I'm trying to get my elderly neighbor's 10 year old John Deere LT225 with a Kohler 15hp verticle shaft mower running. They had it running the other day for the 1st time since last November. It took ether and a lot of cranking to get it going. They ran it for 20 minutes. One week later it wouldn't start. Their son in law changed the oil, plug, and fuel pump (someone told him that it probably was bad). That's when I was asked to help out. I tried cleaning the coil and pick ups, swapping spark plugs, purged the fuel line (they just filled it with fresh gas), and I took the cover off and removed and large mouse's nest from the cylinder head. I took off the rocker arm cover and cranked it, and the valves appeared to be operating normal. When cranking it, it seems like it wants to start, but doesn't. When I open and close the choke, it sounds like the ignition goes out of time and sometimes blows a couple of flames through the carb. It does sound like a typical engine when you give it a shot of ether, where it will normally light for a second or two. when it makes the sounds like its going out of time, its popping through the exhaust too. My compression gauge showed 30psi (probably because of the ACR?) and I am out of guesses. They don't have the money to send it to a shop, and I feel badly that I can't help them out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.