I refuse to change oil that way. Both my generator and pressure washer need to be tipped over to drain the oil. I just run them up on the trailer and tip them over with the drain pan below.
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That’s how I change the oil in my Tecumseh-engine Sears lawnmower. I think it actually has a drain plug on the underside of the deck, but why bother with trying to remove that, gunked up and rusted? Easier just to tip the lawn mower over and drain the oil out. Just wait for a day before starting the engine, allowing any oil inside to get back to where it is supposed to be.
I have one of those Home Depot Personal Pace Toro Lawn Mowers and it also does not have an oil drain and I change the oil several times a season. I run the mower a bit to warm the oil and then I prop the mower up on some old milk crates and tilt it over and let the oil drain out the fill spout into an old “oil drain pan” and pour that oil into and old gallon milk bottle and when that is full, I take to the local dump for their recycling…
I cannot believe the manufacturer suggests that these are “No Oil Change Mowers…” and that you should just keep refilling the oil as necessary.
When that gallon bottle of oil is ready to hit the recycler, the gunk that has settled in it is thick and gooey, would probably really shorten the life of a mower…
Maintenance videos on YouTube suggest either siphoning the old oil out or tilt and drain as I do…
Drain oil out of a lawn mower ? I have had a battery powered mower for 5 years and was one of the few smart decisions I have made.
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How’s that work on an acre of grass, or pulling a trailer, dethatcher, sweeper, etc?
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I have had this ICE Toro Mower far longer than 5-years and other than changing the oil a few times a year and once I replaced the rear drive wheels and pinion gears, it runs great and still starts on the first pull…
And unlike your electric mower, I do not have to push it. It moves at my walking pace, if I walk slowly, it moves slowly and if I walk fast, it will travel up to about 4-MPH, about a “slog” (Slow Jog… L o L…).
Perhaps when this mower dies, I will replace it with an electric mower. I replaced my Stihl Weed Wacker with an Ego Electric Weed Wacker, but the Leaf Blower and Chain Saw (both Stihl…) will probably be around for years… BTW, I do have a Craftsman Electric Chain Saw that I pull out for all the small jobs…
But, no matter what, I will continue to run an oversize main Jet in the S&S Super “E” Carburetor on my Harley and the neighbors be D@^^ed… It sounds “Healthier” and it “Barks” when I crack the throttle (that “Bark” is not a Backfire…)…
I bought mine in 1996, change oil every 25 hours or sooner. As soon as I can find one with twin cylinders, manual metal transmission, and 42 inch, I’ll buy it. I can get two but not three and I’ve heard of too many failures of the hydraulic transmissions, especially if we ask them to do some work.
Oh good, now we can have a little small engine talk … lol … I prefer my electric chain saw, not nearly as loud, and almost as powerful as my gasoline. I also have an electric chain saw on a pole, for trimming small to medium branches on tall trees, that works great too. Likewise w/my electric string trimmer. Doesn’t work any better than the gasoline version, a little less powerful actually, but it works every time, never needed any mickey mouse fixes or repairs. Corded electrics all, and quite a good value, performance for the price. I generally don’t get very good long term results with battery power electrics, other than hand drills. Lawnmowers though, hard to beat gasoline powered for that. I use my lawn mower for converting weeds to mulch, and that requires quite a bit of power. My gasoline lawn mower is pretty old, and has been subjected to several mickey mouse repairs. To start it I have to use a small hand pump designed to inflate rubber balls, pump some air into the carb fuel bowl, forcing a dose of gasoline into the throttle body … lol … well, you do what you gotta do to get the job done.
Getting a little frustrated last on no longer available Briggs parts, I have to admit being a little behind the curve. I discovered they went bankrupt in 2020 and were bought out by a vulture private equity firm. Who knew? So that might have something to do with it. I’ve got four Briggs engines so just a little concerned.
I’ve been able to obtain otherwise hard to source small gasoline engine parts at jack’s
small engine website, here’s the brigg’s section
https://www.jackssmallengines.com/manufacturer/briggs-stratton
Yeah jacks is usually the first place I go to. If they don’t have it, usually none of the other majors like e parts has it either. But then if you plug in the part number sometimes someone will pop up or final source eBay. I had a problem with jacks showing my parts diagram until I figured out my zero was really an o. I just printed all the pages out to have the part number. That’s half the battle.
The last couple of days I was looking for an Nla breather because I got oil in the air filter. So took it out and apart, cleaned it checked it and seems ok. But there is a little hole by the valves behind it that looked like it was plugged. It allows oil to return to the crankcase. Otherwise the oil fills up the breather and up the tube into the air filter. Gotta do a compression check yet but hopefully that little hole was the problem. I say this just for the benefit of anyone else. Hole plugged, over filled, rings, or bad breather. That’s about the possibilities. Grass is starting to grow now so pressure.
I think those “never change the oil” small engines are BS if you ask me. I don’t have anything like this too large that I cannot tip it over to turn it upside down. I just let it run out of gas when I need to change the oil and when it stops running, I change the oil. Otherwise gas can run out or flood the carb, etc. when it is turned over.
I agree that the oil still looks dirty and nasty when changed so it needs to be changed. Some of these are on such cheap units that the deck is as thin as foil. Those little mowers are sure easy to push around which is nice but they don’t take the abuse I put them through. I think they are marketed to homeowners who will roll them out to the curb when they don’t start due to bad gas and jsut go buy a new one. Or the deck will rust through or crack from being so lightly made.
I have gone to alcohol free gas only now and that seems to be helping with carb/storage issues with gas. The alcohol free gas in my mowers seems to work better after sitting all winter than one week with the typical ethonal-10 stuff around here. Luckily my town has 3x stations selling alcohol free. This gas can be hard to find in big agricultural states like Missouri. The ethanol lobby is based out of Missouri.
I thought that it was based in Iowa.
When b&s quit selling stabilizer, I switched to Walbro. Specially formulated for ethanol but I use the non eth anyway. The only thing I don’t like about the Walbro stuff outside of cost and availability, is the perfume they put in it. I have to tell the wife the perfume is from gas treatment and not from somewhere I shouldn’t have been. They make carbs though so should know.
It’s been about five years since I opened up the carb but did so along with my breather issue. Put a pump kit and checked the inside of the carb. Everything was clean and sparkly like it was brand new. So I’ll continue doing what I’ve been doing. I always keep an overhaul kit on hand though just in case. When the grass is growing no time to wait for parts to come. I usually also keep a full gasket kit on hand. Overkill but if you need a breather gasket it’s in the kit. Trying to find a local parts supply is as hard now as finding a local auto upholstery shop.
Maybe there are others but here is what I found. https://ethanolrfa.org/ I thought it was out of Jefferson City but see it is now Ellisville which is a suburb of St. Louis. I basically grew up in the next city west of there.
The problem is that most stores sell this stuff as disposable these days. People go to a big box which has NO SERVICE to repair and only basic parts like air filters and spark plugs. You aren’t going to find gaskets or rebuild kits for carbs. That is why keeping small engine shops around is so important. I need to call mine and order some parts as well.
This is how it is with electronics. The crowd who used to keep Radio Shack in business is gone and parts interchangeability is also pretty much a thing of the past. I try to order parts when I can but often the customer needs it fixed that day so I just replace the entire computer. Some understand that I cannot keep 10x Amazon warehouses full of all possible parts on hand at my place while others get mad I don’t have the part on hand. I keep common stuff around but oddball parts that only fit one model are a different story. I sometimes keep junk computers that are common around for a bit for some of the basic parts that are still good but have to keep this stuff purged and get it recycled once it gets outdated as this type of thing piles up quickly. I ended up hauling a bunch of small engine stuff in as scrap last time as well. People give me this stuff but I have working units and don’t need it sitting around taking up space and becoming a junky eyesore. I guess these are first world problems as the saying goes.
American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is at Ethanol.org is in Sioux Falls, SD and then there are the Illinois Corn Growers Association, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, and so on. Iowa does grow the most corn though.
Yep. And then the Missouri Corn Growers as well. Ethanol - Missouri Corn Growers Association
I would personally rather have a domestic source of alternative energy such as this rather than the more toxic additives to control emissions that came prior. It seems to work well in sealed emissions compliant equipment and some of my cars sit for a while between use. There is no problem.
For non-emissions compliant equipment with the fuel system open to the atmosphere, moisture is pulled right in by the alcohol and things don’t go so well. I go out of my way to get alcohol fuel for my small engines as the difference it night and day.
Way back when we had a shortage of oil, ethanol was seen as a way to boost supply and with corn that could be home grown. We do not have a shortage now except for drilling rigs drilling instead of being idle. At any rate it was a real boon to farmers. Wife’s cousin farms a couple thousand acres in South Dakota. Back then he said he had invested $20,000 in a plant. The results were so good on his investment, he planned to invest more. Props up the corn prices. I don’t have a problem with people making money from their labors, but this whole thing is about money, and with the proper policies, totally unnecessary. Whether or not it is good for the country is another issue. We may need to eat that corn some day, or eat what eats the corn. But it is all about corn prices.
IMO ethanol is the best way to increase octane in gasoline. It’s is the best combination of low long term toxicity and cost. I’m not in favor of going to E15 though. The only good reason to go over E10 is if you’re drag racing, and then E85 is a great pump gas choice if your bracket allows it.