I have a grasshopper lawn mower with a 16 hp briggs and stratton vanguard engine. It recently started using lots of oil and making the blue cloud of death. It runs fine, but takes a quart of oil for every 2 gallons of gas. The motor only has about 500 hrs on it. I don't think it ever got hot, is this possibly a head gasket problem too?

Hi,
Anything that lets air into the sump as the pistons rise will pressurize it and cause oil to blow past the rings on the downstroke. First places to look would be the O-ring on the dipstick/tube and the head gaskets.
Peace,
Clarke