pretty much stumped-not any more

[38racing]

sit back , it's long
31 series briggs on a white rider. It had flooded on PO and I bought and fixed. (may have swapped carb) . Used it last and this summer cutting church grass. Did a cut last week. When I lifted hood to close fuel I noticed some smoke from below head above muffler. I checked air intake for oil but saw none. So saturday I pulled it out to start for young lad but it fired but would not speed up. I then checked oil and level was to add and it had used no oil in the 2 seasons. I broke the rules maybe but concluded it was the head gasket. But the old gasket, although missing a bit of outside material, was not blown through. head and piston had light carbon which I cleaned. Valves good and I lapped them. Valves adjusted fine. action good . New plug. ABS has 12 volts and clicks. Verified that governor spring is keeping throttle open. Button it up and start , same thing, hints at speeding up and then won't come up to speed and can get flame from intake. Can sort of keep it running with just right little bit of choke but only slow. I verified spark with inline tester and tried another new plug. No change. So I pulled valve cover to look as I cranked. seemed fine. Hand turning I see compression bump. But when I removed valve cover it had oil that seemed overly thin. ( and my recollection was even no oil in previous removal). So I drain the crankcase and I'm thinking again it's too thin. Now fresh oil. I dropped the carb bowl. Good flow and it stops on lifting the float. I pulled it and no crap . Main jet in side tower is clear. Not 100% on the 3 small idle holes but cleaned with cleaner and air and flowing fine now. Reinstalled and it instantly leaked around the bowl gasket. Left it to go watch Bluejays beat the Orioles in the wildcard game. Thinking now I will swap the carb from a good known rider. And then if no go I have to check the flywheel key. Someone on another thread had the issue with a Kohler and it was the sheered key. Or I check the key first. Funny as it's much like that generator problem I had where it turned out to be a bad plug, not the key.

[38racing]

I forgot to mention . compression over 100 psi. So I just went out and tried it. Clearly backfire out the carb. Pulled shroud and flywheel bolt. (used impact, should have tested tightness with a wrench. Flywheel key sheared. After 2 years? Maybe due to hydrolock from flooding?

[KE4AVB]

Prior to Datecode 120701
Increase torque to 110 ft lbs use steel key PN 796335.

After Date code 120630
Increase torque 110ft-lbs use aluminum key

Previous spec was 100 ft lbs.

Reason for change was the way the flywheel keyway was done.

[38racing]

I think I will take a chance on the aluminum and 100 and see how it goes. How many engines out there prior to 2012 working fine with aluminum and 100.
Now thinking back I bought this mower from a lady who was giving it away because of problems. I figured it was head gasket or flooding and offered to fix it. Then I realized she needed belts and blades which she had no money to buy so I gave her cash for what she was giving away. After replacing carb and oil I recall that it would not turn over and first thought decompression issue but it was still hydrolocked. So maybe I started the whole process 2 summers ago.

[KE4AVB]

How many engines out there prior to 2012 working fine with aluminum and 100.

There was enough problems that Briggs issue that service bulletin about it and redesign the crankshaft and flywheel

[38racing]

So I may have exact same problem on almost same engine. I sold this one to a couple maybe 3 summers ago. He called to say it wouldn't start just turned a bit. Since he said he had another battery I told him to try that. He left message that it didn't. So I went with new battery. One of his was dead and the other about 12.3 volts.Both old. I check oil. 1/4 in above full and gas smell. Shutoff is open. I spoke to wife and she said that she cut most times and thought that red thing was an end of year thing to shutoff. So stupid me I throw in the new battery and try starting. Loud and fast and off. I pulled plug (and broke it) and cranked. No gas out really because I probably drove it into the muffler. Husband arrives home. I ask 'Do you want to drain oil?' and he says 'I guess, where do you do that?' Ugh. Three years of cutting large lawn and no oil or filter change. So I have it at home now, fresh oil, checked carb bowl and removed small amount of crap, float is stopping flow with light pressure. Checked valves and exhaust ok but intake at .010. Now adjusted I get mostly bang at start attempt so going out now to pull flywheel bolt and check key. I hope it is sheared because this couple cannot afford another mower or major repair. Unfortunately this MTD also has an issue with the deck engagement lever. It was not right when I sold it but has gotten worse so I need to deal with that too.

[38racing]

So the key was sheared and that's fixed. I still had some issues running because of the lift lever problem. You have to hold it back to close safety but in doing so I would at some point pinch and ground the wire to the seat safety. So I have removed the lift lever and the face piece is bent. Part is showing NLA most places so hopefully I can bend it back. Repairclinic show it out of stock with likely shipping date. I tried to confirm it's availability in a 'chat' session but guy just repeated what was on website part lookup. I've had that twice before with them and then they tell me the part i ordered is NLA

[KE4AVB]

Did you try Ereplacement Parts? Sometimes they will have what the Repair Clinic don't and vica versa.

I was needing a fuel bowl and gasket last night for a Walbro WHL on a Kohler M8. RC only had the bowl gasket and couldn't even find the bowl and EP had the bowl in stock but has a week delay on the bowl gasket. Gasket was cheap from RC but the extra ship was making it beyond what it cost at EP so I ordered both from the same place. The customer was trying to use a homemade paper gasket for the rubber bowl gasket. Apparently none shops around knew how to find parts or that had the incentive to look them up.

Some of the shops around here are not that good anyways. I got one mower in the shop that had three different shops put on three new deck belts because they keep coming off at the engine pulley, all done within a month of each other. Finally the customer got referred to me. No one even caught that the belt retainer was on backwards. The customer had a new problem and didn't trust those shops anymore. Any ways the customer has been out two OEM cub Cadet deck belts that wasn't necessary.

The customer is getting a fairly large bill but that because of the major repair of the Courage Walbro carb. New needle seat, solenoid upgrade, PTO seal, oil and filter change. Just hope they haven't run it too long with diluted oil.

[38racing]

RC will ship to Canada for 12$ US. Plus possibly a small international fee. Ereplacement has outrageous shipping fees to Canada and they show nla for that part .

[KE4AVB]

I keep forgetting you're in Canada...

Have ran into ridiculous shipping charges too. I was trying to send a package to Canada earlier this week through the postal system. The vendor has sold me a round trip ticket through the Canadian UPS system so the package will get sent in a few days as my truck is down due a lockup brake caliper; piston jamming. Waiting for a neighbor to carry me to the auto parts house so I can pickup another one. 25 miles one way is a little far to walk.