Hello everyone. I have a 27 year old Ariens 911019 with Tecumseh 5 hp 4 cycle motor. She sat for 20 years without ever being ran. Last fall I had the carburetor either tuned or rebuilt I can't remember. Took it to the neighbor who is a small engine mechanic and he fixed it up and got it running. Runs good. Just has some issues. The main one is when it's cold it takes many many pulls to get it to start up. When it's warm it starts usually on the first pull. This mower had the original Sae 30 oil in it from 27 years ago till yesterday. I drained all the oil that would come out of it but it wasn't much. Maybe about half a cup on a measureing glass. I filled it up to the full mark with fresh Rotella t5 10w30 and drained the fuel out and put fresh 93 octane gas with Stabil marine stabilizer in it. I ordered a new spark plug for it which will be in this afternoon. I'm trying to figure out why it's so hard to start when cold. A few people in Facebook told me it could be a blown head gasket or stucking valves. Others say it's carburetor related. It has a new primer bulb that works great but still I can't get it to start in less then 5 pulls when cold. How can I fix this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Oh P.S I was told to fill the crankcase with Diesel fuel and let it sit for 48 hours and then drain it because this will loosen all the sludge that is probably in the motor. Idk if that's a good idea or not. Also was told to run transmission fluid or seafoam in the oil in it for a few minutes to loosen it up and dump that and refill with oil. Oh when I had it running it also shot a 1 1/2 inch long flame out the muffler and it backfired once or twice. It also has been lightly smoking. Light blue in color and hard to see unless in the sun a certain way.
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