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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by riccbhard[/i] [br]I got a self-propelled (knew it would be a problem from the start) lawnmower for free from somone that had bought a new mower. It's been taken care of, no rust, kept inside, etc... The first thing I did was change the oil since he said it hadn't been changed since it sat after the new one was bought. So I got that changed and exactly right on the Full line. I started it up and it ran fine for about 5 feet and then while pushing I decided to engage the self propel system with the "Drive Engage" handle. I pushed it forward and it worked for about another 5 feet and then the front wheels locked up and it started squealing. So I shut it off (to reset the drive, you cant turn the drive off while it's running) and restarted. I decided not to turn on the drive and pushed it normal. I got about 15 feet and it started squealing again and the front wheels locked up. This time the drive was not engaged. I had just hit a small bump (not hit it with the blade, just ran over it with the right wheels). Anytime it squeals the motor slows down and starts blowing blue colored smoke. So finally I stopped it to see what was up. I checked the oil and it was right at the "add" line, not in the OK zone. I added oil and went to start it and it would not start, so I let it sit about 10 minutes and came back, fired up on the first try. Squealing from the start. Finally I took the drive belt/pulley cover off on top to see what was going on. When the drive is engaged manually the pulley on the drive system does not move at all and the belt from the engine squeals around the pulley. It will also start doing this when pushing it without the drive engaged, espcially if you pull it backwards or lift the front wheels off the ground. My guesses are: 1.) The cable that runs from the Drive Engage handle is not adjusted properly at the pulley. 2.) Something is locking up the driveshaft causing the pulley to lock up. My guess is it burns oil because of the huge load the engine is putting out to attempt at turning the pulley but it will not budge. So, any ideas what's wrong? Edited by - riccbhard on Apr 20 2006 8:27:51 PM Edited by - riccbhard on Apr 20 2006 8:29:13 PM [/quote]    Insert an Image File (GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP, ZIP, PNG) Check here to include your profile signature.