Water pump spitting oil

Charles in Aus. · Nov 20, 2019

I'm puzzled by this one .
My water pump is by a reputable Australian company but powered by an import engine . It has worked well since I bought it five years ago , in that time it has run for six hours in total .

Two days ago , after about twenty minutes of running it started spitting oil out through the air cleaner , lots of it .

I shut it down , checked the plug , clean and bright , oil level almost normal , carburettor clean , air cleaner oily as .
I am wondering if I overfilled the sump in a fit of distraction ?
I refilled the sump making sure the level was correct and ran it for another twenty minutes , no oil , ran perfectly .
Would an overfilled sump do this ? Here's hoping I haven't ruined a good machine .

Moonlite37 · Nov 21, 2019

Perhaps the oil was too light or as you assumed, it may have been over filled. Sounds like you have it fixed. REJOICE

Russ from MN · Nov 21, 2019

It sounds like maybe it was overfull, possibly gas drained through the carb and into the crankcase? I would check the oil level before you start it every time, as you should anyhow. Does it have a fuel pump? If so, that's a possibility, we have a Honda engine on a tiller that has a fuel pump. Keep an eye on it, and let us know what happens, good luck.

Steve@Advance · Nov 21, 2019

Several things can cause that.

Overfilled oil, gas in the oil, a problem with the crankcase vent system, or the engine not siting level.

Or, anything that increases crankcase pressure. That can be leaking rings, or (assuming this is an overhead valve) a head gasket leaking into the pushrod area.

If it does it again, look at the head gasket.

guido · Nov 21, 2019

Hello Charles in Aus,,

Sounds like the crankcase is NOT venting. There should be a hose that goes into the air intake system from the crankcase. It may have been knocked off? Does not sound old enough to be a mechanical issue, like broken ring,

Guido.

Charles in Aus. · Nov 21, 2019

Thanks for the ideas

On a much closer examination it looks as if all the oil has come from the crankcase vent tube that exhausts into the lower part of the air cleaner . It's obviously not blocked but it certainly looks as if it is the path the oil took .
What is odd is that no further oil leaked out on the second run after new oil had been put in .

C.Amick · Nov 21, 2019

Was it sitting level when you had it running?

guido · Nov 21, 2019

Hello Charles in Aus,

The tube Is not exhausting into the intake tube. The intake negative pressure is used to maintain the crankcase at a negative pressure. The tube has to be connected to do so, or oil will come out of the vent tube, even if the engine is mechanically sound. Should be O.K. now. If you had a blown head gasket, and the tube was in place, the engine would be using a lot of oil and smoking,

Guido.

Charles in Aus. · Nov 21, 2019

Come Sta Guido ?

I will look further into the breathing tube , perhaps there is a partial blockage ?
The engine was very level C.Amick , thank you , it sat on the large timber base shown in the photo .
I am wanting to think that I overfilled it , how this happened is beyond me and it does worry me . Perhaps one day soon I will find myself in the top paddock wearing nothing but underpants :shock:

Water pump spitting oil

Charles in Aus.

Well-known Member

Moonlite37

Well-known Member

Russ from MN

Well-known Member

Steve@Advance

Well-known Member

guido

Well-known Member

Charles in Aus.

Well-known Member

C.Amick

Member

guido

Well-known Member

Charles in Aus.

Well-known Member

Similar threads