Sounds like you are getting hydraulic lock from gas in the cylinder from a carb internal leak plus priming. This may have been compounded by your tilting the mower up on one side, depending on which side the carburetor is on, which may have added some oil to it (only tilt up mower with carb side high). Take out the spark plug and ground the connector on the grounding post provided on the cylinder head (on some models). Pull the starter cord to blow the cylinder out. Replace the plug and wire and it should start and possibly smoke for a few minutes. Check the air filter to see if it's clean and not oily (if it's a pleated paper filter). Check the oil to see if it's too high on the stick and/or has a strong gasoline smell - if you have a carb problem it could be flooding the engine with gas.

Well, I bought the rider 6 or 7 years ago used for $400.00. So, when I got it - I guess I got used to some fnctions not working properly. One was the throttle lever sometime would just stay open (full rabbit) all the time. And when I bought it - the guy must have disconnected the safety seat so the only way to shut it off was pull the choke all the way out. Sometimes it would backfire on shutoff. When I would start it - I would notice some white or black smoke on initial startup. But not during use. It ran like a trooped except for the blades wearing out because of the sandy yard I have ( plus the sticks i tend to run over) ooops. I would change the oil once or twice a year. I guess I did have to add some oil to the unit every now and then. I guess since my mower guy just got it ready after the winter with new oil, new fuel filter, and new blades and a good look over - I thought it was running like it always had. The only thing like i said prior - was when I cranked the heck out of it trying to start it while NOT sitting on the seat (that got fixed last year so now if you got off the rider it died) SEEMED to do something to the starting aspect of it. Now it started hard - I had to keep the key held all the way to the right as the starter tried to start the thing and just grind away until the motor finally took off. Now - the seat doesn't kill the motor of I get off the thing & the key doesn't shut it off either. I keep the unit in my garage all winter and although I didn't winterize it with stabil or run the gas out of it - every spring I would charge up the battery and it would fire up fine. Of course then my mower guy would be coming over and changing oil and checking it over. I sounds to me as it is running like something is rubbing inside the mower making it make the NOT SMOOTH idle sound. It is hard to describe. I think he may come over tomorow and since I have all the oil out of it - we will add new stuff and go from there. I appreciate your advice and knowledge you have given me so far. Anything else you think it may be so I could tell my mower man?? Are all the things you mentioned above worth spending to fix this or are some cheaper than others? Thanks Dave Wisconsin

Thank you for giving me those possible reasons. However, the "it is normally not a big deal to deal with this" would be great if the repair people also had this attitude. I will try to fix it myself. I just hate to move this monster as it's very heavy. By the way, we don't have an oven with a "defrost" issue as originally posted. Rather, it is the self cleaning that doesn't work, amongst other things. It's also worth noting that I sent the Monogram people a registered letter requesting new appliances or a law suit. Cars have lemon laws, so should appliances.

Have you checked your belts? If the belts have a bad place in them when they change direction to spin/drain the bad spot could "bump or thump" going around. Also, the motor "slides" on this washer. Sometimes you have to get some Vaseline and a qtip and put some vaseline in the tracks or on the wheels that the motor glides on. With your hand, push your motor inward and then see if it goes back to the front. If it seems to stick then it needs greasing. It won't hurt to grease it anyway--after 17 years.They can get dry and when the machine starts to spin the motor slides to tighten up the belt so the washer can get up to full speed when the water gets drained out. If it doesn't slide well they will(the motor) bump so this might be what you hear. Does it make the noise the whole spin cycle or just while it is draining and then quieten when it gets to full spin speed? I would check all this out. 17 years is really nothing for one of these. My Mom has one that is 26 years old still working with only one repair. My Aunt has one 30 years old and it just got it's first repair in Dec. The water valve went out and wouldn't let the cold water come in. Check out all of this before you buy a new one. It may be something simple--and then maybe not??