Well I posted a long reply but it didn't show up! I'll try again. As I said in first post, your compression is good. I think you have two problems. The oil in your air intake suggests to me that you have a blow head gasket but would not think the compression would be that high, assuming your gage is accurate. Blown head gasket is common on these and typically is between the cylinder and the push rod gallery on the underside, block side, of the gasket. My guess is that the noise you describe is from worn out bearings in the counter balance ass'y and/or worn eccentrics on the crankshaft that the counter balance ass'y runs on. These are part of the crankshaft and are not replaceable. Likewise, the bearings in the counter balance ass'y are not replaceable and the cost of both is prohibitive. This is usually caused by not changing oil often enough. Walt Conner

It is very hard to imagine the cap coming off the valve while the engine is running and not having an extreme affect on the engine running if it would run at all. I am not sure but what the thickness of that valve cap would be such that it would exceed the depth of the indention in the rocker arm, which holds the push rod in place, letting the push rod fall out and rocker arm dislocate. I would come nearing thinking that it was dislodged when someone was working on the valves and left out when the valve was adjusted. Also, a dislodged valve cap is not going to cause the engine to "makes an awful clanging noise from the engine." It would be noisy of course. Sure, put the cap back on, adjust the valves and see what happens. (Don't try to "pop" it back in place) To answer your question, it is held in place by the close fit of the parts, not enough room for it to come out. Walt Conner

@walt2002, hey i was wondering if you were still here, i have read many of your replies and was hoping to hear from you and mownie, you 2 seem to have a wealth of knowledge on these things, i will try the carb first, because it is the easier than the head, but how would the carb cause fire to pop in the carb? im no genius but it seems compression is coming through the carb, and with the few parts in the carb, even no diaphragm, i cant under stand how it would be bad, do they have a ball and spring behind a welch plug like the old model walbro carbs?, i remember years ago when i worked on them a rule of thumb was if you shook them and heard no rattle they were no good, it had something to do with a barometric pressure adjuster valve, you didnt have to adjust the carb in higher locations as you did a b&s carb, just wondering, because i cleaned the carb twice, i put it in a bowl of water while disassembled and used a small straw to blow air through every hole, got bubbles on all, but i will swap them anyway and see, i just want to know what it is, thanks for your advice man

Thanks Elizablue. I got the palms from Beyond Paradise. They have a location in Cypress and one in Katy. They all are doing great and the triple Pygmy survived the cold winter which we feared it may not (I was in San Antonio when we got freezing rain that wasn't predicted so I didn't get to wrap it in a planket). The service and advice there was great too. Hope you find something you like.