Hello,

I'm new to the forum, and have a question hopefully I can get some input on...and I'm the least mechanical person alive, so bear with me...

I have a Craftsman 21 Hp YS 4500 Lawn Tractor (42 in. Deck) that was purchased last May. It's been great, and only problem I ever had "until now" was the steering wheel was way off compared to tires. I didn't have a service plan (way too much $$), but since under warranty, they sent someone out to fix.

Anyway, I put my tractor up for winter storage (Maine) in my shed and changed the oil (not filter), put in some sta-bil, and took off battery and put on trickle charger.

I recently took it out of storage to get it ready for spring, and here is where the problem comes up...

I put the battery back in, and figuring the oil was ok and such (was going to change later that day), I fired up the mower. It took a couple cranks bit it got going, and spit out all kinds of smoke and such (which I assumed would be normal considering being stored all winter and getting the oil/gas fired up). It smoked for about 10 seconds and I just shut it down, since I was getting smoked out of my shed. I then wheeled it out of the shed onto my driveway and did the oil change (again, no filter change - couldnt get filter off at the time).

When I changed the oil, I noted the "oil" was a bit light and foamy. Didn't think much of it at the time...so then, I try to crank it up again since I've got good oil, and IT WON'T START. It turns like it wants to, but won't. I tried it several times, making sure everything was connected and such, and still no starting.

I figured it might be a battery issue (my tender/charger for this battery during storage was unplugged by mistake a month early and didnt realize till later hooking back up), so I tried jumpstarting, and then ended up just buying a new DieHard identical battery. Tried to crank the engine, again, IT WON'T START.

I'm a bit purplexed now, and don't know what to do.

I guess my questions would be:

1. Since it dosen't seem to be the battery, what else might it be? The spark plugs and such seem to be ok, so...

2. Was all that smoke and such "normal" after storage removal?

3. That foamy oil...could starting the motor for that short of time done something to the motr due to the oil?

My tractor is still under it's regular 2-year warranty, so I'm assuming I can still get someone out here to look at it w/o getting raped in the wallet by Sears (they are so expensive with service). Wish I bought that dang mucho $$$$ service plan now...

Anyway, any help would be great...again, I'm an idiot with engines and such, so hopefully what I've explained is enough...ask away if more info is needed...

Van