OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions on Other Engines TransmissIon Fluid In Mower Engine Sump?

As I emptied the oil out of the remains of an OHV four stroke engine I'm disposing of,, this deep red oil that looks like automatic transmission fluid came out. It looked brand new and very clean.
There isn't any such thing as engine oil that looks crimson like auto/ gearbox fluid is there? I wonder why someone would put ATF in a mower engine?

Makes no difference to me, the motor hulk is ready for disposal now.

MF, many mower oils are red.

briggs sae30 is and gulf western sae30 is

penrite sae30 is the same

They probably ran it low and cooked it, then bought a bottle and tipped it in in vain hope it would fix it

If that's the case, I have about 500ml of near new SAE -30 oil saved in a bottle.

I also found the four blade holder off this engine is bent. I was going to use it on another mower until I gave it a spin by hand (with spark plug boot off) and picked up it was bent as I turned it.

The blades were on so tight I couldn't move them by hand, so the holder took the force with no give in the swing back blades as they struck something like a rock or tree root.

Hi MF,
Probably not the blade holder bent most likely the shaft

No, not in this case Norm. I put on another identical four blade disc and it ran true. I even paid attention to the shaft itself.

Here's the slightly bent blade carrier. A shame as it's in good nick.

Shame its a 4 blade disc mf.

Could be worse though, I picked this up free last year - they hit concrete and broke the blade boss. replaced that, checked disc (flat on bench).

Was cutting saw tooth like on the lawn - i suspect the chassis warped under the strain as the crank and disc sure as hell arent. will shim it.
again, its a 4 blade victa.

Or the guy who hit a star picket stub and managed to crack the sump of the briggs quantum. briggs want $310 retail for a quantum sump haha.
Victa 4 blade disc again.

Could you get away with using it? As you spin it by hand, the rim moves up by about 5 -7mm.

I might try mounting it to a dead motor on a mower and bending it back by hand.

No problems there MF

Do you mean running it that way or bending it back in shape NormK?

Just bend it back into shape as best you can MF. Just when you rotate it on the mower, just make sure the blades don't come down below the shirt in any place.

So you don't think the slight up and down wobble as it's spinning will put strain on the main bearings or crankshaft long term NormK?

As long as you get it reasonably close MF it will be ok,it is a rotating mass and any slight up and down movement will not have any effect on the crank

That's handy to know NormK. I've already let one rust away due to the same issue.

Attached the Briggs junk engine to the old base and bolted the warped blade carrier with used blades on it.
Used a crow bar to try and bend it back to shape and and gave the other side some strikes with a hammer.

The end result was a blade carrier with reduced wobble where I'd be confident to use it. Who knows, it may correct itself more over time.