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Sat outside for years, starts easily, runs great. *SULK*

Could water get in the oil? "was sitting outside for a couple of years". Yes, I think it could.

I was thinking maybe failed rings on one cylinder. That would be consistent with one oily plug; however it would smoke profusely.

Will it START with the wheels turned all the way to the right?

JB Weld is awesome, in the right application. I have a power window switch still in service that I JB Welded 19 years ago, and some bicycle handles that get heavy, frequent use have served for 12 years now. What's it's NOT is anything like a substitute for welding. It's nowhere near as strong...

180 psi on both cylinders?

WHAT liquid metal goop? JB Weld will melt out. An old wrench once told me that lead wool (used for obsolete plumbing) would work. Never tried it.

Ouch. Has that actually eaten into the block?

Brother in law??? Axle grease. With a dab of silicone, for family.

If it was mine, I'd load it with axle grease. If it's a paying customer, maybe not.

Condensation in the oil. It will get in your gas tank too. Last major ice storm my generator saw me through for 48. Took a few pulls - subfreezing at 100% humidity. My boss couldn't start his at all. Difference? I run the motor every eight weeks enough to dry it out, and I Stabil my gas...

Pennzoil? I wouldn't put that crap in my ex-wife's car! Or, come to think of it... I would.

Thanks. That head must run damn hot to need a metal heat shield.

I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE LIKE THAT CAN YOU POST A PIC?

So does everything else.

Two spark plugs were not defective, unless you pulled them both from a scrapyard. Test procedure, maybe.

Holy aping ass monkey!!!! I'll be more careful about chain tension. Crankshafts used to get straightened all the time, and I've used mowers with straightened cranks (have a suspicion I'm using one now). I never heard of one breaking, and I don't doubt one straightening is okay. But if it's...

Ha, you got better help than I did.

If engaging the blades causes serious shaking, there's a blade or related component bent. Look for obviously deformed blades. Turn the blades 180 degrees by hand (yeah, yeah, disconnect the plug or whatever) and see if one arm of the blade come around at a different height than the other.

It's not impossible for some fool to put grease in an engine, but 10:1 this is water.

If you're not getting spark, measuring resistance can confirm (but not completely rule out) the coil as a problem. I thought the OP already tried multiple spark plugs???

Bad gas? *Ethanol* gas??? I just read an account by a Soviet general from 1945 claiming they mixed captured Polish vodka into their gasoline to stretch the supply. Good thing those engines only had to last a few more months...

Three years "shouldn't" be a lot of wear. Unless it's crap to begin with, or you're brush hogging forty acres, or running without an air filter, or leaving it in the weather all winter, or... Stuff they make now won't last the way stuff made twenty years ago did. It's the main reason I try to...

A snowblower with a 4-stroke? A 1986 engine that runs? I'd be looking for a way to put a bigger gas tank on it before anything else. Or put a shrader valve in the tank cap and give it a push with a bicycle pump.

BANG! oops... I've never used anything but motor oil, never thought of that.

Going over the... throttle? shaft? From the outside? Messing up a part you never removed? Hell yeah. You don't know what's going on if you've never removed it. The slightest hint of disturbance, or mere coincidence, can change something. Especially if some desperado like me tinkered with...

He's talking about the connection between the carburetor and intake. If this is not airtight, the engine will suck raw air through the leak instead of fuel-air through the carb. On car engines I use motor oil for this test, but on car engines you can attach a vacuum gauge to see the change...

Except when they deliver a half-assed weak spark that won't pass the Slomo test. Like that infamous Ariens thread, or that fellow who confirmed spark by grabbing the plug wire but it turned out the points were burnt. Or my '92 that would give me a jolt but wouldn't catch until I replaced the...

If none of this makes it work you might consider that the brand new coil could be defective. Did you check its resistance? How exactly did you determine no spark? I still have a dwellmeter in a toolbox, pining away for the day when I have a real car to work on again...

Sir, I must dispute. If the pressure to be relieved were caused by the descent of a piston, then the ascent of said piston would create a suction, resulting in (probably unfiltered) outside air being drawn into the crankcase. I believe that the pressure being relieved is that caused by...

I have push that blows 50 psi, at best. Runs, smokes, cuts. Rings ain't your problem. EDIT: Actually I did have to disconnect the crankcase vent on that mower to keep it from blowing too much oil into the intake. It starts fine though. If the oil was overfilled, could it have popped a seal?

Well I ain't worried then. The original blade nuts on this Crapsman were so tight that I only got them off by hammering rebar (braced against the deck) a foot into the ground and using a 1/2" breaker bar with a 5' (yes, 5') cheater pipe. Loctite ain't got nothing on THAT. Kind of surprised me...

If the boots are close to metal, maybe. I've had mowers run fine without any boot at all. But if the boots are in that condition, what is the plug wire insulation like?

Why is that? ...I used Loctite for almost exactly the same fix a dozen acres ago. No issues... yet.

Which way does the blade rotate? If it's clockwise, the general tendency over time will be to tighten the bolt. However if the blade is bent at all, the vibration will always tend to loosen the bolt. Threadlock will help some.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I had an old Deere with a weak tensioning spring and I replaced the spring with a drum brake retracting spring from a truck that was shorter and "slightly" stronger. Hypothetically speaking, of course, I pulled the flywheel and the key was intact. But...

What about extremely tight belts?

Sand burrs??? If it wasn't for sand burrs and copperheads, I wouldn't mow at all! I'll try Bermuda grass.

Good for you. It's easier and often cheaper in the short run to replace a thing or have someone else fix it, but if you never fix anything you will never learn anything and you will always be helpless and getting ripped off. If the crank got bent, the flywheel key will usually be sheared. If...

Fuel confirmed how? Visible spark is not a guarantee of hot enough spark to start the engine. Probably two different issues: sheared flywheel key caused the engine to die, but some other problem coincidentally surfaced at the same time that's causing it to not start.

5) Severe blowby (broken ring/s). I've seen this ONCE (on a badly rebuilt car engine).

Or a piece of vacuum hose from a car. I've made more than one repair by chopping off a bit of vacuum hose from a run that had slack in it, or connected to some emission stuff that I really didn't care about.

Is the spark plug fouled? Is the compression low? Bad rings could be a contributor. In which case rebuilding the carb is putting new wine in old wineskins.

A few decades days ago I knew a guy whose main business was straightening bent mower crankshafts. I don't know how he did it.

If the ring was broken the plug would be fouled.

Critters usually leave a residue of acorn husks, chewed insulation, feces, and whatnot. A strategically positioned block of rat poison is a good preventive. Replace twice a year. If the breach was caused by friction/heat, you can protect the repaired wire by relocating it or wrapping it in...

Recommend checking the spark plug to see if it's fouled.

Visible spark is not proof of adequate spark. On two recent threads here, spark was detectible but turned out to be inadequate. But again, I doubt that's your problem. Keyed ignition switches can be treacherous, especially if they control multiple circuits. More than once I have had a switch...

How do you know you have spark? Neither a spark tester nor seeing a spark nor getting shocked guarantee that the spark is strong enough to fire under compression. However, I don't think that's your problem. If the key start doesn't work (and the battery is hot!) it's probably a safety switch...

I read a few days (*cough cough*) ago that it was good to oil the sponge air filter on a lawn mower (read "Briggs & Stratton 3.5 hp") with motor oil. I tried this once or twice and the air filter clogged pretty quickly. I brought one filter in to a shop (yeah, days and days ago ago) to get a...