Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Hot Exhaust

Sorry if this has been posted here before, I searched, and read a lot of the messages, but did not find much help with my problem.

I just got an older Montgomery Wards, 11 horse Lawn Tractor. They guy I bought it from said it had been sitting for 4 years before I got it. I had to clean the carb out, I took it apart, cleaned it up, and reassembled it with the original parts, everything looked good and clean. I also had to clean the mouse nest out from behind the flywheel, and I figured while I had the flywheel off, I would check the points and all. Every thing looks good, and I have good spark.

I put everything together, dumped some fresh gas in, choked it, and it fired right up. It seems to run good, and have a lot of power. I drove it up and down the street, and around the yard.

The problem is though after running for about 15 minutes, the muffler starts to get very hot, and glows red. The engine still seems to run great though.

Any thoughts?

The flywheel key is partially sheared causing the timing to retard.

Thanks for the reply, but when I had the flywheel off, I put a new key in. I lost the old when when pulling the flywheel.

I did look at it a little more tonight. I adjusted the carburator a little and it seemed to help, but I did not get to run it too long. I will have to try it out tomorrow. Could a carburator out of adjustment cause this problem?

Thanks

Just a thought, if the carb is too rich, it could cause unburned gas to be expelled into the hot muffler, where it will burn - generating more heat and cause the muffler to glow.

Goldstar, the logic behind that theory makes sense, but a rich engine actually burns a bit cooler. A lean engine is usually the cause of glowing mufflers. Or timing issues.

An old thinning muffler will tend to heat up and glow. Is this muffler old in appearance and rusty? The richening of the carburetor will certainly help but it won't be much good if the engine performs poorly due to a rich condition. How, specifically, did you "clean" the carburetor? You may still have a restriction there and subsequent lean condition.

Thank you for the useful information.

To answer a few questions, To clean the carb, I took it off, disassembled it, and used my air compresser to blow and old dirt and grime out. I then sprayed it out good with carb cleaner, then used the air compresser again to make sure I had it good and clean. I put is all back together again, and reinstalled it.

I thought about the muffler, but it looks good, and does not look to thin. I fact it looks better then the one on my 2002 craftsman. Howerver, I am sure that just because it looks good, does not mean it is. I imagine it could still be clogged or something?

Thanks for the help

Did you check the point gap? If that's good, I'd suggest backing out the screw under the carb bowl just 1/8 turn or so.

Thank you all for your help. I turned the adjustment out a little more than an 1/8th of a turn, and it seems to be running good, without a glowing muffler.:D

Great! Glad we could help!