New Lawnmower has leaked oil and has creamy thick residue in foam filter...

[Decro]

I don't know where any water would have come from in an air cooled engine but quite easy to fill the carb/air filter with oil if you turn the mower over with the carb downwards.

[spudulike]

I agree with Dan, sounds like emulsified water and oil, the type of thing you get on your car oil cap when the head gasket has failed or water has got in to the oil on old oil.

Clean it off, check the oil in the sump is OK, run it up and get it warm, drain the oil and see if it is nice and clean. You can check to see if the crankcase breather runs back in to the air filter...mostly done to improve emissions.

[carbs for arbs]

This isn’t a wind up, I promise!  I’ve got a hell of a lot of learning to do!  I think I’ve been similarly stupid with the “creamy oily filter”.  Here’s what happened…  When I first checked the filter it was thick with oil.  I’m guessing that a lot of the oil that escaped ended up there, and the sponge being a sponge soaked it up.  It only turned creamy when I had it in a bucket of soapy water and was trying to clean it up.  From what I’ve now read, oil does that in water!!  Sorry about that. 

 

It’s looking like the machine has been sideways, upside down, etc during transit, which has led to whatever amount of oil was in there getting to places it shouldn’t.  It was sent from the Netherlands I think, so has probably been loaded and offloaded several times, and I doubt people have been bothered to keep it the right way up.  Not that they would have needed to had it been shipped empty (which it was meant to be).  I’ve no idea why there was oil in there.   

 

I haven’t put any fuel in yet and tried to start it.  I’m concerned that trying to run it with oil in places oil shouldn’t be could cause problems.  So I’m now on a mission to see where the oil has got to and to clean it up as needed (if needed).  Because of work I've not been able to do as much as I had hoped on it.  I've taken the spark plug out and it was clean on the inside but a little dirty on the outside. I've taken the engine cover off to look for signs of oil. And that's about it.

The mower is a Sprint 460P and is has B&S 450e engine. It is a push mower, not self-propelled. I don't think it has an oil drain point; you have to drain it from where you put the oil in.

 

I’ll add some photos below. 

 

Thanks a million for the help, and for sticking with it even in light of my small engine faux pas!  Any advice on what to do next (apart from giving up, as sensible as that might be) most welcomed. 

 

Cheers

[carbs for arbs]

To start with, here's a potentially dodgy looking photo of the creamy oil. I'd say that's maybe around 5% of how much I got out of the filter:

 

 

 

And here's the spark plug:
 

 

 

 

 

[carbs for arbs]

And lastly a bunch of photos of all the places I've found oil. There was also oil in the groove of the deck. Some show just small amounts of oil. I've uploaded them all to help gauge how minor or bad it could potentially be, and where else might be best to check (if anywhere):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bmp01]

Little bit of oil goes a long way....

As you say with the shipping sounds like oil has gone thro the breather hose to the filter and then escaped to the outside world. 

I wouldnt worry about the engine too much, once its running and warm the oil will drain back to where it should be. If the filter is all foam then clean it like any foam filter for an engine. If the filter has a paper type element and also got oiled then it wants replacing.

Oil else where will attract dirt but otherwise not a problem.

'Dirt' on outside of spark plug is paint over spray.

 

 

 

[Doug Tait]

I'm thinking the next step is make sure there's oil in it, fuel, then away you go, happy mowing!

[monkeybusiness]

Your lawn will be upto your chin if you don’t get that mower running soon!

These engines are very simple - check it’s got oil to the correct level, fuel it up and get it mowing. Any oil in the wrong place will soon burn off.

 

[spudulike]

Leave the plug out and pull the engine over briskly to eject any oil there may be in the cylinder. Replace the plug, check the oil level and if OK, fire it up and all should be good but check the oil level after a few minutes running.

At least we got to the bottom of the creamy oil A bit of white spirit or even petrol would be better to purge it of oil. Soapy water if just dirty with dust.

[carbs for arbs]

Quick update...  I was away at work for a few days so unable to do anything.  

 

Back now though and did as above.  No oil came out of the SP hole when pulling with it removed. And no smoke at all when I fired it up to use. So all's good.  Got about 45 minutes mowing in before it started raining heavy. It's quite heavy on the more awkward bits, but manageable and a helluva lot quicker than strimming! Look forward to continuing on the next dry day.

 

Thanks again for all the help. I'll no doubt have some follow up mower questions at some point but will save them for a new thread.

 

Cheers