I bought this 1992 LX178 late last year and it’s been neglected for a while. I’m trying to get it back to a reliable condition. Been doing mostly basic maintenance and have used it to mow the yard the last 3 weeks - each week with something going wrong.
Last week I noticed some minor bubbling in the coolant overflow tank (it’s got the twin cylinder Kawasaki FD440V engine). It’s not blowing white smoke out of the muffler or consuming coolant. Oil level is steady and don’t see any evidence of oil in coolant or coolant in antifreeze. I think the level went down about 1/4” or less in the overflow tank over about 8-9 hours of running. No condensate in the muffler. Spark plugs on both sides look normal - I didn’t see any white deposits typical with antifreeze leaks from what I understand.
But just to be sure, So I went to AZ and got a head gasket leak detector. I followed the instructions, starting the test off with the coolant in the radiator neck down by about 1.5”. After about 12 mins of run time as I was periodically squeezing the bulb to draw air, it started pulling coolant in. The blue test liquid remained blue and didn’t change to yellow.
Is this test indicative of anything at all? I really like the mower and am hoping the head gasket hasn’t gone out.
Beginning of test:
End of test, after 12 mins. Blue test liquid remained blue, but coolant got drawn in by repeated squeezing of the rubber bulb/plunger.
Small bubbles that I noticed after running the mower - these are present starting about 25 mins of run time and are consistent even after 3 hours of run time
Slow sporadic bubbles that come out after mower has been shut off
Last week I noticed some minor bubbling in the coolant overflow tank (it’s got the twin cylinder Kawasaki FD440V engine). It’s not blowing white smoke out of the muffler or consuming coolant. Oil level is steady and don’t see any evidence of oil in coolant or coolant in antifreeze. I think the level went down about 1/4” or less in the overflow tank over about 8-9 hours of running. No condensate in the muffler. Spark plugs on both sides look normal - I didn’t see any white deposits typical with antifreeze leaks from what I understand.
But just to be sure, So I went to AZ and got a head gasket leak detector. I followed the instructions, starting the test off with the coolant in the radiator neck down by about 1.5”. After about 12 mins of run time as I was periodically squeezing the bulb to draw air, it started pulling coolant in. The blue test liquid remained blue and didn’t change to yellow.
Is this test indicative of anything at all? I really like the mower and am hoping the head gasket hasn’t gone out.
Beginning of test:
End of test, after 12 mins. Blue test liquid remained blue, but coolant got drawn in by repeated squeezing of the rubber bulb/plunger.
Small bubbles that I noticed after running the mower - these are present starting about 25 mins of run time and are consistent even after 3 hours of run time
Slow sporadic bubbles that come out after mower has been shut off
