I say a puff at start-up is common. Mine does it. No big deal. Don't worry about it. Keep an eye on the oil level and just use the mower. Constant white smoke is a different story.

Place the lawnmower on a level driveway and check the oil quantity. The dip stick must be screwed in all the way when checkiing oil.

Storing the mower with the cylinder head down will also cause smoke on startup.

Both situations mentioned may result in oil seeping past the piston rings and entering the combustion chamber. If reasonable care has been taken, I doubt if a 2 year old Briggs Quantum is worn out. I take these engines off 10 - 15 year old mowers for my 4h kids and seldom find worn out cylinders.

Thanks guys.

It is only the first puff of blue smoke, no continuous white smoke.

I always leave the mower level. I know about oil seep into the cylinder problem when cylinder pointing down. I have been storing the mower level in the shed all along. The smoke just get worst lately. It started with a little, just get worst.

Thanks
Alan

As long as you are not having to add oil - no problem. My Toro 20038 has way more than 100 hours (probably closer to 500 hours) on a B&S Intek. It started smoking a bit on start up around 100 hrs but has never gotten worse. Runs like a champ (other than being a beastie to re-start hot). But that seems to be a common problem on the Intek.

Jim

I have been using 10-30 from day one. Our whether is mild.....It is the Bay Area!!!

I had problem of grass jamming the blade and stop the engine all the time before. Took me a while to trouble shoot down to the idle is too low. Since that time, the engine don't sound too happy.

Anyway, I just check if I miss anything to look at. This is a crappy mower, one wheel is dangling!!! Leason learn, don't buy the Troybilt mowers, deck very thin, bend out of shape from catching rocks, wheel are easy to break. And I paid $379 for that top of the line electric start crap!!!! Stay away from Troybilt and maybe Craftsman since I believe they also build by MTD. It is only 2 years old for homeowner use!!!

Try Toro or Husqvarna if you want to bottom end home owner model.

That's what you get for buying crap at Lowes and Home Depot. You said a while back that you don't support local dealers. Too bad.

I can still do online order if the price is good!! When this crook, I would compare the price between dealer and online store and get the cheapest. Warrenty, I won't hold my breath to get free warrenty service from dealer one way or the other.

Or Maybe keep buying cheaper mowers like Husqvarna, they have ball bearing wheels and thicker deck than the Troybilt. It also comes either with kohler XT-7 or Honda GCV engine.

"You said a while back that you don't support local dealers. Too bad."

Yeah, if he bought it from his "local dealer" they'd probably be happy to put a new engine on his machine for "only" $250. or so.

You should be using SAE30HD in your climate and with the hours on the engine. The best I know of is Opti-4 30W, but Quaker State and Castrol are available everywhere.

My dealer would gladly do a compression or other simple check for me if I asked him to. It's part of good business for doing business. I'm sorry all you people have such terrible dealers, we run them out of town around here.

We have only 2 dealers within 10 miles radius. Most LCOs are amigos, I guess they don't speak enough English to argue with the dealers so the dealers get spoiled!!!

The worse thing that could happen is engine failure. Of course that would give you an excuse to get a new machine. I still think the toro/lawnboy line offers the best value. I'd avoid electric start, unless you are elderly or infirm. I'd also stay away from blade brake clutches, but that's just me.

Yep, that would be the first and the last time I'll get an electric start. The sickening thing is you have to charge it up manually!! I have not use the electric start since the first charge ran out!!! BBC not only unliable, it cost more and 5 extra pounds.

Aww, just quit bashing the mower! And, the engine! To save you a lot of trouble and heart-ache, go hire a "wet-back" to mow yer lawn, and don't bother with doing it yerself! Find one who is extra hungry, and i'd bet he'd do your whole yard fer just the price of a hamburger! That way, you wouldn't have to buy any mower at all, and could just sit back and relax!
Some of the mowers i get here to repair, usually don't have that much wrong with them, and can be made to run again. The people who do the most complaining are the ones who couldn't pour water out of a boot, if the directions were printed on the heel! SHEEESH!

Yungman,

Don't use multi-vis oils in a mower. Multi-vis (10w30 etc) are for cars, and water cooled engines which get started up in cold weather and have to run in a variety of temperatures.

Air cooled mower engines run hotter than water cooled engines. The internal tolerances are designed to be looser at cold for this reason, so that when the motor heats up, the tolerances close up under normal running temperature.

Multi-vis oils will seep past the piston rings when the motor is warming up. You will get more smoke and oil burning with multi-vis oils in mower engines. Most mower engines don't get used below 40 degrees (with the exception of snowblower engines), so straight 30W is recommended for most air cooled mower engines. In Texas we do have high temperatures, so I frequenty use straight 40W when it gets 90+ degrees here.

While I'm ranting about oil, the owner's manuals always say 25 hours as the oil change interval. But that's under normal conditions. When it gets dusty and hot (like the 90 degrees above), forget that 25 hours, go for more like 10 or 12 hours sometimes. Remember these little engines usually don't have oil fiters, so whatever gunk that gets in the oil, just goes round and round in there, grinding away at the parts. With oil:When in doubt, change it out.

Oh no- more oil controversy! Not all air cooled engines call for SAE 30 anymore and do suggest multi -grades. Just know that several engine manufactures worn against the use of 40 weight oils. But, what the heck, on this board- we can't decide if there is enough zinc in our mower oil....

James / Tom: I have seen where , what I started back in the 70's , Synthetic Oils (Air Cooled Motor Cycles)usage
is now being expressed by numerous Manufacturers for their New Equipment Eg: Electrical Generators and Inverters and even Lawnmowers . Personally I have always used SAE 30 on my
mowers , but with the Advances wit Oil Design I do lean out most of my Snowmobiles from what was 16-1 or 32-1 to 50-1 and even 70-1 , Hell my Yamaha Punt(4-Hp) Marine Engine runs at Manf. recommended 100-1 Ratio scary even within water cooled realm lol .