Hi Tom,
If I were you I would get a new servicing dealer. The reason I say this is because first, Mtd does not cover the warranty for Briggs engines that it puts on their mowers. This engine failure should have been put through Briggs not MTD. Mtd only covers mower parts not engine and if your dealer had contacted Mtd which I doubt they actually did they would have been informed of that fact. Second, what caused the failure, you never said what your dealer found was the actual manufacturers defect in material or workmanship that would qualify this failure as a warranty. Third, if you buy a Toro and it has a Briggs engine or any other brand engine, Toro will not warranty that engine either, only the engine manufacturer does that. I have been a servicing dealer for 35 years and if its mechanical it can fail, I don,t care who makes it. I really feel you were let down by your dealer not MTD or Briggs.