Another year has passed and two cycle Lawn Boy mowers continue to increase in value and are sought after by many for restoration and use. To all the people who posted here 14 years ago how are your four strokes doing? Are they worth as much as a two cycle Lawn Boy? As I previously mentioned, one of the most important factors that brought the two cycle Lawn Boys strongly into the 21st century was the improvements made in two cycle oil. Today’s oils are nearly smokeless , produce soft carbon, and give excellent lubrication at a 50:1 mix ratio. Lawn Boy manuals printed in the 1970s said to check the ports every 50 hours of operation and warn about the danger of carbon particles breaking loose and scoring the piston. They also say to remove, clean and gap the spark plug every 25 hours. We have to assume these maintenance intervals were based on using Lawn Boy oil at a 32:1 ratio. At the time these manuals were written, Lawn Boy Engineers might have had a hard time believing that one day their mowers would go 300 plus hours on the same CJ-14 spark plug without removing it once, and only need port checking and cleaning at 100 hr. intervals with no worry of hard carbon scoring. They might have been even more surprised to learn this would be possible using a 50:1 mix ratio. Oil has changed so much since then that it could now be said that using the old Lawn Boy oil today would be the last thing you would want for your two cycle Lawn Boy.

Well, I thought this problem had solved itself. The thing started well most of last year and until this week. I thought it had a stuck ring or valve, or a little bit of varnish from the modern gasoline. Anyway, I installed two champion CJ8 s, gapped to .025. And it started right off. Changing from NGK BMR4As Lot's of good comments on this thread. It's a little over my head. I'm assuming that if the composite camshaft gear breaks, it's definitely not going to run, correct? And further regarding this thing, is this gear failure always a fairly benign thing? That is nothing else gets bent or damaged when this thing goes? I had the case cover off to repair the inner gasket to prevent water from leaking into the crankcase, actually I don't think it ever went into the crankcase, but it eventually would not hold water even to mow the yard once. I then, wasn't aware of this issue with the composite gear and I'm not totally sure if it has the composite or not. I seem to remember looking at a brown fiber gear-looking thing. But I'm not sure. Thanks for all the comments, and I think it's just the spark plugs causing this problem. Although I'm not sure why long cranking worked to get it to start. Anyway...Cheers!

cj47: "I'm not seeing any links to controlled studies supporting your opinion in any of your posts. Since you're asking for them from others, perhaps you've got a few of your own?" There are two things wrong with your suggestion. First, I was not the one making the assertion that liquid detergents cause mold in washing machines (specifically that they selectively cause mold only in front-loading washing machines). It is the burden of the presenter of a novel proposition to offer proof. Second -- and more importantly -- it is never possible to prove the negative of any general proposition. The assertion is that liquid laundry detergents as a class cause mold while powdered laundry detergents as a class do not. The advice given is, "if you are using a liquid, any liquid, then switch to a powder, any powder." With the hundreds of brands of liquid laundry detergent, and the many possible concentrations in use of each of those brands of liquid detergent, in the marketplace; and with the hundreds of brands of powder laundry detergent, and possible concentrations in use of each of those brands of powdered detergent, in the marketplace, how could one construct any possible controlled test of the negative that you ask to be done? We live in a part of the country where Sasquatch legends have abounded among Native Americans for centuries, and where occasional Sasquatch sightings have been reported among European descendent settlers for the better part of 200 years. A quarter of a century ago, somebody in Northern California made a movie clip of a man dressed up as a Sasquatch shot from a distance that got cumulatively hundreds of hours of air play on television stations over the years (TV news shows love visuals), until the maker of the movie clip came forward a few years back and admitted it was a hoax, a joke that got out of control. Since then, I have heard that it has been "proven" that the Sasquatch does not exist. The proof of nonexistence has not been made. No Sasquatch advocate I, I nevertheless object to the idea that showing that one movie clip was a fake proves anything other than that the movie clip was a fake. I do not know how one ever could prove definitively that Sasquatches never existed. "You, however, seem passionate and appear to have lots of time to ponder it and expound. Care to share your findings?" I am not especially passionate about liquid laundry detergent per se, but do get my stem wound by repeated assertions of Urban Legends generally. You still find a cohort of people who passionately assert that the old Procter & Gamble crescent moon logo, first adopted in 1851, proves that P&G is a corporate follower of Satan. (P&G finally abandoned the logo in 1995.) Or that P&G's Dawn hand dishwashing detergent, uniquely among dishwashing detergents, is a risk to children's corneas. Frankly, I think the assertions that use of liquid laundry detergents causes mold to grow in front loading automatic washing machines is an Urban Legend. Like dadoes, I have anecdotal support for my belief: we have used a variety of liquid laundry detergents (liquid Tide, Arm & Hammer, Biokleen, Ecover Delicate Wash, Vaska, and others) exclusively in our front-loading washing machines here in mold-friendly Portland, Oregon, for at least 35 years since switching from powder detergents sometime in the late 1970s, and in all that time we: (1) have not used any powder detergents in our washing machines, and (2) never have experienced any growth of mold in our laundry or in our washing machines. Our experience is anecdotal; it is no more proof than the "proof" that Sasquatch does not exist is proof; but it is a broad experiential base with a variety of products that supports my theory that liquid=mold, powder≠mold is an Urban Legend. Here is a link that might be useful: Procter & Gamble and Satanism

I used to do the priming thing on older engines, but I forgot all about it. I drove 25 miles for a plug, but it didn't help me so I decided to take it in since the sooner it got in, the sooner (a week or two) it would get back. Before we took it off my truck, the mechanic gave it a yank and it fired up for him. It still wouldn't run off choke. Mechanic thought it was likely an air leak, but after spraying carb cleaner at gasket without effect, and finally realizing that this engine has a Nikki carburetor, he told me that they almost never have good results cleaning/rehabing them. So, I took it back home; gave it one more air and probe clearing; changed the apparently good fancy internal gasket; and still wasn't able to get it to start or fire. The mechanic was 20 years my junior, but I thought I was pulling almost as well, but no cigar. So I ordered up a new (hopefully the same) carb from Amazon. Then I read your post. I can see how middling compression might draw low fuel. I will see if I can find my tester and I will check the valves. But remember, until last weekend, and even two weeks ago, this engine always started easy for (apparently weak armed) me and ran fine for at least two hours.