# 17 hp Intek oil problem



## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

The engine is a 17 hp Intek. I was cutting my lawn when all of a sudden I had a huge white cloud of oil come out of the exhaust. Needless to say I shut it down ASAP. Restarted after a couple minutes but now I am burning oil at a steady rate. I also get a puff if I put any load on the engine. Can I get lucky, is there any kind of seal I may have blown or an I looking at rings, valve seats or worse. Thanks in advance.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

ok, what kinda oil is in it? check that and make sure its full, and doesn't smell like gas, etc..... may be the breather if its intermitently blowing smoke every few revolutions. if the oil is not fuel contaminated, low, etc.


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## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

Thanks for the info, but I'm pretty sure I fiqured it out. I removed the Air cleaner and found lots of oil. Fired it up and sure enough, blow by. My guess is I busted a ring because it still runs great. If I'm wrong please LMK. I did a search on line and couldn't find a rebuild kit for my engine but a place called Farmers Exchange has a short block for around $350.00. Instead of screwing around with ordering all the parts then paying to have the cylinder punched, etc. Do you thjink I'm better off with the short block? Thanks again.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

while it was running, if it was spewing oil into the carb from the breather tube, its the breather..... rings would give a slight start up smoke, and either nothing, to a slight smoke on throughout, not intermitently like a messed up breather. blow by would make the oil dirty quick, of course it would use more oil, and it would not pass into the carb. before you go into things, try a new breather....before spending loads of money.... a bad breather would every couple revolutions introduce oil into the carb, making it smoke. it would pop a puff of oil every now and then.


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## roperdude91 (Nov 10, 2004)

its the breather, now i could have sworn i posted this earlier, did it not go through? my computer was screwy this morning


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## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

Thanks for the help guy's, I was hoping it was as simple as a breather. I ordered one this morning and will post after I install it.


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## mikemerritt (Dec 6, 2004)

I posted an answer but reading back through I had missed the fact that the air filter was full of oil. 

You all have it covered, I'm out of here.......Mike

I suppose you can't delete a useless post around here?


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## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

Bad News Update. Briggs has my breather #696126 on back order for over a month and nobody knows when they might get them in so I've been calling all over the country. I finally located a shop in my area that had one in their truck which I just installed. Well it's still blowing oil like it's going out of style. The breather filled with oil and it started shooting out through the vent tube. So my question is, did I get a bad breather or is there something I'm missing. Thanks again for all the imput.


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## mikemerritt (Dec 6, 2004)

Check the head gasket. Look for a blowout between the combustion area and the push rod galley.

Mike


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## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

Thanks Mike, I'll pull the head this weekend.


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## paxfam (Aug 6, 2005)

Yea doubt that its the rings, if it was things would be worse, lots of smoke----no compression.


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## Fuenteguy (Sep 2, 2005)

Mike, you were dead on. I pulled the head and there was a blowout between the combustion area and the push rod galley. I just ordered a new gasket and realized I don't have the torque specs. Can anyone help? It's a 311777 17hp Intek.


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## mrbillhol (Feb 29, 2008)

*smoking Intek 17HP*

I have an Intek 17 HP with the identical problem. It's on a Poulon Pro mower tractor. I'll pull the head and see if its the same thing. I really hope it is. Mower is 6 yrs old and the compression is 95 PSI, which led me to believe there was nothing wrong with the head gasket or valves.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

mrbillhol said:


> I have an Intek 17 HP with the identical problem. It's on a Poulon Pro mower tractor. I'll pull the head and see if its the same thing. I really hope it is. Mower is 6 yrs old and the compression is 95 PSI, which led me to believe there was nothing wrong with the head gasket or valves.


Thats one of the first thing to check on one of these engines if they suddenly start burning oil or smoking. The other thing to check is your oil level, if it's overfull they will pump oil out of the oil breather tube and into the carburetor where it will be burned by the engine. If your oil level is high, check the oil and see if it appears thin and or smells of gas, it's possible the carburetor may be leaking fuel that eventually ends up in the crankcase, mixing with the oil and increasing the level. Running an engine with contaminated oil can cause a major engine failure, so be sure to check this.


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## mrbillhol (Feb 29, 2008)

Sure enough, I pulled the head and here was a trace between the chambers. New gasket on the way from the friendly Ace Hardware. I checked and rechecked the oil level while trouble shooting the problem, was OK. No gas smell in oil, not thin, I think carb system is OK also.

Do you know the head bolt torque specs and the tightening sequence? I numbered the head bolts and numbered their places as I unloosed them. If I can't find the sequence I'll put em back the way they were taken out.

Thanks for your help.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

*Head Bolt Seq.*

Alright here is the correct one now 

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/attachment.php?attachmentid=55091&stc=1&d=1204479556
INTKSING_HD_Sq.pdf


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## mrbillhol (Feb 29, 2008)

30yearTech, I really appreciate your help. Unfortunately, the Intek I have is a single cylinder with 8 head bolts. I notice in all the small engine torque specs, they seem to start at the outer opposing bolts and progress to end up in the middle.

In the good old days of my youth, I used to start in the middle and work out on car engines like straight 6's and 8's. Never had a blown gasket from that. I wonder what the difference is on smaller heads?:wave:


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

mrbillhol said:


> 30yearTech, I really appreciate your help. Unfortunately, the Intek I have is a single cylinder with 8 head bolts. I notice in all the small engine torque specs, they seem to start at the outer opposing bolts and progress to end up in the middle.
> 
> In the good old days of my youth, I used to start in the middle and work out on car engines like straight 6's and 8's. Never had a blown gasket from that. I wonder what the difference is on smaller heads?:wave:


Sorry, I just did not pay attention to which model you had, even though you said it was the same as the original posters. Go back and look at my previous post, it's all better now!
:woohoo:


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## airic (Aug 23, 2008)

Great post, saved me lots of time on mine on my scotts 1742. 
It started spewing oil one day, I noticed that when I turned left it smoked worse, because the head gasket was blown out. thought it was rings and was ready to do a ring job, nope just a top end .

Thanks for your help


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## light mechanic (Jul 18, 2008)

had one come in the other day doing the same thing, he killed it soon as he seen the smoke, it was the base gasket between the eninge and the muffler that blew out, got him going soon, good luck, Light Mechanic


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## dwilken (May 8, 2010)

folks- i hope you still check old posts. i have the same problems as above. i read them all and changed the breather gasket. the old one looked good. anyways, engine sounds great. under load though it sends oil to the carb thru the air filter. no gas in oil. can't find anything else wrong. is head gasket next, or the breather itself???? dave in ohio


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

dwilken said:


> folks- i hope you still check old posts. i have the same problems as above. i read them all and changed the breather gasket. the old one looked good. anyways, engine sounds great. under load though it sends oil to the carb thru the air filter. no gas in oil. can't find anything else wrong. is head gasket next, or the breather itself???? dave in ohio


If your engine is an OHV then it's likely the head gasket is blown. In over 36 years of working on engines, I have run across very few bad oil breathers.


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## KaptainK (Jul 12, 2013)

*BLowing smoke filled the yard*

I had the same smoke problem with my 17 hp BS Intek on my Scotts tractor. I found gas in the oil. I replaced the electric solenoid on the bottom of the bowl. I put a fuel shutoff in line so fuel did not leak down into oil. replaced the oil. The problem seemed fixed untill this week engine stopped running. i have only about 30 psi compression and fuel and spark are good. Does it still sound like head gasket or am i the guy who is going to need rings?


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

The electric solenoid on the bottom of your carburetor will not prevent fuel from getting in the crankcase and oil if the carburetor is flooding.

I would check the valve clearances and operation. A leak down test would help determine the reason for low compression. In the absence of tools to perform a leak down test, you could remove the head and inspect the condition of the gasket. This would also allow inspection of the cylinder for any damage that could be the cause. If you do this, you will need a new head gasket to reassemble the engine.


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