draining the oil out the fill tube. That's the way we do it in the shop every day. Just make sure the carb is always up.

Tipping the mower on its side and draining out the dipstick tube is standard practice on most new push mowers. Briggs stopped putting drain plugs on some of there push mower engines about 3 years ago. I have even see the no drain plug engine on a few front tine tillers. Now that is fun trying to drain.

Thanks!

Rivets said:

Here is your units Owners manual. http://manuals.mtdproducts.com/manuals/770-8560j.pdf

Simplest way to change the oil is: warm the engine up, remove the dipstick and tip the unit on it's side, draining the oil out the fill tube. That's the way we do it in the shop every day. Just make sure the carb is always up.

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Gees Rivs you mean to tell me you blokes run the engine till warm then lift up a hot mower roll it on it's side and pour the hot oil out of the dipstick tube into a pan then drain the oil pan into a drum ?
I am a one man shop but even I have 2 x 6.5 Liter oil pumps in the shop and a 2 Liter one in the van.
So much cleaner , so much easier and when really buisy I can be doing 3 services simultaneously.

I'm sure when you guys down under learn how fast, clean and easy it is to drain the oil this way, you'll start to understand why we've been doing it this way for years in God's Country. Warm up the engine, remove the dipstick, tip the unit on it's side draining the oil into a shallow pan. While oil is draining, remove the blade, scrap the deck, sharpen and balance the blade, install and tip up to fill with fresh oil. When you learn how this works you will find out as I have, you can check 4 items off your check list in under 15 minutes. If you are worried about fuel leaking, put a sandwich bag between the tank and cap. There is nothing hard or messy about doing it this way and it is the method which I taught my students for many years. Don't knock it until you try it, it works great and you'll save some time. PS: I do have a vacuum pump for larger units or units which can't be tipped.

Never had any luck with tipping out oil .
Usually end up with pan of hot oil all over the floor & burned fingers.
I always flip the backwards after dropping the handles as most will stand up by themselves while I do the blades & deck.
Interesting how different people approach the same task.

I ended up tipping it. Oil wasn't hot. More like cold black coffee. No spills. Had two tasks for today. First was to reinsert the mulching plug. Done. Cleaned out about 3/4 cubic feet of dried grass and the like. Second was to attach the chute deflector. Partially complete. Got it back on the rod that holds it. Didn't get the springs quite right. Not enough hands. Just occurred to me that I can use some string to hold the springs 'open' while seating everything. These are the springs that cause tension on the 'door' when you open it. Next task after that is to figure out why the throttle and drive controls seem frozen.

jm123 said:

I ended up tipping it. Oil wasn't hot. More like cold black coffee. No spills. Had two tasks for today. First was to reinsert the mulching plug. Done. Cleaned out about 3/4 cubic feet of dried grass and the like. Second was to attach the chute deflector. Partially complete. Got it back on the rod that holds it. Didn't get the springs quite right. Not enough hands. Just occurred to me that I can use some string to hold the springs 'open' while seating everything. These are the springs that cause tension on the 'door' when you open it. Next task after that is to figure out why the throttle and drive controls seem frozen.

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If it has not been used for a while inner cables are most likely rusted into the outers.

bertsmobile1 said:

If it has not been used for a while inner cables are most likely rusted into the outers.

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That could be. Might also be a rusted spring at the working end of the cable. We'll see in a day or two. Bad weather tomorrow. Thanks!