[Sam Mac]

Originally Posted by Tony h

Alvy
Being the nice guy I am, I felt bad that he wanted to just bail on his tractor. I told him to check what area was oil soaked and call me back.. I said it might be teh Carburetor Needle valve since I have seen it a lot with this gabage ethanol gas. "NOPE, Come get it."

I got there, and my thoughts were correct.. I pulled out the dipstick and there was so much gas in the oil, it washed the oil off the stick.
Ethanol gas beat up his Needle Valve in the carb and gas ran through the carb and into the crankcase. Prior to this, All the days I went there during the troubleshooting phase, he would shut the gas tank valve after I left. So no wash down. I told he can just... Nope, it's outta here.
got it home, drained the crank, filled it with some used oil I had laying around. ran it for 5 minutes.. no oil shooting accept from a valve cover. Drained the oil and filled again. Made a quicky gasket for the valve covers and the engine has been dry.
I since through in the same size needle valve I had. So I never have that issue, I added a gas filter and put a petcock in the engine compartment. Makes it so much easier to shut off. I shut the petcock and run it dry after I run it.
Ethanol gas.. very bad stuff for carbuteted engines. 2 cycle engines feel it the worst.

Sounds like you lucked out big time