Oil starvation from mowing at too steep an angle?
4 stroke engines require oil to continuously coat the various moving parts during operation. There are two types of systems used in most small engines: splash lubrication and forced oil lubrication. • Splash lubrication – there is an ‘oil slinger’ driven (via a gear) from the crankshaft. It dips into the oil sump and literally slings oil onto (hopefully) the moving parts in such a way that it makes its way down into the critical bearing surfaces. For the slinger to operate, it must dip into the oil! At too steep an angle, the slinger may be whipping up fumes and no oil! • Forced lubrication – there is an oil pump (as with an automobile engine) and oil passages drilled through various parts to channel the oil directly to the bearing surfaces. (However, on the typical small lawn mower engine, there is no oil filter and no idiot low oil warning light or automatic shutoff – thus the need for periodic oil changes!) At too steep an angle, the intake of the oil pump may be exposed sucking fum
