Engine Experiment

[Motra]

At my work we've been wondering how long an engine would run with vegetable oil in it instead of motor oil. So today we took an old lawnmower, got it nice and warmed-up, drained the oil and topped er' up with fresh new Crisco. We set it up outside in case the rod came blasting through the case and fired it up. Well, it just ran and ran and ran for about 45 minutes. Out of boredom we started dumping dirt and metal shavings into the air intake, still no excitment. Then we shut it down and checked the oil, it looked great. So to really get some action we decided to wire the throttle wide open. This time it ran at murderously high RPM for about 20 more minutes, until it ran out of gas. At this point we were so sick of hearing the thing run that we just gave up. Couldn't blow-up the old mower engine, not even WFO with Crisco in it. Tecumseh, in case you're wondering.

 

[blownengine]

Thats messed up. Did you drain the Crisco? Was it full of metal shavings?

 

[65ShelbyClone]

These engines in stock form don't make enough power to really stress even bad lubricants. I tried to blow one up years ago by using diesel fuel instead of oil. Even diesel was keeping it alive long enough for boredom to set in. The only reliable way I have found to really blow them up(with chunks flying) is just drain the oil completely.

 

[minidragbike]

Any kind of slippery lube will work. The motor is just box stock
Like 65shelby said no oil always work best for the blow up, or locking up.

 

[mcbob]

Sounds like it's not under load but should the engine be used in a normal work enviroment like draging itself and your mini up a hill thats when the vege oil will let you down.

Mc Bob

 

[tblumer]

check the nitrous mower videos on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1tA8FXmkg

 

[GTO]

I had a Toro mower with a Tecumseh that I used for 25 years and it still ran fine when I put it down due to the body falling apart. (BTW The cylinder walls were still nice when I parted it out)

It was ran hard, used as a chipper/leaf vac :doah: and was lucky to see a new spark plug or oil change in years, it stayed in the cold damp shed and never got gas stabilizer in the winter. It never needed a replacement part of any kind and started right up every summer.

People who bad mouth Tecumseh can kiss my ass. :thumbsup::thefinger:

 

[briggs_boy]

damn man i cant believe that mower withstood that brutal beating !

 

[jesse8931]

i beat the hell out of my hs50 i ran 24 hours striat and only let it idle while it got fueled up other then that it was wot most of the time. when it was over i pulled the head and saw piston had a hole in it but it still ran

 

[minibikeguytlc]

I've got a Wisconsin engine built in the 60's I believe. Everything in the engine is cast and it starts 4th or 5th pull every time.