John - thanks for your reply to my earlier question. I replaced the air filter which looked a little oily in places. Mower starts perfectly with no smoke, but after about 15 seconds white smoke starts which gets worse to a point where you have to stop the engine for the sake of the neighbours! During this oil spits out of and down the exhaust muffler. There is still too much oil around. Suspect there may be oil in the muffler but given the smoke don't feel I can just run the mower until it has burnt off. Any ideas? Is it possible to remove the muffler to check/remove oil? It's Briggs & Startton series 450 3.5hp engine. Thanks

Ken, April 2009

Oil is leaking from my mower, its only 2nd time we have used it

karen, April 2016

My wife left our sovereign mower on its side for too long...and it was pouring out white smoke, and oil dripping out of the side of the exhaust. The smoke is scary, but unless mower is very old theres highly unlikely to be anything serious wrong with it.
What I did was to put the mower running, handles tied together so it runs, white smoke pouring out , somewhere isolated and stand a very long way off and wait....and eventually, the smoke clears slowly and now its all gone. Simples. Dont let the smoke scare you is the answer. Tough it out.Just oil got into the wrong parts...burn it off.

Austen Pinkerton, June 2015

where is the drain plug on my sovereign xss40a

colin, April 2012

hi there i have a sovereign petrol lawn mower its been sat in shed 1year i pulled it out other day nd fired her up unfortunitly it is sprayn all its oil out the exhaust/muffler,i tried letting it run to see if would just burn off but instead it just keeps coming out,i have stripped it down and the exhaust was soaked in oil and in the cylinder was full of oil,would this be the piston ring allowing the oil to pass or is this infact the head gasket,any response would be grateful.

james, February 2012

i have had my mower on it side for about half an hour and now will not start left it for a day and cleaned the spark plug but when u pull the pull start smoke comes out of the air filter can anyone tell me what i can do to fix it

george, June 2011

hi could you please tell me what oil i would need to get for a sovereign petrol mower, as i have just bought a new 1 and it has come without any real instructions on what oil to use, and do i just fill it to the mark on the dip stick, would appreciate some advise, many thanks thelma

thelma grogan, August 2010

Thanks John. Took off the muffler to see if there was a lot of oil in there but there wasn't and as the oil level was ok on dipstick decided to just let the mower run when the neighbours had all gone indoors. As you suggested after a few minutes more of white smoke the exhaust became clearer and all is now as normal. Thanks for saving me a potentially big servicing bill!

Ken, April 2009

Ken, it sounds like the oil level is much too high. Set it to the mark on the dipstick (or to the top of the level plug hole - whichever system your engine has). The oil smoke will clear from the muffler if you give it long enough - I'd do just this, but it is possible to unbolt it and drain any excess oil out if you want. Further oil burning problems - assuming the oil level is correct by now - means piston and cylinder wear.
Cheers John

John, April 2009