Hi, just joined and looking for help. I bought an old craftsman riding mower for $20 from a guy who couldn't get it started. I cleaned the carb and changed the battery and voila, new riding mower. It cut well for a few months and I let it sit during the cold season. I tried to start it again and I saw white smoke and oil coming out of my muffler, but no start. I replaced the head gasket, spark plug, oil, and cleaned the carb again, but still no start. No oil in the muffler anymore, but I just don't get any fire.
What do I do? I don't know if I'm losing compression elsewhere or how to ground the spark plug wire to check if I'm getting spark. Is it possible a valve is bad??
I don't want to take it to a repair shop as the lead time is 3 weeks this time of year..
I figured it out!!! I sprayed some starting fluid into the spark plug port and gave it a try with the same results. I grounded the spark plug and saw that I was getting no spark so I tried messing with the gap to see if that was the issue. Then I removed the red cover from the engine and saw that the wire coming from the starter was disconnected from the ignition coil!!! :confused2: I reconnected it, pulled the choke and turned the key and an hour later I had a fresh cut lawn :smile::smile::smile::smile:
