94 Yardman garden tractor whirls when trying to start

[logan01]

Not a waste at all buddy. Glad it worked out and ditto for the leak.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I am that putz...the dip stick tube got displaced a little and even though that was my first thought, I could not see it. I am getting real old. It was amazing how much oil it could pump out with just a little opening. I fixed it today...and am sorry for wasting your guys' time. I appreciate all the input for sure.

I even tried to tightened the hydrostat, but to no avail. The spring where the linkage comes together I thought would tighten/give it more resistance (top and bottom nuts, with spring on underside nut). I just wanted it to stop sliding back toward neutral on hills. I can probably live with it.

Thanks again all.

The dip sick grommet is a service replacement item, every 500 hours from memory.
They have a thread and screw in about two turns, only cost about $ 2.

 

[ironron]

My brother-in-law says it is mandatory that I torque the one bolt I loosened in the head to the correct specs and though I know he is right, I think the 21 yr old engine has some seeps and I don't wanna mess with it any more than I did when I thought it was one of the starter bolts. He is probably right, yet it sure scares me to mess with any of it any more than I already have.

 

[bertsmobile1]

My brother-in-law says it is mandatory that I torque the one bolt I loosened in the head to the correct specs and though I know he is right, I think the 21 yr old engine has some seeps and I don't wanna mess with it any more than I did when I thought it was one of the starter bolts. He is probably right, yet it sure scares me to mess with any of it any more than I already have.

head bolts are a funny thing.
Your brother is both right & wrong.

To work properly all of the bolts much be the same torque.
The exact torque number is not as important as the calculator/computer generation like to think.
Anywhere from around 15 ft.lbs to 30 ft.lbs is usually fine.
Some engines like B & S inteks are a bit fussy but most non certified tension wrenches are +/- 10% of the reading so don't beat yourself up about the numbers.

However you really should undo all of them and retorque the head as per the tightening sequence shown into manual.
Thid will mean you will nead to undo all of them ( in the proper order ) about 1 to 2 turns then do them back up.
Best is to undo them all about 1/2 turn first then a full turn , just the same as doing them up in two or more stages.

20 years ago at the factory the heads would have been done up with a production line auto wrench and they were not all that accurate either.

This a hot topic amongst the motorcycle restorers and even after many have seen period footage of assemblers using nothing morre then an open ended wrench and "calibrated elbow" building up engines on the line they still argue verhimently over "correct" tensions.