yard mahines riding mower

[curse]

My mower is nickle and diming me to death. I've replaced a deck support spring, the starter gear (which is already worn and I need another), fuel lines, in-line fuel filter, air filter, spark plug, and an OEM Briggs and Stratton carburetor.

After fixin it up I tested it. It went about 50 feet and was running new when it spewed a white/grey smoke out the muffler and died. I could not get it restarted because of the worn plastic starter gear.

I do not want to dump any more money into this thing without an idea of what might be wrong.

Since i'm a vehicle mechanic I tend to think head gasket but this mower is not cooled by coolant so where could the white/grey smoke come from?

Thanks in advance

 

[Rivets]

Head gasket is correct, smoke is combination of gas and oil. Yes, I know it is air cooled, but if it is OHV I stick with my statement. If you are going through starter gears that fast, either you have bad teeth on your ring gear, the starter is loose, or you may be getting the wrong plastic gear. There are two different gears available, but not interchangeable.

 

[curse]

Thanks for the confirmation. I will get a head gasket on the way and hope that's it. Thanks!

 

[BlazNT]

You could also be messing up your starter gears because valve lash is not right. I would check that. It does not cost money.

 

[curse]

Ok. I just started tearing into it and found crankcase was full of gas.

I got a new head gasket to replace (#7) but how could that cause the issue?

There are no external leaks.

I thought maybe there was a gasket for the cylinder jug but it appears to be one complete cast???

I turned the motor over by hand and the valves are operating like they should.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[curse]

Bad needle and seat? the carb is new OEM!

 

[Rivets]

Nickel and Dime time again. Cause of gas getting into the crankcase is a float needle and seat not functioning properly. Need to rebuild carb and replace both the needle and seat. You will hear from some on this forum to add an inline shutoff valve to the fuel line, but my take on that is putting a band aid on the situation, not repairing the problem. The choice is your's.

 

[dana a]

If the fire went out and came back on as the ignition died, would that cause the white and and grey smoke? If it still doesn't light off when you get it back together see if there is any fire to the plug.

Dana

 

[Rivets]

Dana, please don't make this thread confusing. He needs to fix the gasket and carb.

 

[dana a]

Dana, please don't make this thread confusing. He needs to fix the gasket and carb.

He has a new carburetor and probably knows why the crankcase had gas in it as he's a mechanic. I was referring to why it quit running in the first place. I'm no expert but it makes sense to me that it quit running due to no fire to the plug. We know it was getting gas. I had a blown head gasket once on a 16 HP over head valve engine and it ran fine till it got a load then lost power. I made a head gasket out of cardboard to see if an engine would run and it sealed good enough for it to run.