well i'm back(anyone remember me?) and after giving my green riding mower to my uncle last fall, i've got it back because he wanted me to fix it, wouldnt start for him even with a new battery...
he aparently decided that the ignition switch was bad, so cut the wires and tried to use some universal switch, i just plain cant get that one to work on the mower, so i'm waiting for him to fork over the cash for a new switch and give me the pigtail and old switch that he said he still has.
he also has to pay out the @$$ to replace the starter that he fried and for all 4 tires that he ruined, along with the headgasket that he blew(how?!?)
i took apart the starter and cleaned it up inside, along with scraping all the melted shit out. it starts my 20hp intek fine, just a little slow. barely cranks the 12hp. the intek's starter cranks the 12hp fine, but all i can get is a series of loud backfires. i checked the flywheel key and it was slightly damaged, so i replaced it and it still does the same thing, just a series of loud backfires.
the headgasket is blown, but it should run, just really crappy.
i'm lost here with this thing. freshly rebuilt carb, and sealed up(leaked oil like a mofo from everywhere)
i pulled it apart again and double checked the cam, and thats fine.

any suggestions?

bugman, you still here?

nobody?

Check the valves, make sure you haven'y got one sticking. Good luck

how long did your uncle have it?

cause it sounds like he had it for awhile, never changed the oil, the compression release seized up, and the camshaft is a little eaten up. Cause there is a good chance it has a plastic cam

valves arent stuck and cam looks just like it did before he got ahold of it
he's had it since last fall, and hasnt used it since march of this year, he barely used it.
i can turn it by hand through the compression stroke, feels normal to me

when you had it apart and were checking the cam, did you try and move the compression release?

And a blown head gasket could be the reason it isn't starting....depending on where the crack is. I would replace so if it still doesn't run, than you know for sure that isn't the problem

and do you have spark? is there an interlock switch grounding out the coil?

i have spark. the headgasket is blown up at the top, but its still got great compression, and the compression relese DOES work

i got it going now, runs pretty decent for something with a blown headgasket.
had some fun last night at 9pm, i decided it'd be a great idea to drive it to the other side of the neighborhood and show my friends that i got it running and moving...
long story short, it decided to break down and not restart on the other side of the rather large neighborhood...
i was too stupid to drain out the old gas and put new in, i did that this morning and it started right up lol