i got a big oil use issue with a Kohler twin SP27 using a lot of oil and fowled plug on the the oil cap side of the engine. FYI, i read somewhere on the net to check the reed valve- whatever that is- a busted or defective one leads to excessive oil use apparently. Anyway, my low oil pressure light was not working from the start, and i ran mine with low or no oil - real smart i am. Now, i am looking for a short block to get me going again. the thing runs but uses an unsustainable amount of oil because the oil rings on the piston and bore are probably damaged - i think. As i have to add oil again after a couple of hours hard running, and even one cylinder stopped firing because of the oil on the plug. I think the compression and oil rings are gone, and it would have been due to running it on a hot day/week with low oil, from what i am recollecting about the machine usage and engine noises. the machine was showing 20% pressure loss on one side, after only 200 hours. Another veteran mechanic said that all air cooled engines all use some oil as a part of normal running, and that it is important to keep an eye on your oil levels at all times, or you will get what i got. The mower repair guys said i 'dusted' the engine by not maintaining clean air filters, but i am pretty certain i damaged the engine rings and bore because of low or no oil. i am going to order a new engine from the USA , and have the old one rebuilt in a engineering shop that specializes in cylinder sleeves and pistons. Its an expensive pain in the rear but, having a spare good engine block ready to go is the only way i can think of to control the engine reliability situation long term .

Using the cap that is on the bottle, I add 1 capful per gallon of gas. That is probably about 1/3 fluid ounce. You could likely add 3X that amount per gallon and not notice anything (smoke) in the exhaust or on a spark plug. I mainly use it as a precaution against the possiblity of an intake valve sticking during storage. That occurs when the gas that gets on the intake valve stem (it's exposed in the intake passage) evaporates and leaves sticky residue that does not evaporate but can actually begin to "crystalized". The idea with the MMO is that when all the volatiles evaporate out of the gasoline film, there will be a light film of MMO remaining on the valve stem that spoils the "stickiness" of the other residues. It does not require much MMO to achieve a light film and that's all that is required. Another possible benefit of adding some MMO is that it will leave this light oil film on all surfaces of the fuel system, providing some lubrication and corrosion prevention for those components.

You're welcome. I was as perplexed as you with the "lack of" detail regarding how and when the fuel solenoid became energized. There is only one other circumstance I can liken YOUR situation to (engine acts like it wants to run when cranking, but dies when key is released from START position). Back in the '40s, '50s, and early '60s,, some automotive engine OEMs employed a "ballast resistor" in the ignition coil circuit. This "ballast resistor" was placed in the ignition coil circuit so that the normal system voltage, was cut by 50% before reaching the ignition coil. This meant that on a vehicle with a 12 volt electrical system, only 6 volts was fed to the ignition coil from the RUN position of the ignition switch. 6 volt systems cut the power to 3 volts. The most compelling reason for having to "rig up" the coil feed this way was due to the woefully inadequate batteries, switches, wiring and other things electrical, of that time. Mainly, it was the "weak" automotive batteries of the time that had to be "compensated for". Here's why: All applications that utilize a battery to power a cranking motor, will experience a dramatic "system voltage drop" throughout the entire electrical system during cranking. The "drop" is caused by the very heavy "current draw", or LOAD, of the starter. The voltage drop causes the ignition coil "sparkability" to diminish significantly. Add to that, a good frosty morning where the battery is cold and even weaker. Factor in further that the starter itself has worn brushes and sticky bushings and you will have so much current draw.....you might not even get a spark out of the coil. Enter the wizards of yesteryear (uhh, maybe they were just engineers). They developed a method to assure good sparks from the coil during cranking. The idea was to use a 6 volt rated ignition coil on a 12 volt system instead of the usual 12 volt rated coil (3 volt coil for 6 volt systems). But how can you do that? Wouldn't a 6 volt coil "burn up" if you powered it with 12 volts? Yes, it would........but not if you feed the normal RUN position power through a "ballast resistor" to reduce 12V to 6V before it reaches the coil. HUH? The "key" to how this arrangement assured dependable starting was in adding a SEPARATE circuit that would "BYPASS" the resistor while the starter was engaged. Bypassing the resistor meant that the ignition coil would be fed a "higher voltage" (in spite of system voltage drop) when cranking, than in normal running mode. After the engine "caught on", the starter was disengaged and the bypass circuit disabled. The current feeding the coil once again flowed through the ballast resistor and the 6 volt rated coil was safe from burning up. It was somewhat common in those days to confront a vehicle that acted similar to this Scag. (It wants to start while cranking, but dies when let go of key.) Most of the time, that particular problem would be due to a failed ballast resistor. But those systems had some other shortcomings. Sometimes you would find a vehicle where the owner would complain of "it just cranks and cranks and cranks, but if you turn the key loose, it might start up at that moment. THIS condition was due to the BYPASS circuit being open for some reason. OEMs accomplished "BYPASS" in different ways. Some added an extra post to the ignition switch that would power the bypass circuit during cranking. Other OEMs added an extra wire to the starter solenoid that powered the bypass circuit during cranking. When something became open in the bypass circuit, the coil would only be fed the reduced voltage. Then you were right back to the situation before the ballast resistor systems came into use. Advances in battery, ignition, starters, and conductors in general, made the use of ballast resistor systems disappear in the 1970s (except for some industrial applications). Oh yeah, magneto ignition systems were unaffected by voltage drop in the vehicle electrical system because they are "self contained spark generators".

ahem well now...after Tomplum mentioned the throttle shaft.....I took another looksee into the throttle body past the choke plate.....this time with a flashlight.... and what to my wondering eyes should appear? but something shiny....and black.....as in a black piece of rubber lodged in the butterfly plate for the throttle. Came from the end of the breather tube..... Fished it out with a pic.....engine runs perfectly embarrassed grin thks Tomplum....I really woulda been upset if I had pulled the engine and then discovered that it was in the throttlebody.....I guess that governor cross shaft movement is smaller than I thought....I had convinced myself that it had to move more than that.