Hi,
I've borrowed my neighbor's splitter the last two seasons.
A couple nights ago, I had used it for about an hour and took a break. when I came back after my break I started it and it blew A LOT of smoke. I shut it down and checked the oil which was kind of frothy, watery and over filled.
I had a guy over who runs a small engine repair shop out of his garage. He found that something in the carb was stuck and had been leaking gas into the cylinder and leaking into the crank case. He rebuilt the carb for me, put a new plug in it, and changed the oil.
He told me he fixed what caused the problem but was afraid that with that gas in the oil, the damage was probably already done. His advice, run it 5 hours, change the oil to make sure all the gas was out of the crank case and keep running it. He advised that nowadays, most engine are just replaced as opposed to rebuilt. He said it could last another 5 minutes or another 5 years.
Well, I talked it over with my neighbor and he was pretty laid back about it. He said to keep using it.
The engine has plenty of power, but I can hear it tapping. It occasionally blows smoke, but the oil is normal looking now.
In good conscience, I don't think I can return the splitter to my neighbor as is, but here's the problem. The unit is a Yard Machine by MTD with a Briggs engine on it. The local briggs dealer says that MTD modiifes the crank on this engine to make replacement difficult. I'll need to buy a brand new engine, about $390, buy the MTD crank $100 and then pay to have the brand new engine totally taken apart to have the new crank installed and 2-2.5 hours labor. I can tell he thinks it's not worth it. I asked about rebuilding it and he said, "I'm afraid we'll take it apart for you and find it's not rebuildable, then you will have a pile of parts, a bill from us, and still need to buy a new engine".
He did say I could take the engine off, and bring the whole unit over for him to look at, he said he might be able to find something that could match up, if he could measure the crank etc. This sounds like a long shot.
Anyone deal with a similar situation? The engine is a 6.0 Quantum XE number 122K02-0412-E1. The splitter is a MTD model number 24AF550C729 427385.
I called MTD and they don't have the engine either.
Any other advice?
I've borrowed my neighbor's splitter the last two seasons.
A couple nights ago, I had used it for about an hour and took a break. when I came back after my break I started it and it blew A LOT of smoke. I shut it down and checked the oil which was kind of frothy, watery and over filled.
I had a guy over who runs a small engine repair shop out of his garage. He found that something in the carb was stuck and had been leaking gas into the cylinder and leaking into the crank case. He rebuilt the carb for me, put a new plug in it, and changed the oil.
He told me he fixed what caused the problem but was afraid that with that gas in the oil, the damage was probably already done. His advice, run it 5 hours, change the oil to make sure all the gas was out of the crank case and keep running it. He advised that nowadays, most engine are just replaced as opposed to rebuilt. He said it could last another 5 minutes or another 5 years.
Well, I talked it over with my neighbor and he was pretty laid back about it. He said to keep using it.
The engine has plenty of power, but I can hear it tapping. It occasionally blows smoke, but the oil is normal looking now.
In good conscience, I don't think I can return the splitter to my neighbor as is, but here's the problem. The unit is a Yard Machine by MTD with a Briggs engine on it. The local briggs dealer says that MTD modiifes the crank on this engine to make replacement difficult. I'll need to buy a brand new engine, about $390, buy the MTD crank $100 and then pay to have the brand new engine totally taken apart to have the new crank installed and 2-2.5 hours labor. I can tell he thinks it's not worth it. I asked about rebuilding it and he said, "I'm afraid we'll take it apart for you and find it's not rebuildable, then you will have a pile of parts, a bill from us, and still need to buy a new engine".
He did say I could take the engine off, and bring the whole unit over for him to look at, he said he might be able to find something that could match up, if he could measure the crank etc. This sounds like a long shot.
Anyone deal with a similar situation? The engine is a 6.0 Quantum XE number 122K02-0412-E1. The splitter is a MTD model number 24AF550C729 427385.
I called MTD and they don't have the engine either.
Any other advice?