I am going to sound cruel .It is not personal in any way shape or form.
At $ 2000 you bought a throw away mower so don't feel distressed.
If it out ran warranty then you have gotten your moneys worth.
When ride ons were first introduced they were very near the price of a bottom end 2 seater car.
Now days they are cheaper than a lot of push bikes, a reality check.
SO the very first thing to do is to check the oil level.
Good chance you will find it is too high, thin and smells of fuel.
If so then the float has failed to close, flooded the engine with fuel which has gotten into th sump, thinned the oil which then blew into the carburettor via the crankcase breather then through the cylinder & out the muffler.
If you are lucky you will get out of it with nothing more than a carburettor service.
If you are not so lucky you will also have to replace the head gaskets.
Whatever you do, don't sit there continually cranking the engine, all you are going to do is flatten the battery and make the problem worse.
Go to
http://outdoorpowerinfo.com and see if you can find your carb then clean it .
Buy an inline fuel tap & install it between the tank and the first item in your fuel system ( pump or filter ).
This will make cleaning the carb & replacing the fuel filter a lot easier & cleaner, thus you will be encouraged to do it more often.
When you have finished cleaning the carb, hook it to the fuel line before you replace the float bowl so you can lift the float with your finger to check that i is cutting off the fuel before it touches the roof of the float chamber.
