lawnmower oil?

Question

The repair shop wants to charge me $100 because they claim I put the wrong type of oil in my lawn mower. The mower would not start before I added a little oil, so I don't know if this will fix the problem anyway. I don't think it was the wrong type, but am not 100% sure. The mower is under warranty another year.

The mower was not starting and I checked the oil and it was low. I put in 2 cycle oil. The engine would still not start. I called the dealer and they said to use SAE-30 oil. I don't know if that is the same as 2-cycle. The repair shop manager argued that he has 30 years in the business and knows what he is talking about.

I took out the mower for the first time and used it maybe 5 minutes. Thr bag was full so I stopped to empty it. The mower would not start after this. I checked gas and oil. Oil was low so I added some 2-cycle. Since then I've changed the spark plug, emptied the fuel and cleaned the fuel lines, cleaned the air filter. I also tested the spark plug to see that it was firing. The mower has never come close to starting. Could the engine have a kill switch if the oil is too low? Wouldn't it have started once with the 2-cycle oil?

Answer 1

SAE-30 oil. is NOT same as 2-cycle..If you only added a little it shouldn't hurt it to the point that it will no longer work..Just being low on oil is not a reason for it not to start..being without oil for a while might cause it not to start..but being low then no..
The 100.00 dollars is a Bit much..they do have pretty high shop rates now days..
so as high as auto shops..WHO would have thunk
it...
anyway you didn't say what happened before you added the oil..Did the engine just stop? Did you run out of gas? So many little things could have happened..
Please give us some more info so that we can figure out your problem..
also you might want to get a repair manual for your machine..so that when you talk to your repair guy, then you at least half way know what is going on..and he won't talk down to you so bad..JMPO

Answer 2

Do not use 2 cycle oil. You can count on having to buy a new engine if that is what you have been using. The mechanic was absolutely right. You should be using SAE 30 oil. There is a very big difference.

Answer 3

In that engine working at or above 40F, i could use a at once SAE 30 weight oil. some examples are briggs and stratton sae 30, and pennzoil HD 30. Multi weight oils including 5w30 and 10w30 can burn off swifter, and wont carry their viscosity to boot. Small air cooled engines run warmer than a liquid cooled vehicle engine, so the at once 30 weight which has no VI (viscosity improvers) will delay lots better. Pennzoil HD 30 is a very stable oil and is what i could advise. Snowblowers and different equipment that are operated under 40F could use a man made 5w30 as a results of temperature and layout, yet that would not somewhat have something to do with this occasion. purely in case you questioned for destiny reference.

Answer 4

Depends on what oil and what type of engine. 2 cycle or 4 cycle engine? What weight (viscosity) oil? Motor oil or salad oil? If you ran it with either way too heavy oil or way too light oil, lubricating the engine could be a problem.

I don't know of a starting problem that would be fixed by "adding a little oil".

Answer 5

I've been in the business for 25 years and I was the best Master Technician in Columbus, Georgia and I say that proudly because I earned.

Today I am retired and new mowers are on the market with new stuff, but I have never forgot.

You put 2 cycle oil instead of 30 wt okay no big deal. It will make your engine run hotter and when this happens your going to burn those valves up especially the intake valve.

You turn it off and empty your bag and go back to crank it up and it wont start.
Your intake valve has lost clearance. It got too hot. If you wait till it is dead cold like in the morning and crank it up and it won't crank still then you lost alot of clearance.

The way to solve this probem is to get that clearance back and you can do this several ways.

You can inspect your cylinder by taking off the head and look to see if the cylinder is still nice and clean. Move that piston up and down and inspect it.
Now on the valves. You will see two valves. One is intake and the other is exhaust. The top one is your intake and the bottom one is your exhaust.
We want to concentrate on the top valve (Intake), when you turn that flywheel with your hand the valve will open and close as the piston comes to top dead center.\

Turn your flywheel and watch these valves open and close. The intake and exhaust valves will open and close.

When your intake valve opens and then closes as it closes watch your piston as it comes up to top dead center. if that intake valve is not closed all the way before it actually fires you have lost all that compression.

One good way to spot this is when you spin your engine to crank it up before taking off the heads is to take out the filter on the carb and watch it chuck back through your carb chamber to through the filter housing.

What you can do for the valve problem is remove the carb and that plate you see with two screws on it take a 5/16 nut driver and remove it.
Pop loose the intake valve and grind that stem down on a grinder and take off about .005

then put it back in and turn that flywheel by hand and watch that valve close as the piston comes up to fire. If that valve moves just a tad like a tiny wiggle that will be okay. If it is not closed you will need to grind down some more, but not as much ,maybe only .002 this time.
Thats should solve the problem and put it back together and put that valve back in. If you don't have a valve spring compressor you can do it with a screw driver very carefully./ It takes a little patience to pop that spring clip back on that valve.

If you prefer to have the shop do a valve job they will charge you about $40.00 plus new valves.
Your going to look at some money./ I will assume with my experience that the shop wants to do a valve job and just replace those valves.

You can do it your self and save money, but it is hard for me to coach you on line to complete this task.

Another thing you can ask the shop if they will just get the intake for proper clearance, but they will still charge you for a full valve job so why not get it because they want to make money. They know what you need.

Answer 6

What did you put in? 10w-30? 10w-40?
I never had a problem with oil. Normally it call for a 30w HD (Heavy Duty). I have used 10w-30 and all it do is use a little more oil than normal and need checked regular. But, normally I always use the 30w HD unless 10w-30 all I have.
Now, if you ran it without oil, that a different story.

Answer 7

hes right that oil is only to be mixed with gas for lawn mowers that dont have a oil fill

Answer 8

What's the problem? You say (I think) that it started after adding some oil. So if it starts, then what's the problem?

Answer 9

Do not pay it. They cannot prove it. Threaten to go to the Better Business Bureau or the States Attorney's Office.