Recently bought a trash pump with 16 hp briggs vanguard engine on eBay. Engine runs good no exhaust smoke but has bad oil leak or cylinder on same side as starter. I as
Sume that the oil leak is a bad head gasket. How big of a job is it to change head gaskets. Thanks Maverick :confused bayou boy

It will not be the head gasket. There is not enough oil at this area to be leaking the amount of oil you describe. Have you cleaned the engine, filled it with oil and watched to see if you can tell where the oil is leaking?
You could always take the engine to a briggs dealer and have them do a "leak down" test.

it will not be the head gasket. there is not enough oil at this area to be leaking the amount of oil you describe. have you cleaned the engine, filled it with oil and watched to see if you can tell where the oil is leaking?
you could always take the engine to a briggs dealer and have them do a "leak down" test.


I can see the oil coming from the gasket just under where the exhaust connects.

It would be better to clean the motor as mowerman suggested after all the oil could be dripping down the side of the motor onto that part & appear leaking from h/gskt,for the h/gskt to leak that would suggest a ohv motor ? Possibly a v-twin or is it single cyl ,vert shaft or horiz?

If it's ohv check tappet cvr bolts for tightness,it's quite plausible that work has been done on the motor recently before you bought it & certain bolts may have come loose or the headgasket was not replaced but a sealant may have been used on that part of the gskt (I'm assuming it's an ohv)


EDIT: An illustrated parts listing can help if your mechanically minded in pulling things apart & putting them back,though for the most part small motors regardless twin cyl or not are fairly straight forward,things get tricky in the valve dept when removing heads as ohv's will need their valves re-adjusted to make up for gasket thickness & you'll need your model numbers off the housing for correct clearances,it would be best to get yourself a general workshop manual as it will cover a wide range of motors & includes electrical fault finding,compression,engine rebuild etc,I think they're around $20-$70 depending on which one you get,the manual will have a range of model numbers that will help with identification for correct settings