There is an oil that solves the aluminum residue in engines. It's called 'Opti-4' and I recommend the SAE 30. Its expensive, but for 20 ounces once a year anybody can afford it. This oil has the property of smoothing sliding metal surfaces by 'Eutectic' action. All oils have this to some degree, but Opti-4 really works. I have been using it for twenty years. The oil in my Tecumseh-engined Lawn-Boy does not get gray. After a year it gets a slight transparent brown. I hate to change it but I do anyway. It comes in 20 oz. bottles in six-packs. The first new mower I tried this oil in was a 1989 Homelite/Jacobsen with 3.5 HP B&S. The mower is still in service at a relative's house and has had no internal engine repairs. I finally changed the spark plug after they nearly ruined it with old gas they had stored since Y2K! Now this mower admittedly has had light use, but twenty years is twenty years. Attached is apicture of it after I cleaned it up and got it running again after the gas incident. It has not been repainted. Here is a link that might be useful: Homelite/Jacobsen

Agree that "milky" looking oil usually means water has emulsified with the oil. Typical carb screw adjustments are about 1-1/2 turns out, but you have to fine tune the high speed screw with the engine under load.(often just a "bit" more out) Idle screw may vary more on an old carb due to vacuum leaks from the throttle shaft etc. Some carbs "interact" between the 2 screws more than others. Go back & forth between them a time or 2, until you feel they are at the best setting. IF the screws have been JAMMED into their seats, it can be near impossible to get them right. Are there any PN's etc. on the carb? I can't remember is this engine is a single, opposed twin or ???

@hollycbs....the oil based finishes are the originals from 100 years ago. They developed to take over from the labor intensive lacquers (a real lacquer finish is HORRENDOUSLY difficult/expensive to put down). The oil based are the original 'solvent based' finishes. But Mr. and Mrs. Joe Public got scared of the word "solvent" (it sounded dangerous and unhealthy...which they can be) so the finishing industry simply changed the word to "oil based". No change in formula. Just a name change. Reprinting labels for thousands of gallons of material is SUPER cheap....like $0.15 per label. Changing a FORMULA is expensive (imagine 100's of chemists working hundreds of hours and hundreds of tests run to discover they don't work). So...why do they use them? Because they are industry norm. You have to specify SOMETHING ELSE. The 'basic' package comes with the cost of the cheap oil based finishes with their cheap oil based stains (Minwax stains are oil based). Materials are cheap. They are easy to work with and have been around (which means everyone trained on them) for 100 years. Cheap materials = more money in the pockets of the refinishers. Unless you specifically ask for "water based" finishes or a "clear coat" (which means you have to know that the oil based finishes turn orange in the first place), the installer will simply use what s/he always uses....oil based finishes. And many people LOVE the depth of colour the oil based finishes create. You are someone who does not. It is a sad lesson to learn this late in the game. I'm sorry this has happened. If you can learn to like the colour, you would do well to leave it be.

Geez, mate, give it a rest! Since you readily admit you are not a heating engineer or electrician or anything else vaguely related (nor am I) you have no way of knowing HOW MUCH oil should be in it. ALL oil heaters are partly filled, perhaps for reasons I have theorised before. I also doubt you could buy less than a rather large drum of it, if you could find it. Tell me - any signs of a leak? Do you have an identical heater? If so, weigh both with good scales. That would indicate if oil was low. As I've said before, oil-filled heaters have a very gentle heat, so may not feel as 'warm' as others, still, with a little time they will fill a smaller room with a nice all-over heat. If you could compare identical heaters you might be able to say one was hotter than another.....I suspect it's fine apart from the thermostat, and, chances are, you're on the low setting. I don't think running it without a thermostat is safe, even if you do watch it..... Trust me, I've seen/bought/used a lot of heaters in my day, probably more than most posters here, since I lived in Australia and portable heaters are all 99% of the population use, since few people have central heat. Just chuck it. Get another sort, if you don't like the oil heat type. Personally I like them almost as much as baseboard heaters (and they're easier to cover up accidentally, although I don't know how much risk of fire they pose) - I bought an oil heater for both my daughter's rooms since they were the safest we could find, and they may well have been Delonghis. For us, they worked well but to this day, they still make a hot paint smell when they run. DON'T BOTHER ABOUT THE OIL - YOU CAN'T RESEAL IT, AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER MORE OIL WILL HELP OR WILL EXPAND AND CAUSE LEAKAGE ETC.