Toro Lawn Mower - Slow once started and white smoke
#1
04-15-12, 03:51 PM
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Toro Lawn Mower - Slow once started and white smoke
Hi all,
A few weeks ago, I did something stupid (due to not owning a lawn mower before) and turned my Toro rear high wheel self propelled mower (stand up push style) on it's side, shute side down, to clean the underside. I flooded the carb and air filter with oil, so I went to Home Depot and a mower supply shop and purchased a new spark plug, air filter, and gasket for the air filter housing (since the other one was glued to both sides, and ripped off during disassembly. I also cleaned out my carb and all connected parts very well with carb cleaner and let it all dry for a day. Since then, it's done something weird but ultimately works fine (until today...I'll go into that in a moment). Here's what it's doing:
1) When I start the mower, it starts up right away with one pull, however the motor doesn't spin at full speed (more like 50%). After a little over a minute, it will finally speed up and cut grass like a champ. See video below.
2) After cutting grass for a few minutes, if the grass is on the longer side, it sounds as if the blade (or something under there) starts to rattle. See video below, which you can hear the rattling to an extent, but it's usually worse.
3) Just today I mowed the front and back lawn, then let the mower sit for a couple hours. I then took it to the side to mow that lawn, and it started putting out a bunch of white smoke through the front exhaust (a whole lot). It didn't decrease in smoke volume after running it for a minute while cutting grass, so I shut it off. The smoke smelled bad like gas and something burning, no sweet smell was to be had. It's good on oil and gas, so it's not too much or too little causing the problem. Also, there's newly formed black liquid that has sprayed out of the exhaust and also dripped onto the mower itself. See pictures below.
The mower was purchased new at Home Depot in October/November of last year, so it's pretty new. The smoke thing just started happening today after sitting for a couple hours (didn't smoke at all during the morning lawn mowing). Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
This is my mower:
22 in. High Wheel Recycler Variable Speed Self-Propelled Power Mower California Compliant-20351 at The Home Depot
Video of the slow motor starting:
VID_20120415_115205.mp4 - YouTube
Video of the rattling sound while mowing taller grass:
VID 20120415 115703 - YouTube
Pictures of black liquid after white smoke:
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower1.jpg
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower2.jpg
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower3.jpg
A few weeks ago, I did something stupid (due to not owning a lawn mower before) and turned my Toro rear high wheel self propelled mower (stand up push style) on it's side, shute side down, to clean the underside. I flooded the carb and air filter with oil, so I went to Home Depot and a mower supply shop and purchased a new spark plug, air filter, and gasket for the air filter housing (since the other one was glued to both sides, and ripped off during disassembly. I also cleaned out my carb and all connected parts very well with carb cleaner and let it all dry for a day. Since then, it's done something weird but ultimately works fine (until today...I'll go into that in a moment). Here's what it's doing:
1) When I start the mower, it starts up right away with one pull, however the motor doesn't spin at full speed (more like 50%). After a little over a minute, it will finally speed up and cut grass like a champ. See video below.
2) After cutting grass for a few minutes, if the grass is on the longer side, it sounds as if the blade (or something under there) starts to rattle. See video below, which you can hear the rattling to an extent, but it's usually worse.
3) Just today I mowed the front and back lawn, then let the mower sit for a couple hours. I then took it to the side to mow that lawn, and it started putting out a bunch of white smoke through the front exhaust (a whole lot). It didn't decrease in smoke volume after running it for a minute while cutting grass, so I shut it off. The smoke smelled bad like gas and something burning, no sweet smell was to be had. It's good on oil and gas, so it's not too much or too little causing the problem. Also, there's newly formed black liquid that has sprayed out of the exhaust and also dripped onto the mower itself. See pictures below.
The mower was purchased new at Home Depot in October/November of last year, so it's pretty new. The smoke thing just started happening today after sitting for a couple hours (didn't smoke at all during the morning lawn mowing). Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
This is my mower:
22 in. High Wheel Recycler Variable Speed Self-Propelled Power Mower California Compliant-20351 at The Home Depot
Video of the slow motor starting:
VID_20120415_115205.mp4 - YouTube
Video of the rattling sound while mowing taller grass:
VID 20120415 115703 - YouTube
Pictures of black liquid after white smoke:
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower1.jpg
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower2.jpg
http://www.howetechnical.net/files/Mower3.jpg
#2
04-15-12, 04:48 PM
Forum Topic Moderator
Sounds like the engine is shot. It's blowing oil and knocking pretty badly as far as I can tell. I bet the oil has a greyish-metallic color in it too. The slow speed appears to be because the auto-choke is still on and taking a few seconds to open.
#3
04-15-12, 07:23 PM
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Thanks for the post. Now that I think further about it, the knocking and whatnot is why I turned it to its side in the first place, as I thought maybe there was a huge amount of grass build up causing the engine to be overworked or something. It's also weird that in the weeks since I replaced those parts, no smoke or fluid has been emitted (that you can see or smell, at least), and all of a sudden today it just started doing that.
#5
05-23-12, 04:30 PM
Join Date: Apr 2012
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For those who are inquiring, the resolution was pretty simple. The autochoke needed more lubrication (the flap, or whatever it's called, was not moving as it should and therefore the engine could not engage at maximum RPM's until it was on for a minute), and there was some kind of stick debris lodged somewhere. Home Depot's repair center made the necessary fixes for $20 after diagnosing it.
The rattling sound I have found with more uses only happens when cutting thick patches of longer grass, so as long as I don't wait two weeks between cutting (I now cut every 4-5 days), the rattling never happens.
Not sure what caused the white smoke, but it doesn't do that anymore with the debris removed and the choke properly lubricated.
The rattling sound I have found with more uses only happens when cutting thick patches of longer grass, so as long as I don't wait two weeks between cutting (I now cut every 4-5 days), the rattling never happens.
Not sure what caused the white smoke, but it doesn't do that anymore with the debris removed and the choke properly lubricated.
