Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My brand new Toro 1028 OXE. I noticed a open end of a pipe. on the right side its open and the left side its closed take a look on the picture

and here its closed

does it belong like that?

Should have a plug if it has oil in it.

I fired up the engine to test it. Not knowing that it's missing. Did I do any damage to it?

Did you have oil in the engine when you started up?

That hole looks like an oil filler hole.  My Honda has two of it.

Yes I checked the oil. It's full. Can the oil leak out if the cap is missing?

Shine a light down that hole and see if it's plugged.  If it is, you're good.

JoelKlein wrote:

If you had put Toro in the subject line I would have found this sooner. I just went out and checked my 1028 and mine has a yellow screw cap on it marked with an oil symbol and there is one on each side of the engine. So yes it does need to be plugged and the cap in that pic looks a bit different than mine as well.

Will call up my dealer and complain

Always exciting trying to figure out what to do with a mysterious new-found hole!  Good Luck.

JoelKlein wrote:

I would since they obviously forgot to put it on.

its supposed to be like that....they only drilled and tapped one side.. its completey normal..if they forget to put the plug in there would be oil every where.

niper99 wrote:

I could take pics of my Toro 1028 where it has a screw plug on both sides but it's rather late here right now. It's not normal, but if you think it is take pics of your Toro 1028 and post them on here so we can see how normal it is.

Thanks Steve. Pls post a picture so I will have a esear job calling my dealer again... Its so frustrating. What will I find wrong tommorow ? Any body knowing of a reliable toro dealer around 10952? Thanks

That's a casting for an oil filler plug.  For what ever reason they only machined out the one on the other side.  Sometimes they do that.
If it was open to the case and missing the cap you would have oil everywhere if the engine was started.  Take a small screwdriver or anything else that will fit and stick it in the hole.
My guess is that it will only go in maybe 1 1/2" if that far, and then stop.  If it goes in further and has oil in it when you pull it out then you need to call your dealer and or get a cap for it.

They used to drill/thread and cap both holes to facilitate engine positioning.  Depending on where the engine would be situated on a particular piece of equipment, one didn't know where the oil fill hole would be located.  So, by drilling both holes, engine placement is more flexible.  On my machines, both holes are drilled and capped.  If the hole isn't drilled, don't sweat the missing cap.  Use the hole to hold a small flag pole. 

I noticed that some Ariens had the same situation .

JoelKlein wrote:

Sure thing here are the pics of the Right and Left sides of my Toro 1028.

Thanks steve.
Now I have a valid reason to call my dealer and name him "sloppy"
now I'm not sure what else he didn't setup right... now I'm nervus. unless I could ask a pro to come down to me and examine the 1028.
any ideas? (i'm willing to pay for it)
Thanks

JoelKlein wrote:

My dealer is very methodical and while they are pretty slow they do get it right the first time especially considering the pickup and drop off. They didn't flip my side skids when that sidde was clearly worn out but that was minor. I think you just have to wait and see if anything goes wrong. There are too many small things. Chances are the kid doing the oil left the cap off. Or like someone else said maybe they don't have a drain on that side so it doesn't need a cap. It' hard to say.

Things like this is why I went with the local dealer over a place like Home Depot. Locally I don't know any repair guys even in my area, but someone else might.

If that side had a cap and you had oil in the engine it would be easy to tell as the oil would be right up to the top of the whole.  Just make sure the oil is full and you will be fine.  If you had full oil and there was a cap missing you would know as soon as you started the engine.

Here is a quote and picture from someone who was fitting a Honda clone on a snow blower:
"And this is what happens when you forget to replace the oil fill plug after checking the oil level, which is on the opposite side, and then start up the engine."

okay.... What a relief! it appears that this 2011 model IS different. here is a picture of it inside...

can clearly see its not open.

since steve have same model Toro 1028 OXE, and he is showing a picture of it caped. I post some picture of the engine sticker. maybe the 2011 engine was build some were else...






Thanks all for your help!!!

Mine was a 2009 model as you can see from the sticker in my pic. It's not surprising that the engines change over a couple of years or so.

At least you don't have to worry any more.

There was nothing to worry about in the first place.  If that hole was open to the crankcase you would know it as soon as the engine was started.  Even if it hadn't been started.
 Oil would have sloshed out of it every time the blower was moved.   If it was supposed to have a cap.  You would see threads inside the hole.  No oil, no threads it's not a passage into the crankcase.  It's a blank hole.

 just letting u know the dealer does NOT drill and tap the casting there ordered that way from the factory..and as borat mentioned they do it for postioning of the engine on different models..obviously its cheaper for them to drill and tap only one side..so on this particular model they only need one fill cap..

niper99 wrote:

Well they drilled and tapped both sides of my engine and they only use that engine on the 1028 model or only did. My guess is Toro has been slowly changing their specs over time. Now of course they are using a completely redesigned engine not a Briggs & Stratton engine. So it will probably be more specific to certain Toro models.

Whats the purpose of the hole all together?? for adding oil, they can't put in oil via the dip stick?

JoelKlein wrote:

My guess is that tipping a 250 lb. snowblower upside down to get the oil out would tend to be problematic. The drain hole just requires tipping it a bit. Very easy to add the oild at the top tho.

JoelKlein wrote:
You can grossly overfill with oil using the dipstick hole.  And when you overfill, you have to suck out the excess through the same hole, or open up the drain plug.

It's just one of those "poka yoke" technique.  Idiot proofing, mistake proofing.  Most Honda small engines have this, you cannot overfill very much, excess oil will just spill out the hole.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
My guess its more of a cost reduction.  One less hole to drill and tap.  One less plastic cap.  US Design engineers like to built in these extras into the product in keep the cost reduction engineers busy.      Their bonus is tied to the cost reduction $.

Honda engineers gives you both drilled/tapped hole and a cap.  They figured it was a lot more simple to deal with one less part number for inventory maintenance and documentation overheads from the get go.  Thus saving money. 

Everybody is reducing costs in different ways. 

aa335 wrote:

Well I'm glad I have the option of both oil drain holes.

Actually those are not drain holes those are fill holes.    The drain holes have a plug in them with a square head.  Located lower down just behind the fill plug.
You can see one in the second photo just above the arrow.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
You may have to turn your snowblower upside down to fill them then. 

not briggs, nor toro declared any were in the documentation what does caps are... Im going to call up briggs tomorrow and ask them... mean while take a look at these great clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkabArjCQU

JoelKlein wrote:
I wouldn't worry about it.  The cap cannot be put in the wrong hole.   The other blind hole has no threads and the cap will not fit or screw into.

Funny video, good ole country fun.

aa335 wrote:

Oh noes!

jrtrebor wrote:

You could be right, I tend to not work on my own machine but I know those are the oil holes. The other plugs could be the drains and I have one on each side as well. Somehow I don't think draining the oil is a big issue.