Yearly Maintenance

Best bet would be to look in your manual and see what the recommended engine oil is. 5W30 would probably be on the thin side unless your running in the dead of winter (below 30°F). I think most small engines still prefer 10W30. I've been running straight 30 weight in my lawnmowers for several years now. (They seem to burn a little less of it on hot days compared to 10W30.) I do however run 10W30 in the Deere's CV15 Kohler to keep the hydraulic valve lifters quiet and happy.

Well, I did look it up on line and it did say that 5-30 was fine if you were to use it in the colder weather. I sometimes do plow with it in the winter so technically I could use 5-30..... HOWEVER, last oil change I used whatever I got from Sears for the oil and it seems to be burning some..... is there something else I should be looking at??

Summer time straight 30 weight .

Just make sure that you are not losing it thru the breather into the carburetor. Beyond that, you may be drawing some into the engine past rings and valves. No doubt that synthetic oil is a good choice for small engines for the most part. Too bad you didn't have 10-30 or 30, but since you are losing some already, this lighter oil may indeed go a bit faster.

As an update to this, I was mowing Monday and ran out of gas. I filled up and it hasn't run since. LOTS of missing oil since the oil change and what seems like little compression (motor turns over WAY too easily). Does this sound like the rings need to be replaced? That's all I could think of in terms of oil loss. The previous post said to "make sure that you are not losing it thru the breather into the carburetor" (still not sure what that means or how to check it). I dunno, I just need to look at a repair manual and see if the rings are a job I can handle in the garage or if I have to pay for it to be done. AND MY GRASS IS GETTING TALLER AND TALLER!!!

With both loss of compression and oil it does point the finger at worn rings. While your heading into the engine to replace the rings you'll have the head off and can look over the head gasket. That is one other thing that could let the oil go through on an OHV engine.

Head gasket it is..... I got all the parts I need (don't ask) and will fix it tonight or tomorrow morning. I DO have a question though..... how do I adjust the valves? Is that what the allen screw is for on the rocker adjuster?

Head gasket done. Head torqued down to 220 lb/ft. I put everything back together and it cranked right up and started first try. I let it run for a couple minutes to burn the oil off the exhaust and then mowed the front yard. Piece 'o' cake!

Good job Steve!

mrbeal said:

Head torqued down to 220 lb/ft...

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I think you meant 220 inch pounds instead.

mrbeal said:

Head gasket done. Head torqued down to 220 lb/ft. I put everything back together and it cranked right up and started first try. I let it run for a couple minutes to burn the oil off the exhaust and then mowed the front yard. Piece 'o' cake!

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Nice work!!

Mark / Ohio said:

Good job Steve!

I think you meant 220 inch pounds instead.

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LOL, yup..... it was about 18 lb/ft that I did. My torque wrench seemed to like that number for some reason.

As a follow up to this, I've noticed some blue smoke again when engaging the blades and I'm having my starting difficulties (turn key/click/then tries to turn over) again. Could the head gasket be failing already and what do I look for if that is the problem? Maybe retorque the head?

Re-torque the head bolts and checking the valve clearance would probably as good of a place as any to start.

(Head bolts for smoke issue, valves for starting issues.)


Are you just noticing a little intermittent smoke or has the oil level started to go down fast again like before?

I haven't checked the oil yet (I know, I know) but it isn't smoking at all like it was before... yet. I'll try to remember to check the oil and re-torque the head bolts this weekend. I bought an extra gasket for the valve cover so I'll take that off too to see about the valve clearance. I hate trying to be handy!!