I just found out that I have a head gasket on one cylinder and stuck valves, with bent push rods on the other cylinder. The shop thinks by overheating, but it had plenty of oil, but the ethanol crap gas was old. They think that might have destroyed the engine. Does that sound right? I gather it is pretty easy to replace the gasket, but I'm not sure about he other cylinder problems, and the shop has not spent the time to look into it in detail. They recommend replacing the engine, or buying a new mower. I hate to buy a new mower, when this one has less than 100 hours and is less than 5 years old. I thought about just buying a rebuilt engine and replacing it myself. It looks like there are only 4 bolts and it would be almost trivial, but it will cost at least $1300, and a new mower is about $2700. My biggest problem is that if this was likely caused by the crap ethanol gas that we are forced to use, I might be better off spending the extra money to buy a decent, relatively low-time diesel zero turn. That would get better "mileage" and probably last at least 1500 to 2000 hours with relatively few problems, although I have never owned a diesel zero-turn. The other alternative is to replace the valves and head gasket myself. I have some experience with rebuilding aircraft engines. I suspect that would not be too hard, and probably not very expensive, but I don't know what would be involved.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.