fido14dido
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- Jun 25, 2014
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Hi,
First post and looking for some help. I have an older Poulan / Weed Eater push mower model No. HDC4QN20RA with a 4HP Briggs & Stratton Quattro 4HP engine. This thing is probably 10-15 years old and I have two small lawns which I use it for.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran this mower and it was spewing out white smoke thru the muffler so I finished my job and ordered and replaced the muffler, spark plug, blade and washed out the foam air filter hoping that would solve the issue. I did not hit any hard objects while mowing. After replacing these parts, I tried running the mower again and came back with the same issues. Here are the symptoms:
Starts up like a champ after 3 primes.
White smoke that isn't continuous. It blows out white, runs like its okay for a second, then sputters and blows out more white smoke. The engine does NOT outright shut off despite all this as I managed to finish up the small lawn. Sliding the RPM scale does not have any have any positive impact.
New muffler has black residue as did the old.
New spark plug has black residue. The old spark plug also had this but also had more of a gooey texture
Took off the motor cover and tried to spin the blade and the top that spins along with it (don't know the technical terms). It starts to rotate okay then gets stuck/jammed somewhere between a half to full turn. I can't make a full rotation on the blade without it stiffening up along the way. If I brake it and release, it starts to rotate again but will get stuck during the rotation again. (I don't know if its supposed to operate this way but might be worth mentioning)
Oil level is not overfilled but I have not replaced it recently.
I have always used unleaded gasoline and have not had a prior issue.
I tried a some google searches and didn't come back with any worthwhile results so hoping to get some help here. I'm sure the neighbors are getting annoyed by the smoke and I'm trying to save a few hundred bucks by not having to fork out for a new mower. TIA for the advice.
First post and looking for some help. I have an older Poulan / Weed Eater push mower model No. HDC4QN20RA with a 4HP Briggs & Stratton Quattro 4HP engine. This thing is probably 10-15 years old and I have two small lawns which I use it for.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran this mower and it was spewing out white smoke thru the muffler so I finished my job and ordered and replaced the muffler, spark plug, blade and washed out the foam air filter hoping that would solve the issue. I did not hit any hard objects while mowing. After replacing these parts, I tried running the mower again and came back with the same issues. Here are the symptoms:
Starts up like a champ after 3 primes.
White smoke that isn't continuous. It blows out white, runs like its okay for a second, then sputters and blows out more white smoke. The engine does NOT outright shut off despite all this as I managed to finish up the small lawn. Sliding the RPM scale does not have any have any positive impact.
New muffler has black residue as did the old.
New spark plug has black residue. The old spark plug also had this but also had more of a gooey texture
Took off the motor cover and tried to spin the blade and the top that spins along with it (don't know the technical terms). It starts to rotate okay then gets stuck/jammed somewhere between a half to full turn. I can't make a full rotation on the blade without it stiffening up along the way. If I brake it and release, it starts to rotate again but will get stuck during the rotation again. (I don't know if its supposed to operate this way but might be worth mentioning)
Oil level is not overfilled but I have not replaced it recently.
I have always used unleaded gasoline and have not had a prior issue.
I tried a some google searches and didn't come back with any worthwhile results so hoping to get some help here. I'm sure the neighbors are getting annoyed by the smoke and I'm trying to save a few hundred bucks by not having to fork out for a new mower. TIA for the advice.
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