Blown Head Gasket...

 
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Coalfire
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Post by Coalfire » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 11:02 am

Bring the engine to top dead center compression and apply shop air in the cylinder hole, use a compression gauge hose to do this. Now listen where the air is coming from if it is from head gasket you will know, if a bunch is coming from crank case than you know rings/cyl wall. the oil around the head gasket might just be from the valve cover leaking :idea: :idea: :idea:


 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 11:05 am

Coalfire wrote:Bring the engine to top dead center compression and apply shop air in the cylinder hole, use a compression gauge hose to do this. Now listen where the air is coming from if it is from head gasket you will know, if a bunch is coming from crank case than you know rings/cyl wall. the oil around the head gasket might just be from the valve cover leaking :idea: :idea: :idea:
Will do. I will start there.

Now I need to find my compression tester as it has the air hose attachment. LOL

 
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 11:40 am

That would be a leakdown tester if it has an air hose attachment. ;)

Leak down is even better - like was stated, make sure your on TDC compression (not overlap), zero the gauge first with the air hooked up, then attach it to the lead you screwed into the spark plug hole. Should be around 5%. 10% will run, but is getting worn. Anything above that & it's rebuild time. You'll hear where the air is pissing out - that's your problem area. Breather = rings, exhaust = exh. valve, & carb = intake valve ... and anywhere out the side of the engine = bad gasket or cracks.

DO NOT spend $1,200 at Sears - that's just ludicrous. Either buy a used engine off eBay / Craigslist, or find a chinese one at Harbor freight for less than 1/3 that price. Or, if you can find a guy working out of his garage that can rebuild it for cheap, that would be the way to go as well.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 12:06 pm

SMITTY wrote:That would be a leakdown tester if it has an air hose attachment. ;)

Leak down is even better - like was stated, make sure your on TDC compression (not overlap), zero the gauge first with the air hooked up, then attach it to the lead you screwed into the spark plug hole. Should be around 5%. 10% will run, but is getting worn. Anything above that & it's rebuild time. You'll hear where the air is pissing out - that's your problem area. Breather = rings, exhaust = exh. valve, & carb = intake valve ... and anywhere out the side of the engine = bad gasket or cracks.

DO NOT spend $1,200 at Sears - that's just ludicrous. Either buy a used engine off eBay / Craigslist, or find a chinese one at Harbor freight for less than 1/3 that price. Or, if you can find a guy working out of his garage that can rebuild it for cheap, that would be the way to go as well.
Right....LOL...goes to show you the last time I broke any of these tools out to use them..I can't even remember what the hell they're called. LOL

 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 12:29 pm

Find the cause goes right along with not just throwing parts at it...you need to know were it is at now before you can go to where it is usable again.

Sorry, but, it's difficult to go through the process of diagnose and/or troubleshooting a small air cooled engine through the internet.

You didn't reply, but I see that it is indeed a Over Head Valve engine.
mozz wrote:If it is a OHV (over head valve), and you have no experience working on lawn mowers, I would take it some where for repairs. Also, may cost somewhat the same as buying a used lawn tractor....$300-500. If it is a flathead, I would say take it apart and go at it.
Lots of used mowers are available right now...choose wisely, Grasshopper. ;)

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 1:34 pm

McGiever wrote:Find the cause goes right along with not just throwing parts at it...you need to know were it is at now before you can go to where it is usable again.

Sorry, but, it's difficult to go through the process of diagnose and/or troubleshooting a small air cooled engine through the internet.

You didn't reply, but I see that it is indeed a Over Head Valve engine.
mozz wrote:If it is a OHV (over head valve), and you have no experience working on lawn mowers, I would take it some where for repairs. Also, may cost somewhat the same as buying a used lawn tractor....$300-500. If it is a flathead, I would say take it apart and go at it.
Lots of used mowers are available right now...choose wisely, Grasshopper. ;)
Yes, it is an OHV engine. Sorry. :) You sir, are the second person to call me a grasshopper today. :) Wax on, wax off.

I'm going to do a leak down test on it tomorrow. Then after that I can see where I need to go.

 
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Post by steamup » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 1:53 pm

SMITTY wrote:That would be a leakdown tester if it has an air hose attachment. ;)

Leak down is even better - like was stated, make sure your on TDC compression (not overlap), zero the gauge first with the air hooked up, then attach it to the lead you screwed into the spark plug hole. Should be around 5%. 10% will run, but is getting worn. Anything above that & it's rebuild time. You'll hear where the air is pissing out - that's your problem area. Breather = rings, exhaust = exh. valve, & carb = intake valve ... and anywhere out the side of the engine = bad gasket or cracks.

DO NOT spend $1,200 at Sears - that's just ludicrous. Either buy a used engine off eBay / Craigslist, or find a chinese one at Harbor freight for less than 1/3 that price. Or, if you can find a guy working out of his garage that can rebuild it for cheap, that would be the way to go as well.
You might find a replacment through Northern Tool - good prices

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_e ... al-engines

It may be a little difficult to cross reference old numbers to new. go to b&S web site for help. You may have to call to be sure Sears didn't use a custom OEM modification to the engine.


 
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Post by mozz » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 5:33 pm

I've bought older single cylinder engines 10, 11hp on Craigslist for $50. OHV is more popular now but there should still be some used engines fairly cheap. You should be able to buy a complete craftsman tractor with a deck for $300-400. I would have kept that Cub, you could have had that running forever. The Bolens with the Wisconsin engine will also run forever. If it is actually blowing oil out of the headgasket,you don't have a cheap repair on your hands.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 7:16 pm

Yeah, its blowing oil out and spraying the exhaust.

I'll be doing a leak down on it tomorrow. Which meant I had to do a search for tools I've not used in years. Found the leak down tester. Can't find my compression tester, figures, the tool that has all the damn hoses I can't currently locate. Hopefully my better half has an idea of where it may be.
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I've owned this thing for like 6 years; since the days of the turbo built Dodge Neon and I've never even taken the thing out of the box until tonight.

*Edit I took the gauge out of the box and behind the white cover is a hose. LOL I've never opened this thing.

 
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Post by Paulie » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 9:19 pm

Take it apart, no fear. If it is just the gasket, no big deal. If it overheated, very common as grass leaves clog air passages,
check to be sure the the valve seat is intact and in place. Often times, it's not-then it's a bigger deal. Some times you can seat
a new one in the block, some times not, really depends on level of distortion. PB blast and lightly tap shroud screws to break rust.Head bolts will be fine.Torque values and sequence matter when assembling. I wouldn't pay any one, its old and beat. Go for it,
maybe you get lucky, maybe not. Costs a little time only, and really, taken crap apart is time well spent. :) Good Luck !

 
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Apr. 23, 2013 11:59 pm

I'm On Fire wrote: .... Yeah, its blowing oil out and spraying the exhaust. ....
Might just be the valve cover gasket. Hopefully ... If that's the case, seal it up & save! :cheers:

 
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Post by LsFarm » Wed. Apr. 24, 2013 12:19 am

Seriously: post a photo of the engine!! If it's a flat head engine, there is no engine easier to work on.

Changing the head gasket on a flat head Briggs is almost as easy as changing a tire.

A head gasket could cause oil and unburnt gas to blowout of the head and onto the exhaust, but a photo will tell all.
In past years, did this engine smoke, or use lots of oil?

If it's an overhead valve engine, it's a bit more complicated, but not much. if it used to use a lot of oil, it may have worn rings and lotos of blowby, this could cause oil to come out of other sealed areas like valve covers, vents etc..

There is no better way to learn about small engines than to take one apart.
Post a link to the video you watched, was the video specific to YOUR engine model ??

Greg L

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Wed. Apr. 24, 2013 6:39 am

Greg, I'm going to be doing the leak down today. I'll take pictures before I do it. No, it didn't consume a lot of oil in the past and it never smoked either. It started smoking after changing the starter gear and magneto. The video was not specific to my particular engine, it was a Craftsman lawn tractor with a vertical Briggs OHV engine though. I can't find the link of the video I watched. But I'll do one better, I'll take a video of mine before I do the leak down. If I can get it started today, its been sitting a while.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Thu. Apr. 25, 2013 6:48 am

So, I was unable to get it to start last night. I did a leak down on it and determined that air is coming from both the carb and the oil fill tube, thanks Coalfire for letting me bug the crap out of you. I began pulling the motor apart; again with Coalfire's help. I didn't get very far with it as it started to rain by me.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Apr. 29, 2013 11:40 am

Ok, so I managed to work on it this weekend. I did the leak down, and I seem to be getting air out of both the oil fill and intake. I pulled the head; managed to break two head bolts. I also took the intake valve off as I do not believe it is sealing properly. I'm not really sure what the problem is or if it's really worth delving into. I've got pics, so I'll upload them next post.


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