Rollerzeke, my personal opinion. There are much better oils you can be using besides Lawn Boy Brand oil. I'm not sure if they changed their formulation from about 12 years ago when I stopped using it, but wouldn't think they have. I don't like LB oil because of all the excessive smoke and carbon build up using it at the recommended ratio of 32:1. If you're adamant about using the best oil, then cost shouldn't really be a factor unless you use several quarts or gallons ie commercial business use. At the least, pick up some Echo Power Blend Oil-available at HD or any Echo shop of course. I'm runnning some mix now with this oil @ 40:1, even though they recommend 50:1. I broke in a new blower last year on a 50:1, and even a new old stock Echo trimmer power head that they had a factory rec of 20:1 being the engine was manued in the early 80's. I pulled the plug for out of curiousity, and the piston crown, cylinder and spark plug threads had a nice clear coat of oil on them. I thought that maybe this oil is more than capable of running any engine safely @ 50:1!? Still, I'm not going to run that or any oil semi or fully snythetic at anything less than 40:1. I just broke in a new Echo saw with that mix, saw no more smoke, ran great, no oily residue drip from the muffler. I'm using it this way in 2 of my LB's right now, and they seem to be running as clean as if it were drinking straight gasoline! Ocassional whiffs of euphoria to let me now there is oil in the fuel. I know Echo claims ANY OF THEIR engines will run safley regardless of mix ratio claimed in the manuals on a 50:1. I'm beginning to believe that although they would never put their head on the chopping block and claim ANY AND ALL 2 CYCLES will run safley on 50:1. I'm sure ANY LB engine using a good quality modern semi or fully synthetic will actually get better protection and cleaner running mixing @ 40:1 rather than using LB OIL @ 32:1. Again, my opinions and past experiences.

I know - its the kind of thing I like to do too. Sounds like the deck is okay. I would keep on using it. CD pack failures are irritating, but when you consider that most people have to buy a new mower long before 9 years, it seems very cheap to operate. Even if you have put new wheels and axles on at about the same frequency as the CD packs, you really are not spending any money on it. And, you can still find the rear-bagging kits and deck plates (blank for discharging, blocked for mulching). Other things you may encounter after such long service are crankshaft end seals popping out or just leaking, the need to rebuild the carb and carbon build-up in the exhaust ports and muffler. I always recommend adding Marvel Mystery oil to the gas in addition to your regular oil mix as well as the use of a fuel stabilizer. If you use Ethanol-blended fuel, get the Stabil Marine for Ethanol Fuels. All engines like MMO, in particular the 2-cycles.

Hopefully the NEW plug was the same type that came out of it. You might check the spacing of the plugs contacts...there's a little set of tools you can buy for pennies to do that occasionally. It sets the space the spark has to travel...using in mm's of 25,30,35...something like that. Poor spacing can cause what you are experincing. Clean gas. Make sure you have new, fresh gas in thank and if your Lawn Boy is a 2-stage motor, it requires the oil be mixed with the gas. Low or too high mixing can cause poor starting and poor performance between starts. Read the manual for proper mixing volumes.

there are several things that would cause your hard starting problem 1. valve adjustment as mentioned above manual choke operation 3. old fuel - fuel from your spare fuel can is considered "old" if it is older than a month old. 4. low compression deteriorated vacuum hose for the pulse fuel pump 6. deteriorated fuel lines - air can be drawn in the fuel lines if cracks are present - examine connections around hose clamps - check for hard fuel lines. 7. weak spark - look for corrosion around the ignition coil mounting screws - look for carbon or oil on the sparkplug tips.