Well, good news and bad news; good news is, I got the carb cleaned and reinstalled Friday night and gave her a good workout Saturday for about five hours plowing lots and lots of snow. She ran like a champ and impressed me very much but I think I have the carb running a bit rich because shell puff some black smoke when I rev from idle. The bad news: I checked the oil this morning and there was nothing on the dipstick
I don't see any oil below her but I'm going to run to the auto parts store and fill her back up then run it for a bit and park it to see if I can find where its coming from. This is really a heartbreaker as I hope(d) to use it the rest of the winter. When I started yesterday, she was a smidge above full on the dipstick and now to be empty, really a surprise for me. The guy I got it from said he replaced the front crank seal but didn't take the motor out so maybe that's where the leak is from? I'm crossing my fingers that whatever it is, it isn't too bad. Anywhere on this M18 that's a common leak place I can look?