The mower seems to have experieinced the problem that others have commented on where the engine seems to have a starter/battery problem where it doesn't turn over or turns over sluggishly.

The problem deteriorated from this occiasional reluctance in start to where it would start and run poorly spitting out a lot of blue smoke and leaving a puddle of burnt looking oil on the ground.

I have been looking for a good repair manual for the head and valves but cannot find one.

What will I see when I pull the head? A broken push rod? Broken valve/valve spring? Blown head gasket and the need for a valve adjustment?

Why does this engine series seem to be plagued valve adjusting problems?

Check you air filter first. Sounds like it may be dirty and oil soaked.

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Originally Posted by sarasota_steve

The mower seems to have experieinced the problem that others have commented on where the engine seems to have a starter/battery problem where it doesn't turn over or turns over sluggishly.

The problem deteriorated from this occiasional reluctance in start to where it would start and run poorly spitting out a lot of blue smoke and leaving a puddle of burnt looking oil on the ground.

I have been looking for a good repair manual for the head and valves but cannot find one.

What will I see when I pull the head? A broken push rod? Broken valve/valve spring? Blown head gasket and the need for a valve adjustment?

Why does this engine series seem to be plagued valve adjusting problems?

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The problem turns out to be a stuck float or dirty/damaged control needle in the carb, not sure which yet. What happens is the fault in the carb allows gas to flow into the cylinder when not in use. When the mowers sits for extended periods without use the cylinder fills up. When you try to start the engine you are trying to compress liquid gas, which the engine cannot do. Therefore it appears the starter or battery may be at fault when you actually have a cylinder full of liquid gas.

If you allow to the mower to sit long enough the gas sneaks past the piston rings and fills your oil crank case, which is what happened to me. Do not run your engine with diluted oil/gas in the crank case, the reduced lubrication protperties will damage your engine. Drain the crank case, remove the spark plug and manually rotate the engine to force the gas out of the cylinder, refill the crank case and reinstall the spark plug. I pulled the valve cover off as well and cup or so of the oil/gal mixutre came pouring out.

When you fire the engine up it will likely smoke for 5-10 minutes until all the oil in/on the muffler system is burnt off. Be sure to figure out what is wrong with your carb, but this will get you going.

Hope this helps someone/ Everything I read on these type chat/help rooms was discussing improper valve adjustments and bend push rods when referring to this engine.

Had a problem like that gas getting in the oil for now I put a shut off valve on the gas line with out the gas presser from the tank the gas does not get in the oil just a idea

Good idea Minity42. The problem in Florida is that in the winter the grass barely grows and I went about 6-8 weeks w/o cutting and the mower just sat there. Winters are nice in Florida for that reason ;)

I think I will install a shut-off valve as you suggest, sounds easier than pulling the carb and figuring that out.

Insure both valves are fully closed then adjust intake to .007 and exhaust to .011.