Hi all, I'm new here. This looks like a great forum! Quick facts: 9 year old Sears Lawn tractor (new 11/96), B&S 15.5HP OHV 28N707-0173, auto trans (Hydrostatic drive), well maintained (regular oil changes/air filters/spark plugs) used for lawn care and with snow blade for winter snow plowing. Never any problems starting or running. All original exept battery and a couple of starter relays (solenoids). About 3 years ago it started smoking (blue) after I changed the oil. The oil level was correct per dipstick. It was lightly smoking and stopped over time as - I was to figure out - the oil level dropped. So over the last few years I needed to put less than a full crankcase of oil in at an oil change or the engine would smoke so badly that I could not use the tractor. I also would find a lot of oil in the air filter housing so I knew that there was blowby and the crackcase oil was being forced into the intake tract via the breather. I went to speak with someone at a local small engine place and when I told the guy what engine it was and how old, all he said was that it lasted twice what most people get out of them and I should be thankful. The last year I knew I was right on the edge of keeping the crankcase full enough for lubrication/cooling but low enough to control smoking. Well yesterday I was doing my fall cleanup and after about 2 hours of continuous running I was going along and there was a slight screeching sound and the engine just died. It cranked a bit when I tried to restart then it would not even crank. When it cooled down I checked the crankcase oil level with the dipstick and (surprise, duh) no oil. I can barely turn the crankshaft with a breaker bar and 5/8" socket on the lower crank (pulley) bolt. No difference with the sparkplug in or out. Honestly the last couple of weeks have been hectic and I did not keep track of the oil level so I know its my own fault if the oil level ran down. So I'm assuming its seized/FUBAR. I'm assuming the worst but is there anythink else I should look at that could be seized other than the main guts (crank, rod, piston) such as the starter drive or ignition coil that possibly could be binding? I've removed the drive and mower deck belts from the pulley so I know its definetaly in the engine somewhere. I just want to be sure I did not overlook something simple. I'm ready to fork up the $450 for a new engine. I looked at new tractors (today) and for about the same $1300 I spent in '96 I can get about the same tractor (even with a 18 or 19HP B&S engine), but I think I'll just replace this engine as the rest of the tractor is in very good shape and I'm not 100% sure (and nobody at Sears can tell me) if my grass catcher and plow will fit a new model. Thank you for reading this long post. All advice, opinions, (condolences?), welcome. Paul ps. I have the Briggs and Stratton 'Single Cylinder OHV Repair Manual' (2002 ed). Does anyone else think this is the most disorganized and practically useless service manual they have ever owned?

I am having trouble with my Craftsman lawn tractor. The engine backfires through the muffler. The backfiring starts after the engine is run for a short period of time and is warmed up. The backfiring starts slowly at first (once/ 15 seconds) but increases to the point where there is a continuous, rapid-fire loud popping. I had this problem last year and I took the tractor to the repair shop; they said that it was water in the carburetor. The tractor ran good until 2 weeks ago and then the problem occurred again. I had the tractor for 10+ years and last year was the first this happened. The engine is a Briggs & Stratton model 407777, type 0167-E1. So far, I drained the gas, removed and cleaned the carburetor, replaced the fuel filter, air filter, pre-filter, and spark plugs, started using ethanol-free gas, and used Sea Foam to clean the cylinders. I did a compression test and both cylinders showed 135psi. Nothing I have done seems to have any affect on the problem.