Hi, I've never seen this before. I got a Rover (I think an i5500) with a chonda OHV engine from the tip. After a good carby clean it started and ran fine but was blowing a browny residue from the exhaust. I shut it off and then I checked the oil (I should have done that first, I know). Anyway, it was a milky pink colour. We have had a lot of rain here lately and I was wondering if water would do this. I don't see how rain would get in though. My experience is that water in oil will send it to a milky chocolate colour. Would ethanol in fuel, if accidentally added to the sump do this? I should flush this out now. Any ideas how best to do this?
Water can get in through either one of the valves if they are open while sitting in the rain. I had a horizontal engine on a tiller this last Summer that over 3 quarts of water in the engine so much that it had push out all the oil.
As if ethanol it depends, is your fuels dye for off road use or otherwise. If it was here it could automatic transmission fluid or off road diesel fuel; both are red in color from the dyes. Of course we also have Stabil Fuel stabilizer that is also red dyed.
Penrite oils can be red... but definitely not milky red. Looks like water has got into the sump somehow????????? I did get fuel enter the sump on an old mower one time, after it flooded badly. The oil went sort of watery-looking, like it had been thinned down, and of course if you smelt it there was the very strong smell of fuel.
Yes. I think something red. After I read your post, I did a bit of research and found this:
"The Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) advises that petrol manufacturing and importing member companies are currently in the process of changing the industry controlled standard colour (dye) of unleaded petrol (i.e. 91 Research Octane Number grade) from Purple/Bronze to Red/Orange". (http://www.aip.com.au/resources/colour-australian-unleaded-petrol-changing-redorange)
This happened in 2012. This would be the likely culprit for my pink oil.
At this point is about the only you can try and hope it hasn't been ran with the contaminated oil too long as fuel/water laden oil can some serious damage internally but it not as bad running them without any oil at all. If it fails then you chalk it up to a good experience as it has already been rejected by someone. At least it isn't brand new engine. I brought one a couple years ago that the guy never put oil in a new engine and it of course thrown a connecting rod through the block. I knew what I was getting as buying it the other new parts it still had good.
If it was here and knowing how kids like to help daddy take care the of the mower it might even be paint. But for I can't smell the difference between straight oil and fuel laden oil anyway; I have tried. I did have one little boy that fill his dad's string trimmer full of water and admitted it later.
I don't get why they can't engineer mower engines so they don't have water ingress into the fuel tanks and sumps so easily. Motorbikes and other equipment with mechanicals exposed to the elements do fine, yet we are expected to keep mowers under cover like an indoor appliance. I don't get it.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Funny story. A neighbour's boy decided to fill his dad's mower up with water out of the hose one time. It did not run too well (at all!) after that.
So I wonder, in this case, could someone have poured in some paint instead of oil??? Could this have been the reason why someone decided to take it to the tip? Maybe they though it was too much trouble to clean paint out of a sump? Just me thinking out loud here!
Well, I flushed it out until there was no longer any trace of the contaminant, whatever it was. It starts and runs fine and, worse yet, I've already sold it! I did tell the guy to bring it back if he had any trouble but he lives in another town about 3-4 hours away. They come to Mackay pretty often so I am sure if it comes to grief I will be seeing the mower again. Is this what they call a vicarious liability?
