I would never suggest that one "seal the breather hole in the crankcase". You would run the risk of turning some oil seals inside out. There are a couple of ways to evaluate the "health" of piston rings prior to doing any "fooling". The best way is to perform a cylinder leakdown test. In this test, the cylinder being tested is held firmly at its TDC Compression stroke while compressed air is applied to cylinder using a "Leakdown tester gauge" via the spark plug hole. The leakdown gauge tells how much loss of air pressure and volume (as a percentage) is occurring on the cylinder being tested. It still requires some sleuthing to determine if the loss is occurring due to ring wear/damage, poorly seating valves (in combustion chamber) or if it's due to a leaking head gasket. Another way to tell if the rings are losing the pressure is to perform the ole "dry & wet" compression test. This test is done by performing a proper compression test, proper meaning "ENGINE WARM and THROTTLE BLOCKED WIDE OPEN, MINIMUM of 4 compression stroke registering on the gauge. Perform the "dry" test first, recording the pressures observed on a scratch pad or note pad. Then add about 2 teaspoons of clean motor oil to the cylinder through the spark plug hole. Cautiously (don't be in front of the spark plug hole))spin the engine a couple of turns to distribute the oil and expel the excess. Now perform the compression test again. Record these results beside the dry readings. If you see an increase of compression that amounts to 10 to 15 MORE PSI than the dry readings, your rings may be worn out, have lost their "tension" due to overheat, or they may be stuck in the grooves and failing to inflate properly under compression...........or a combination of conditions. Typically, the wet test will not show an increase of PSI if the loss is from poorly seating valves, or a blown head gasket. Of course one can always do a tear down and inspection, but aside from finding actual broken rings, or rings that are worn badly on one end area and not the other (would indicate the lightly worn ring was "stuck" to the piston) just looking at the parts post mortem probably won't toss an answer in front of you.

OK, try this just to make sure that something is not obstructing the fuel inlet (needle and seat passage). Connect a short length of fuel hose to the carb fuel inlet nipple. Now try to blow through the hose using your mouth/lungs. With the carb top removed, you should be able to hear the air coming in through the needle/seat. If you can't hear air coming in like that, something is obstructing the fuel inlet or needle/seat area. If you can hear air entering the carb inlet, then you have either a defective fuel pump, or something is wrong with the marine tank/fuel lines. While you have the top off the carb, fill the bowl with gasoline before putting the top back on. When the top is back on, try to start it. If everything is satisfactory with the carb itself, you should get about 30 to 40 seconds run off the fuel in the bowl (your results may vary).

I realize that this is an older thread, but thought that there is some information that might be valuable as I've looked for solutions to problems that archival information has been helpful. 1. Carbs this small [small pilot/main jets, emulsion tubes...] are HIGHLY sensitive to contamination. I have a step-through scooter, Yamaha V-50 that I had to go through the carb several times to get clean. Each time I'd think "I just cleaned that", yet, stuff in the carb/jets was the problem. Maybe taken apart and cleaned 4-5 times before all the junk got cleaned out. 2. B&S recommend that the valves be adjusted yearly. Air cooled engines move [expand/contract] more than liquid cooled engines. VW engines should have valves adjusted every oil change [3,000 miles/5,000 Ks], probably not a bad idea for these as well [yearly/oil change]. 3. With seasonal usage, there are a lot of things that can happen over the non-used down time, condensation in the fuel, dead fuel, varnish in the fuel system, rust and corrosion of the fuel system, rust and corrosion of the ignition system. Drain fuel, clean and put up properly, don't just park it. 4. Start with the basics, fuel, fire, compression. A world of wisdom on this forum, in this thread alone, something like "solve a mountain problem one hill at a time", that's pure gold.

"Does pressure lubrication mean Briggs has an oil pump?" Well, yes....."pressure lubrication" DOES mean there is an oil pump. You need to address the "ticking" sound, and quickly too. You need to post the engine numbers (MODEL # and TYPE #) so we can view the IPL for your engine. You must understand that you should not run this engine further until you determine just what is causing the "tick". One cause could be that one of the screws that held the choke "butterfly" in place has been embedded into either the piston crown, or into the cylinder head, and is producing a slight tap each time the piston reaches TDC. If this is the case and the screw is dislodged again, it will further chew up the insides of the combustion chamber and cylinder. Another cause of this noise (based on the high RPM info) would be a bent pushrod. This could have occurred when the engine sped up "ungoverned" and "floated" the valves, allowing a pushrod to partially escape from a rocker arm. With the valve "floating" to the open position and the pushrod perched on the edge of the rocker arm cup....the piston would have struck the valve and the resulting blow could have bent a pushrod. Now that the pushrod is bent......there is TOO MUCH clearance between the valve and the rocker arm, resulting in the "ticking". You will need to remove the valve covers and go through the procedure for checking the valve clearances. If you do this and find a valve with far too much clearance (aka "lash"), you will need to inspect the pushrod serving that valve to see if it is bent. Before we get into the details of "how to DIY", post the critical numbers from your engine.