the kid down the street has a nice lawnmower it is called a honda civic

 

Go to the sears web site. You can get LOTS of customer reviews on Craftsman mowers.

 

I dont know about the Honda OHV but B&S OHV the lifter(s) are adjustable and often loosen up during or shortly after break in. Like I said I'm not sure about the Honda if they have adjustable lifters but if so that would explain both the smoke at start up and the tapping. The smoke is fuel/oil getting past the valves into the combustion chamber after you shut it off. Tighten the lifter and the valve fully closes. More power plus no tapping. Might see if there is something in owners manual or a repair manual about it.

 

Its overhead cam, there are no lifters. I work for Generac Power Systems as a generator technician, so Im familiar with adjusting valves on OHV engines but OHC is a whole new ballgame.
About the smoke, its not fuel, its oil. The smoke is blue. Most likely either the valve seats are worn or it has a cracked ring. That mower has probably 100-150 hours on it. The mower is 4 years old and I mow about 1 hour a week from May-November. Also, being that its a mulcher the engine is working hard all the time.
There is nothing in the owner's manual about it and Im not about to pay the dealer to look at it.
Im just gonna run 'er til she blows. Im moving to NE Wisconsin in 3 years and when that happens I probably wont even need a mower. The soil is really sandy up there, plus the growing season is only about 4 months long. My parents built a house in that area almost 10 years ago and they STILL dont have much of a yard. I think they mow their yard maybe once or twice a year.

 

Sorry, my illiteracy was kicking in, V>C... kinda looks the same dont it?

With OHC you dont get adjusments except adjust timing belt. If it runs good then don't touch it! Yea probbaly just the valve seats. Easy fix... hard to get to though.... Not hardly worth it. It will run another 4+ years with no problems from that.

 

My parents have an old Toro. Like old old. My uncle bought a new one and was going to throw this one in the dump because it was too old over 20 years ago. All we do is change the oil once a year. Every year for the first time it will start within the first 2 pulls guaranteed. The motor is just on its second spark plug but has had many repairs over the years like the throttle cable and the bars that connect the mower to the handle had to weld in some support pieces. I also used to cut lawns with this thing for about 5 years and it was about 4 hours a week on it.

 

anyone with experience on those self propelled, self riding mowers? You place the boundaries and the little guy mows your lawn itself? Do they cut well?

 

RockPick has already covered the mower topic. Search for it.

 

The robotic mowers?

Like this Husqvarna Auto Mowers

 

Steve deleted it.

 

Yeah, Im not too worried about it. Run 'er til she blows, thats what I say.
Ive also got a Honda trimmer thats giving me fits. It runs fine but it wont feed line out. You can tap it all you want, but it wont feed. I made sure that the line is wound like the owner's manual says.
The dealer told me he would look at it...for $80 an hour plus the cost of parts. Needless to say, I told him, "No thanks!"
Next year Im probably going to just buy either a Stihl or Echo trimmer and throw the Honda in the trashcan where it belongs.
Its just disappointing because Honda used to put out such great product. They have really cheapened them up in recent years though and you wont see me buying another one ever again.

 

This is my mower...

Cub Cadet GT1554
54" Finishing Deck
Turf Tires (got Ag tires too)
50" Dual Stage Snowblower
42" Dozer Blade
1/2 Ton Solid Iron Roller (Can be used on lawns or even fixing pavement)
60" Pull behind brushhog powered by 2 B+S 12 hp engines

This tractor is the best bang for the buck... it's done everything and more for me.

Here is a pic of it on the back of my truck:

 

"Go or blow" thats my saying.

Fits many aspects of life too. I sometimes reverse it for certain people......


I hate trimmers, I buy the cheapest one from walmart they have, ussually homelite (which I belive is made by Husqvarna) but definatly not up to Husqvarna standards. Ussually grab them for $60 if they last 2 years GREAT!!!!!! $30 per year I can live with that. If it takes more than 10 pulls to start it..... trash can!! (actually I'll sell it to someone for $20) I'll buy another one tomarrow.... I dont care if it's a spark plug, carb needs cleaned/rebuilt... or what, it just aint worth pulling more than 10 times or getting my tools out for, they are to cheap.

 

My uncle gets the cheapest MTD push mower he can get, he got 10 years out of his last one, he got a new one probably 5 years ago and it is still doing great.

We use old Deere riders, we have a 68 to mow our cliffs with its low CG, STX-95 with the bagger atatchement and a 185 hydro for the heavy stuff/big areas. We have real tractors less money than a new fancy lawn tractors to push snow and drag about anything we would want so all the mowers really do is cut grass.

 

ah ok... we just bought a Johnny Popper ride on lawn mower, it seems to work well.