LB 10323 #20000000+, fuel consumption?

MJW45

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Folks - real newbie here who has judiciously followed this site and has had remarkable good fortune in all advice gleamed from ALL here. Following ALL that I've read from the experts visiting, my childhood machine was running as close to perfection last fall, crap plastic carb cleaned several times, new vane spring, gaskets, carb rebuild, larger pilot jet, even a baked coil after poor start during this covid stuff. Started like a charm, NO surging, idling like purring kitten, cut like a knife/sharpened blade through high grass as if butter! Darnn, only made 2-3 passes on my large lawn and out of gas!? Ran the entire afternoon like that 2-3 passes, fill tank. Always starts on first pull, idle remains calm, accepts speed increase and decrease . . . let her cool down, cleaned her off and can find no visible gas leak, no odors of such whatsoever? Even tried closing down the gas shutoff, to no appreciable avail? Despise another carb removal, however resigned to it! So, what's up as they now say???? I'm listening, thanks mw.
 

Rivets

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Need to figure out if the fuel is going out the cylinder or some other place. Need you to try something and report back. Please replace the plug with new and run unit unit it quits. Pull the plug and see if it is covered in dry carbon or oily carbon. If your fuel/oil ratio is correct neither of these conditions should appear. Second, what type of oil are you using and what ratio? Third, has the amount and color of smoke changed? Report back as then we will have a better picture of what is happening.
 

MJW45

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Rivets - many thanks for your assistance, my tardiness in replying is no excuse! Plug replaced yearly (NGK) BMr . . ., new one inserted in late Apr, ran such two days ago on full tank, cutting a 300' x 9' path along property sideline before out of gas. Plug pulled, slight oily sheen, no carbon nor blackness whatsoever? Stringently adhere to 32:1 mixture w/Husqvarna 2 stroke oil. Emission smoke only at startup, lasts less than minute, once warm the faint cloud is no longer. Tried further refinement w/vane spring to lessen idle speed, got good response. Tried the side pilot carb adjustment and got no engine response plus nor minus? Pulled muffler screen, cleaned via propane torch, no major clogs nor oil leak buildup. Tilted mower on side gave all possible visuals looking for evidence of leaks, no odors neither, nada. Have not opened exhaust port since check 2+ years ago, nor pulling muffler? Perhaps I live with the copious gas appetite and get on w/life . . . ha! Stay healthy during this extraordinary time Rivets, any other thoughts on this machine?
 

tom3

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You replaced pilot jet? Might check the new one beside the old one, verify they are the same. These mowers seem to use a lot of gas but I'm sure you know your machine.
 

MJW45

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tom3 - hey, a good suggestion, hope I kept the old, I'll search my toolbox . . . damn! Nice comment, "you know your machine", LMAO, true newbie here, learning day by day thanks to other way more knowledgeable ones such as yourself & Rivets! Thanks again, MJW
 

keakar

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Folks - real newbie here who has judiciously followed this site and has had remarkable good fortune in all advice gleamed from ALL here. Following ALL that I've read from the experts visiting, my childhood machine was running as close to perfection last fall, crap plastic carb cleaned several times, new vane spring, gaskets, carb rebuild, larger pilot jet, even a baked coil after poor start during this covid stuff. Started like a charm, NO surging, idling like purring kitten, cut like a knife/sharpened blade through high grass as if butter! Darnn, only made 2-3 passes on my large lawn and out of gas!? Ran the entire afternoon like that 2-3 passes, fill tank. Always starts on first pull, idle remains calm, accepts speed increase and decrease . . . let her cool down, cleaned her off and can find no visible gas leak, no odors of such whatsoever? Even tried closing down the gas shutoff, to no appreciable avail? Despise another carb removal, however resigned to it! So, what's up as they now say???? I'm listening, thanks mw.
why in the world would you ever change the pilot jet? why? putting in larger jets make it use way more gas, its that simple

buy a new carb for it and call it a day, dont mess with it, just go cut grass
 

1saxman

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I don't see it using significantly more fuel without visible smoke. Even at 50:1 it should smoke if you happen to leave it on 'choke' after warming up. However, the gas is going somewhere and it apparently is going through the engine. Owners started replacing the pilot jet on the 10550 and 10323 with Duraforce (E) engine because it was set to run lean and tended to surge. This is the first incidence of excessive consumption I have heard in association with that. I did not replace mine and I had one of each of those mowers. Surging while not cutting grass was of no concern to me as long as it went into 'power hum' when mowing. I did do some adjusting with the air vane tension ring from time to time.
The only thing anyone could think on this is it is using too much fuel because of the replacement jet or a choke adjustment and the amount/mixture/oil used is such that excessive smoke is not produced.
Question: Are you saying that you have used this mower before on the same yard and it did not use excessive fuel over the same course of use?
If not, maybe we all need to wrap our heads around the conditions of use. If you are cutting a swath 300 feet long, back and forth, and it runs out of gas after 3 trips, that's cutting 900 linear feet. Just estimating here, that would be my whole front yard a time and a half. It seems to me that would not be considered really unusual consumption with the small tank on these mowers. You may know that the commercial variants had much larger fuel tanks for this reason.
Anyway, I would say there is no mechanical problem with the machine. You could put it back to original and maybe get another 300' pass but it wouldn't run as sweet. The proof to me is no smoke at 32:1 - the engine is simply not running rich. You are simply using a 21" mower where normally you would expect a rider to be used, plus you have enriched the mixture as it would have been with the 'F' engine, for example. If you are going to continue to do this, you might consider putting a larger fuel tank on it from a commercial mower.
 
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