I have a Toro “Recycler” lawn mower, which I bought new this past spring, and it’s doing something it never did before. When I turn it on, there’s white smoke coming out, which diminishes in about 10 seconds (though it never entirely stops). The mower works normally for a few minutes, then the white smoke increases again. I turn it off, and at this point, oil starts dripping down from the air filter compartment. About 1/4 cup drips down before it stops. The air filter itself seems to be clean.
One possibility: I just added oil to the mower. Is it possible that I’m misreading the dip stick, and overfilling it?
I’d go with wrong oil, too much oil…OR: water in the gas, or water in the oil.
I’d like to see you say it (smoke) has a slight slight blue tinge to the color, but don’t fret it.
The downside of too much oil is that you could cause the engine crank to whip the oil into a froth before it is drawn into the engine. When the oil is too high in the pan, the engine beats is like a blender and froths is up…and once frothy, it won’t get drawn in as an effective lube.
SO: Make darn sure the oil is not overfilled, and make sure it is the right stuff. Too much oil can cause sever engine damage.
Believe it…
…or not.
I overfilled the oil on my lawnmower a coupld of months ago and it started to smoke for a couple of use and then it just abruptly started smoking badly and then completely seized. I was afraid that I killed the engine but it turned out to be something called “hydro-locked” and you couldn’t even pull the cord. It was fixable however but overfilling the oil can do major damage and I will never do that again. I believe I only used a quart which turned out to be way too much.