Whats wrong with my lawnmower ? - is it knackered?

dibble35, Aug 3, 2:19am
Went to start it this morning, pulled the cord and it whipped out of my hands back into the engine(where ever it came from) Tried a few more times to pull the cord, 4-5th time it let me and started, clouds of smoke and then I noticed oil spitting out the side - not sure where from - possibly the exhaust, as you can tell I dont know much at all about engines. Turned it off, called dad - he wasnt any help. So next stop the repair shop but thought id ask on here to see if anyone could tell from my description what might be wrong, thanks,
maclad, Aug 3, 3:00am
Is it a two or four stroke.Have you had mower tipped over on it's side. If so then you need to leave it a day or so for oil to drain back and then clean out the air filter. That is about as much as I know. In my experience giving the starter cord 2 or 3 gentle pulls before actually pulling it hard enough to start mower will help with the issue of cord whipping out of your hands.
dibble35, Aug 3, 3:08am
Choice thanks, Maybe i can take it to my dads to look at and do what you suggested. 2 or 4 stroke, hmmmmm, separate oil and petrol, not mixed LOL
maclad, Aug 3, 3:45am
4 stroke then and you cannot tip them over if you do the oil gets into all the wrong places and this could be the result. Not saying it is but a pretty fair assumption.
h.e, Aug 3, 3:50am
oil in the bore. Take the spark plug out, pull the cord until your arm feels like it is about to fall off, swap arms and keep pulling. clean the spark plug put it back in and start, leave it running until the smoke clears
dibble35, Aug 3, 5:29am
LOL. sounds like fun :-)
jmma, Aug 4, 10:33am
Yes, been tipped on its side or stored facing downwards on a slope, check air filter as well if you have had it tipped over.
eagles9999, Aug 4, 11:28pm
"Start ya Bastard" does the job
ira78, Aug 5, 8:03pm
Sounds like you got it started, I'd probably have just let it run for a few minutes. Sounds like it was just spitting oil out of the exhaust and clearing itself out.
2sheddies, Aug 7, 8:05am
Not required in this case, as it wasn't that type of hard start issue.

Also not a good idea to use ether routinely. Better to properly diagnose and address the issue causing difficult starting.
onyx-1, Aug 8, 4:17am
Start again and leave it running, smoke should clear. if it doesn't well that's when you will have to worry! Doesn't take much if they have been tipped wrong way to get oil in wrong places. Take air filter off and see if that makes a diff? If so leave it to soak in some petrol to remove oil, let dry and then put back in.
Best of luck
onyx-1, Aug 8, 4:18am
On another note, did you wash it the last time you used it?
xs1100, Aug 9, 2:29am
take spark plug out and pull it a couple times,also replace with a new plug while your there and is it a foam air filter if so take it out and wash it in petrol and let it dry after all this probably start sweet as also don't forget lawn mowers need a oil change also at least once a year most are only about 600 mls of oil and a new set of blades
dibble35, Aug 9, 5:34am
I got it going on thursday and got my lawns mowed friday so all good. I took the muffler/exhaust off and gave that a good clean, foam airfilter out and washed out in petrol although that was quite clean. Dad came round and fiddled with the spark plug, and checked the compression? as he was worried about something or other. LOL. The whole thing got a good clean although it wasnt to bad. And it started and ran really well. No smoke! yay. I bought it 2nd hand and it was in quite good condition. I'll take it in for a service, blade sharpen, oil change etc etc. Better look after it as my lawns are horrible to mow. very thick and fast growing. Thanks for all your suggestions.
maclad, Aug 9, 5:51am
Cheap and easy fix then, good on you for giving it a go. Girls can do anything you know.
xs1100, Aug 9, 5:52am
its actually not that hard to do yourself,take the blade off and then drain the oil you will see the plug,take the spark plug out and pull it a couple times also and leave to drain.fit new blades,put oil plug back in and spark plug and clean air filter fill with oil approx. 600 mls and check. start. run it up a bit and recheck oil.
marte, Aug 10, 12:38pm
If its the sort I/we think it is. It uses the crankcase compression to push fuel thru to the carby.
If its tipped up, the oil can get into that tube and it gets into the carby and smokes a bit.

side thought.
If, when you are mowing the lawn, you notice a black round oil stain on the lawn at some point.
Stop the mower and cut the strands of cabbage tree leaves that are stuck around the shaft off.
They get wound on there, rise up the shaft, open up the oil seal and dump oil down onto the blade, which leaves a oily circle on he lawn.

And if you hit something and stall the mower, and it won't run right after that, the flywheels shifted a tiny bit on the shaft, putting the timing out.
marte, Aug 10, 12:39pm
I have 14 dead lawnmowers at my place, counted them today.
dibble35, Aug 11, 6:23am
lol, do you keep them for spare parts.
marte, Oct 26, 12:10pm
Actually I gave then away a few days ago to a guy (age about 19-20) who fixes them up.
On the condition he gets at least two of them going and returns them to me.
He, quite proudly, brought one back the next day and ran it for a while.
It works well, better than any that I tried to get going.
He will probably get a few more running and sell some of them. Good timing for summer. And some ca$h for him and family.

Next. my 15 chainsaws.