Art of small engine repair/maintenance..

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Jay H

New Member
Nov 20, 2006
659
NJ
I have a collection of lawn mowers around, two of them are identical Craftsman 5.5HP Tecumseh engines. One is a doner mower though as I've had to take parts off of it to keep the other one running (it had a broken wire between the magneto thing and the spark plug). This sunday, I fixed the working one which stopped running due to a clogged up fuel jet in the carburetor. I remove the carb and took it apart to clean everything. Used a dremel tool and a soft wire brush to clean the fuel bowl around the gasket. Now the lawnmower runs again.

This is my first foray into small motor repair and very happy to have figured it out and glad how easy it is to remove and clean out the carb. Worst part is draining the gas before removing the fuel line.

While I had the top shroud off, I also decided to explore other parts of the lawn mower, I found the mower has an faceplate that allows one to actually look into the cyclinder as I took it off when I had the carb off and oil came out, quickly put that back. :)

Also, there is something else I found, under the starter flywheel thing, there is another faceplace that has a tube running out the top that simply hangs off the side of the enginer. Removing the plate shows a mesh sponge, it sits within the engine block. Is this a rudimentary oil filter? The plastic tube is in the middle of the faceplate you remove to get access to this sponge and it simply hangs over the side. Some kind of pressure safety device? i.e. if for some reason too much pressure builds up in the block, this forces oil/air out the top????

Jay
 
The valve covers in your car used to have breathers also. Breathers were replaced by PCV valves which suck any fumes out and reburn them. Any pressure up there needs to be released.

Matt
 
Thanks EbL. I pulled the sponge thing out, and the mesh seems way too porous for oil anyway. Actually, an oil change is probably on the agenda shortly...

Jay
 
That mesh is meant to catch oil from the crankcase vapors before these vapors are dumped to atmosphere. It is not an oil filter. Is catches the big airborne droplets of oil and allows them to stay in the engine.
 
Maybe that is what BP needs in that leak they have down in the gulf...

Jay
 
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