And, by all means---do a complete cleaning of the carburetor, especially check for operation of the float, and the passages on the carb body. A dirty carb ,and a sticking float, or a float that doesn't float, is probably the main reason the engine went BANG! those are the main causes of engines blowing large holes in the block! And, if you don't do the carb clean up---don't try to run it for very long, as it just might go bang again! What happens is this. The float sticks, the gas fills up the carb body, then migrates into the engine oil, and that thins it out, and: BANG! At that time, you may just be able to view the inside of the engine, without dismantling it! HTH RJ

Morph I have a couple question and suggestions. Hope they help. Are you only using Milorganite? Why not Alfalfa Pellets/meal or Bradfield? Alfalfa Pellets/Meal offer NPK and a high availability of trace minerals. They also contain trianconatol, a natural fatty-acid growth stimulant which would be excellent for your sprouts. I know this is not the same as starting from seed but, I used Alfalfa Pellets @ 50lbs per 1000sqft 2 weeks before I laid S.A in the spring. They worked excellent. My S.A. was fully rooted @ 2 week and thriving to this day. The 4th week I put Bradfield Organics LL @ 20lbs per 1000sqft. Once watered, the alfalfa will break down and form a light blanket/top dressing over the soil/seed, which should be excellent for your new seeds Seaweed extract I'm already using and I've been very happy with the results. Are you using it as a foliar feeding? If so I would wait until your lawn fills in before using it again. Foliar feeding is not doing much for your soil, which is where your focus should be right now. Seaweed meal spread on the soil would be more beneficial right now. I say mix it up a little, it can't hurt.

Congratulations on the new X300. As closely as I can tell,you can get a bad machine from any brand...lawn tractor,car or ice cream maker. ANY manufactured product,whether man or machine assembled,could die out of the box,or run flawlessly for years. I,too,took delivery of an X300 this morning. I studied and conversed for weeks,trying to decide what to do. My decision was made because the JD sales guy was super,and I got one year same as cash from JD. ONLY time will tell if it was a good buy. On my street,there are 5 JD's,2 Craftsman,1 Cadet,1 Husky:ALL are working well. Please don't take this green vs orange vs red too seriously. For goodness sake,it's a lawnmower. Take care of it and it should be fine. Thanks to all of you,most of your posts were helpful,and I appreciate your thoughts.

Kentuck, methinks you're pulling our leg! Neat picture, makes you want to explore inside, except it would probably finish falling down!