It’s important to maintain your lawn mower to give you clean and consistent cuts for your lawn.
But what would happen if you added too much oil in lawn mower? How to remove the excess oil? How can you prevent adding too much oil in a lawn mower?
All the questions will be answered in this Lawn Advisors article. You’ll also find a few tips you can follow to get a nice lawn, knowing you have taken all necessary precautions to avoid adding too much lubricant and causing permanent damage.
Signs that There is Too Much Oil in Lawn Mower
Here are some signs that there is too much oil in lawn mower. Keep an eye on these signs:
– Leaking Oil
– Locked Up Motor
– Overheating Motor
– Slow Starting Motor
– Oil in the Carburetor
– Muffler is Releasing White Smoke
– Oil Drops on the Air Filter
Effects of Too Much Oil in Lawn Mower
A lawn mower engine filled with too much oil will lead to many problems.
1. Engine Seal Damage
The oil seals on the engine could be damaged. This might not seem like much, but if oil blows out of the seals and is overlooked, it might cause engine failure. When the oil runs out, the engine’s high temperature will probably spin a rod or weld itself to the crankshaft.
2. Overheating Engine
The engine can overheat when the crankshaft and rod push more oil. Excess oil prevents the crankshaft and rod from freely rotating. The internal engine parts are strained as a result of the increased crankcase pressure.
The rocker arm and valve spring will heat up. The oil may not flow properly, which could lead to increased heat. Keep in mind that the majority of engines are made of aluminum, which heats up quickly.
A valve seat or guide may pop out of the engine block due to the engine’s extreme heat. Your engine will need to be scraped out if something happens to it.
3. Engine May Lock Up
The cylinder could become overfilled with oil. This causes the engine to stall. Additionally, due to wear, oil might slip through the rings and lock the engine. This is called hydro-locked.
The combustion chamber, which should only contain air and a little amount of fuel now contains oil. As a result, the piston experiences greater compressions, which prevents oil compression. As a result, when you start the engine, the piston rod can bend.
4. Engine Runs Rough and Smokes
Your engine may run poorly if it contains too much oil. Too much engine oil might clog the spark plug. The oil prevents the gasoline from properly igniting.
Your lawnmower’s valve train may potentially become clogged with oil, which will reduce its performance. This oil is burned by the cylinder, filling the space with a thick cloud of whitish-blue, foul-smelling smoke.
Insufficient clean air could clog your air filter in addition to the smoke. As a result, the air filter could become clogged.
5. Engine May Blow Gaskets
Similar concerns arise with dual-cylinder engines when the oil is overfilled. Overfilling could cause gaskets to heat up. Repairing a two-cylinder engine costs more than repairing a push mower engine since the engine must be removed from the lawnmower, adding to labor costs.
Even though a small amount of excess oil may not seem like a big deal, it could result in expensive repairs or engine replacement. Therefore, check twice before changing or adding oil, and only add what the engine manufacturer recommends.
In this video below, you’ll find the problems caused by adding too much oil in lawn mower and what happens when doing so.
How to Remove Too Much Oil in Lawn Mower?
It’s important to look at the signs that there’s too much oil in a lawn mower, especially as you prepare your mower for the summer. There are several different ways to remove excess engine oil from your lawn mower:
1. Drain Plug or Valve Port
If your lawnmower has one, you must locate the drain plug or valve port on the engine. It could be located at the bottom of the oil pan under the lawn mower or on the side of the engine by the dipstick.
Prepare your drain pan to collect the oil. Remove the plug for a quick second and replace it. Check your oil level.
2. Oil Filter
If your engine has an oil filter, you can remove it or loosen it to drain a small amount of oil. Get a towel ready to collect the oil.
3. Fill Hole
Your mower may not have a drain plug or oil filter. Many small engines found on push mowers lack a drain plug, thus emptying the fill hole of some oil requires tipping the mower over.
4. Oil Extractor Pump
To remove oil, an oil evacuator works effectively. Through a tube put into the engine oil fill hole, an extractor will drain oil.
5. Turkey Baster
A turkey baster works well for removing small amounts of oil. Just be careful not to use it again for cooking after using it in your engine. These are pretty inexpensive to replace.
Here’s how to remove the excess oil in a lawn mower.
How to Prevent Adding Too Much Oil in Lawn Mower?
You should take preventative measures to avoid overfilling your equipment’s engine.
– Take preventive measures, such as frequently checking the amount of oil in the engine, to keep your lawnmower engine properly oiled.
– You should read the instruction booklet if you just bought a new lawnmower to know the oil requirements for that model.
– Check the oil level indicator after removing the oil dipstick. You can use this to determine how much oil is required to fill the crankcase.
– It’s time to check the oil level if the engine is no longer hot from recent mowing operations and there is still a lot of oil in the crankcase.
Top Tips to Maintain the Lawn Mower
Here are a few tips that will help maintain your lawn mower and keep the oil level good.
– Clean the area surrounding the crankcase using a clean rag or cloth.
– Remove the lubricant to remove the lubricant, and unscrew the crankcase tube crankcase.
– Tilt the mower to remove the excess oil and prevent any oil from draining into the combustion chamber or the carburetor itself.
– Replace the trimmer’s oil filter after all of the excess oil has been drained. This will make the engine more likely to last a long time.
– Properly dispose of the excess lubricant and oil in a sustainable way to help protect the environment.
Too Much Oil in Lawn Mower FAQ
To Wrap Up
We hope you know now what to do when oil is above the maximum level on the dipstick.
Always check the oil level in your lawn mower and add oil as needed. And if you add oil to a new engine, do so carefully and watch the dipstick until it reaches the right level.
Did you experience too much oil in lawn mower? Tell Lawn Advisors how you dealt with this problem in the comments box below.
