Murray WideBody Blown Head Gasket?

As far as oil leak, where on the engine is it? Front, could be valve cover gasket. By oil fill tube, or filter? Along sides, or back could be sump gasket. Draining on drive pully, bottom crank seal.
 
Hawk_91119 said:
I have an old Murray mower that I am repairing. It has the 14.5 hp single cylinder over head valve engine. It is very hard for the starter to turn the motor over unless the battery is fully charged. It blows a little bit of oil up the dipstick. It has a lot of compression, but it does not smoke. Do you guys think this is a head gasket failure?
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No I don't think its the head gasket. It's the compression release mech. on the camshaft. Not hard to fix. Their cheap online. And Youtube is your best friend.
 
Ok, I adjusted the valves and the compression release seems to work better now and cranks over easier. It runs like a brand new one. It is way quieter and the compression is not extreme any more. I am not seeing oil leaks any more. But I am still concerned about head-gasket and/or it possibly burning oil. When I first started it, it was shooting white smoke out the exhaust. It cleared up after running a minute. But whenever I turn the engine off or idle it up, the white smoke comes out a little but clears up quickly. I also opened the oil cap and it shot little droplets of oil out. What do you guys think?
 
Sounds like the engine has normal wear for the age. A little light smoke at startup is not uncommon. The most likely culprit is hardened/ worn out valve shaft seals.

A good quality oil change regular SAE 10w-30 oil change might help.

A blown head gasket will mean a loss of compression and power, so I would rule out a head gasket for now.
 
I just changed the oil a week ago with Valvoline 5w-30. The mower is old and you can tell it has been worked hard. I agree that head gasket is pretty much ruled out. It will probably burn a little and have to top off every once in a while. Not the end of the world. Thank you guys for the help.
 
did the manual call for 5W-30? That seems quite light for an older engine. I would think 10W-30 or 15W-30 would be more appropriate, or even full synthetic or a synthetic blend air cooled oil.
 
It’s doing well with the oil that’s in it. The oil that was in it was black as coal and it ran just fine. I meant I think the head gasket was good, but will do further testing to make sure the hg is not blown. It probably has slightly worn rings and it is burning a tiny bit of oil I believe.
 
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