# Oil blowout - diagnosis?



## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

My friend has a Craftsman 9/28 that is 8 yrs old. He changed the oil this fall and there was no oil leak afterwards.

He used the blower last night (2" of snow) and thought he smelled oil but noticed nothing else. A few minutes later the blower seemed to be slipping. He tried different gears with no luck so he parked it. Today he saw oil on the floor and the level was a little low on the dipstick. He pulled the pan cover off the bottom and there was quite a bit of oil on the friction disc and wheel. It was probably slipping from the oil SO that was why it stopped moving. 

He doesn't feel that he overfilled the oil when he changed it and no leak after the oil change. I iooked at it today and don't see anything suspicious. Can't tell the oil source for sure but maybe the side opposite the recoil starter handle?

He cleaned everything up and used gasoline on a rag to clean the friction disc. He let it sit for a while in the normal position after being tipped up to redistribute the oil. I saw him blowing snow to test it so he will see if there is still a leak. 

Any idea what happened?


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

maybe he blew out the oil seal on the sump cover


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## RoyP (Oct 16, 2014)

Did he by any chance switch to a synthetic oil ?????? With a machine that old, it may be leaking out of crankcase oil seal ??


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## Grunt (Nov 11, 2013)

I'm sure he did but, did he check the oil level after cleaning everything up? If his snow blower does not have a fuel shut, the carb may have leaked gas into the sump during the summer and rose to the point of the oil coming out the breather hose on the crankshaft side of the motor. This is ASSUMING his machine has a flat head motor. This is why it is VERY important to check your oil BEFORE each use.


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## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

Maybe he just spilled some oil when filling it up.


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## Motor City (Jan 6, 2014)

Possibly blowing out the breather tube?


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

I don't know all the details on type of oil, etc. I talked to him after he cleaned everything up. He used the blower for a while after the clean up and it ran fine. No oil leaked out while it was running or after he shut it off. He parked it on cardboard and will see if any oil leaks overnight.


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## RoyP (Oct 16, 2014)

CO Snow said:


> I don't know all the details on type of oil, etc. I talked to him after he cleaned everything up. He used the blower for a while after the clean up and it ran fine. No oil leaked out while it was running or after he shut it off. He parked it on cardboard and will see if any oil leaks overnight.


We will wait until morning.......cardboard will speak !!


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## Lakota (Nov 19, 2014)

When he runs it, gently pull the dip stick and see if any positive crankcase pressure, there should be none.

The pressure will force oil out various gaskets. If so, possible blown head gasket or worn rings.

Also make sure the bottom oil fill cap/caps is tight.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

The guy behind me had that happen on his 9hp 28" Craftsman.
He said the breather tube is located where it will blow oil on to the disk plate'
He add a piece onto his to direct all possible oil to blow out under the plate.

I don't know why his blew oil out, overfilled it a little?


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

The cardboard spoke: no more oil leak. Not really sure what happened but maybe he overfilled it.


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

How cold was it?

If you were-10F or colder running petroleum oil it can cease to flow and the slinger will create foam that escapes through the breather. Ever since that day it's been Mobil-1, 5-30 in my cold weather 4 strokes.

Pete


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## CO Snow (Dec 8, 2011)

It wasn't very cold. Maybe 28F.


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## Chuck2 (Feb 7, 2014)

*Too Much Oil...How'd that happen?!?*

I had this happen to mine yesterday. I had it running at WOT for a little while to test out fuel supply after installing an in-line filter. Quite abit of oil just started coming out of the breather tube. The end of the tube is located right near the carb air in-let which seems kinda foolish to me because the oil then began to get sucked into it (after in just finished taking the carb apart & thoroughly cleaned it!) Might it be there to provide some warm air so nothing freezes on the carb? Or is it located there for the carb to provide a bit of a vacuum to aid in crankcase ventilation? Also, the oil was running down onto the tire. Luckily I was right there to stop it from continuing to happen by throttling it down.

Anyway, turned out to be too much oil. Which I'm surprised I did since I'm meticulous about doing things. Thankfully, oil is easy to drain out on my machine. Very handy when you only have a small amount to drain. I ran it again at WOT throttle for a little while & no more oil coming out.

Since it was so easy to do, the carb is off again for another thorough cleaning.


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## Sid (Jan 31, 2014)

Oil blowout can happen when you tilt the machine extremely forward or back extremely, it's happen to me, mostly on a rototiller.
Sid


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## Chas G (Dec 13, 2014)

it sounds like to much oil may be. If you over fill the engine it will blow out out through the beather tube and if its old enough it not connected to the carb. Good luck!


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## nt40lanman (Dec 31, 2012)

I've never had that and I always put in a couple extra ounces.


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## Bror Jace (Jan 13, 2015)

_"Oil blowout can happen when you tilt the machine extremely forward or back extremely, it's happen to me."_

This happened to me operating Dad's old JD 1032. I discovered oil coming out a vent hole on the side of the block where a breather had been. I was tilting the machine back while eating at a massive snow bank.

No harm, no foul. I refilled the sump back up to the full mark and the machine ran fine for another decade.


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