(boy this got long...)
So a little back story first on my new to me machine. This 317 I picked up supposedly sat in a garage for several years until the owner decided to sell it. He dumped a bottle of Marvel Mystery oil into the two cylinders to "loosen it up" so that he could start it. He started it, it smoked like **** so he sold it to the person that I bought it from. That person put new plugs in it, painted it and then mowed two lawns with it, it kept smoking like **** so he sold it again and now it's mine. I ID'd the engine and it appears to be a series I motor and I've read about a lot of problems with this motor.
So the smoke is definitely white, no blue tinge to it, nor does it smell like burning oil but you could hide an advancing platoon in the smoke cloud generated by it. I checked the oil level and it was low, so I topped it off and then I checked the compression and got about 89 on cylinder #1 and 86 on #2. The service manual says below 90psi and you've got problems, IE head gasket.
I checked the breather, which appeared to have been dumping oil for a while prior (but not now) and the mesh pad looked fairly clean but the red umbrella valve was just flopping loose and won't stay secure where it's supposed to be.
I then pulled the heads off, not much carbon and no scoring, the cylinder walls look pretty good but there was some oil in the bottom of the cylinder. I haven't measured them yet, but with the oil I'm suspecting possible bad rings?
So with all that, where do I start to get rid of the smoke? Could the fluid I found in the cylinder be left over Marvel Mystery oil? How long does it take for that to burn off? There is definitely oil residue in the muffler and it's sticky/sludgy, maybe that's my problem? How long would it take for the mystery oil to burn off? I've only pulled the heads off once, I haven't pulled them again to see if more oil has found it's way there.
If the cylinders aren't too far over original measurements, should I just throw some rings in it, new head gaskets and run it till it blows and then replace it? Seems like with the good compression it'd be worth trying to save it before dumping $1800 into a replacement motor or am I really just delaying the inevitable?
So a little back story first on my new to me machine. This 317 I picked up supposedly sat in a garage for several years until the owner decided to sell it. He dumped a bottle of Marvel Mystery oil into the two cylinders to "loosen it up" so that he could start it. He started it, it smoked like **** so he sold it to the person that I bought it from. That person put new plugs in it, painted it and then mowed two lawns with it, it kept smoking like **** so he sold it again and now it's mine. I ID'd the engine and it appears to be a series I motor and I've read about a lot of problems with this motor.
So the smoke is definitely white, no blue tinge to it, nor does it smell like burning oil but you could hide an advancing platoon in the smoke cloud generated by it. I checked the oil level and it was low, so I topped it off and then I checked the compression and got about 89 on cylinder #1 and 86 on #2. The service manual says below 90psi and you've got problems, IE head gasket.
I checked the breather, which appeared to have been dumping oil for a while prior (but not now) and the mesh pad looked fairly clean but the red umbrella valve was just flopping loose and won't stay secure where it's supposed to be.
I then pulled the heads off, not much carbon and no scoring, the cylinder walls look pretty good but there was some oil in the bottom of the cylinder. I haven't measured them yet, but with the oil I'm suspecting possible bad rings?
So with all that, where do I start to get rid of the smoke? Could the fluid I found in the cylinder be left over Marvel Mystery oil? How long does it take for that to burn off? There is definitely oil residue in the muffler and it's sticky/sludgy, maybe that's my problem? How long would it take for the mystery oil to burn off? I've only pulled the heads off once, I haven't pulled them again to see if more oil has found it's way there.
If the cylinders aren't too far over original measurements, should I just throw some rings in it, new head gaskets and run it till it blows and then replace it? Seems like with the good compression it'd be worth trying to save it before dumping $1800 into a replacement motor or am I really just delaying the inevitable?
