B&S engine spewing blue smoke all of a sudden

[crw]

I was running some MMO in the gas, just to help clean the carb if indeed that could be the problem.

The blue smoke was getting worse... right now I have it at the repair guy again. I have convinced him to pull the head and look at the gasket. At the rate it's burning, it must be either the gasket or piston/ring damage. In either case, pulling the head is necessary.

I would like to do this myself, however I've never had the head off of an engine before, and I'm not too confident that I'd know what I'm doing when I get into that. It seems that I've got to do my own research, even when taking the job to a professional.

 

[ATS-V]

Originally Posted By: crw

I would like to do this myself, however I've never had the head off of an engine before, and I'm not too confident that I'd know what I'm doing when I get into that. It seems that I've got to do my own research, even when taking the job to a professional.


It's an easy fix, it took me about 1 hour. If you decide to fix it yourself PM me and I'll email you the instructions. Curious to what a shop would charge to replace the head gasket?

 

[crw]

The guy said $40 to change the head gasket... I said "go for it!"

Meanwhile, I'm wondering what I've paid for......

He said that the existing gasket didn't look bad, but he replaced it. He also inspected the piston while the head was off and didn't find anything amiss. It was dirty, and he cleaned it up. I'm going to pick it up today. But I'm worried that I still don't have a fix for this problem! The engine is (was?) putting out so much blue smoke I was getting sick just riding along behind it.

I think I'll fire up the engine there at the shop and run it for five minutes to see if anything has changed.

 

[crw]

Well, good news! I got the mower back today, and it's smoother, quieter, and best of all NO SMOKE!

It was the gasket. What's odd is, the guy still didn't think it would be, even after replacing it. I look at the old gasket, and sure enough, I see an area where it was compromised between the two sections that it's trying to isolate. I should call him and reassure him, and perhaps educate him at the same time.

I love the power of the internet. Without all of you, I'd still be stuck with this problem. Only by being convinced that the gasket was suspect was I able to convince the guy to replace it.

 

[Propflux01]

Don't try and "educate" him, He may have learned a new trick, much like you did by posting here. Call it good for him to listen to suggestion, and good for you to get the info you needed here...

 

[Krel]

I own/run a small engine repair shop for a living. Blown head gaskets on OHV Briggs are a common occurance. Always between the side of the head and the pushrod galley.(replaced more than I can count!) I've had many cusmtomers think their engine is wore out because of a simple headgasket issue. (I'd hate to see how many engines are actually written off because of a gasket failure considering the average consumer probably wouldn't be aware of this common problem)
Shaun

 

[OptsyEagle]

Wouldn't a motor with a blown head gasket lose compression and either not run at all or run really, really rough? I am surprised that all it did was burn oil. Am I missing something here?

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: OptsyEagle
Wouldn't a motor with a blown head gasket lose compression and either not run at all or run really, really rough? I am surprised that all it did was burn oil. Am I missing something here?


The section of the HG that lets loose on these engines is not near the cylinder/major compression area.

Joel

 

[ATS-V]

Originally Posted By: JTK

The section of the HG that lets loose on these engines is not near the cylinder/major compression area.

Joel


That makes no sense.

Any area in the head gasket compromised is in the "compression area". The section that gets compromised in between the cylinder and the value galley allow oil to get sucked in under vacuum.

These engines are relatively low compression and the "hole" in the gasket is pretty small, at least it was in my case. But large enough that it would such down 4 oz per hour.