# Hi! Toro Recycler Thick White Smoke...



## molotov256 (May 27, 2011)

Hey, awesome to find a promising looking active lawnmower repair forum! Thanks for the help already (been reading a bit)...

Anyhow, I picked up a Toro Recycler self propelled mower (2006 I think from reading the EPA tag) off the side of the road the other day, cleaned the carb, made some gaskets, and it's running now. I mowed the front lawn of a small city lot and it did okay, but was starting to bog down periodically and belch big thick clouds of neat looking white smoke. Awesome.

From reading here, I gather that's somewhat normal when going up hills, and I was getting the boggy white smoke doing exactly that. What I haven't figured out yet is how to make it stop doing that.

Possibly related to the smoking issue, it seems to run at a pretty high idle. It's noisy. This may be caused by the fact I had to replace the spring that tensions the carb slide equivalent in the venturi... I didn't order the OEM spring because I don't really know how to go about doing that, so I used a comparable hardware store spring. Perhaps the slide is opening up wider than it should?

Thanks for any input!


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

There are many reasons an engine may smoke. The color of smoke you indicated suggests that oil is being burned by the engine. If the engine is overfull of oil then it will blow out of the oil breather which is vented into the air filter on most engines. A leak in the crankcase can cause oil consumption, or excess wear either in the cylinder or piston rings or both could also contribute to this issue.

The governor springs are a specific tension and you will have limited success with the wrong one. If the engine is running too fast, this may also contribute to some smoking. 

If you can locate the model and spec numbers for the engine, usually stamped into the blower housing or on a decal, they would be very helpful.

Best of Luck...:thumbsup:


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## geogrubb (Jul 28, 2006)

The white smoke is oil, first check to see if the oil is over full, depending on the level of the incline 4-cycle engines without a pressurized lubrication system don't do well. You must use the proper springs on all small mower engines as each is designed for a specific engine, with the proper tension for proper operation, your white smoke condition could be caused by using the wrong spring, it could let the engine run beyond the recommended rpm which would blow oil out the breather and into the intake. Have a good one. Geo


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Hey geo, great minds think alike...lol

We were even typing at the same time...:tongue:


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## geogrubb (Jul 28, 2006)

30yearTech said:


> Hey geo, great minds think alike...lol
> 
> We were even typing at the same time...:tongue:


WOW, that is pretty cool.......Have a good one. Geo


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## molotov256 (May 27, 2011)

*Cool, thanks!*

Alright, yes, the oil was a little overfilled afterall. Possibly a dumb question, but should I drain some out, or will it just burn it off over time? I'm more accustomed to 2 stroke stuff, so I dunno if this mower is more like a car or what...

I'll look into getting the proper spring, too... sounds like a worthwhile endeavor


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

molotov256 said:


> Alright, yes, the oil was a little overfilled afterall. Possibly a dumb question, but should I drain some out, or will it just burn it off over time? I'm more accustomed to 2 stroke stuff, so I dunno if this mower is more like a car or what...
> 
> I'll look into getting the proper spring, too... sounds like a worthwhile endeavor


 I would drain it down to the proper level. Excess engine oil will feed out the breather and can contaminate the air filter element.


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