Clean around the vent hole; pull out the hose and check the oil level with a pencil/small wooden dowel. When you pull out the pencil/wooden dowel, look at the oil color, if it is dark/cooked change it otherwise add some 20-50W to approximately 3/4" from the top. As suggested above, do the search and you will fins a wealth of information! (I used this procedure (added oil) on a 1997 MTD Yardmachine and it worked great!) Good Luck!

The usual reason for the grinding noises, and poor forward or reverse, is: Its plain worn out! Time for a new tractor. If ya want longevity in a lawn tractor-buy a standard shift! Of course, if you truly love the machine, well then--go spend as much as a new tractor would cost, and have a new transmission installed!

Let me say this: The people who designed those older Murrays must of had a wicked bent to their minds and psyche's! Oihh--such a beeziness! I replaced the rear drive belt on an old Montgomery Ward Lawn tractor. By the time i was finished, i was babbling incoherently! After i got my wits settled back down, i backed it out of the garage, and the front main drive belt went kablooie! It now reposes under a large tarp, waiting for dismantling for scrap! The engine, i will save, and some other parts! Then, early in the spring, the local Parks & Recreation brought their late model light duty lawn tractor in for belt replacement! Same deal, although, i could easily remove the whole rear fender assembly, and that helped immensely. They use it to pull a large wooden box, filled with rocks, to drag the base paths, and other uses!?? How long will it hold up? No one can tell---- They ain't fun to work on! by: Rusty Jones

Yes, but it's not very interesting, and I'd hate to ramble on. :P Since everything related to solenoid seemed to be working properly except that it wouldn't engage the starter, I was thinking maybe my ground at the starter was bad, I added a second ground from the body of the starter back to where the battery ground bolted to the tractor. Same result. Just a click. But a very hot ground wire. ?? I actually gave up and just decided to jump the starter with a car booster battery, mowed the lawn, and parked it. When I started it again just from the key switch and the tractor battery, it fired right up. My guess is that the little bit of rain we had maybe froze up the engine just enough that the tiny tractor battery couldn't provide enough CCA to start it. The car battery was able to, and once it had run for a while, was back to normal operating condition. So in short, bad solenoid and perhaps slightly seized engine that I was able to jump with a car battery. Thanks to Bill for all his help, even though I think I gave him a headache.