I'm not sure why you took the valve cover off and I'm not sure what problems you are currently having. If you are draining the crankcase oil from the engine through the valve cover (now off and rear tires elevated) you did so incorrectly and probably allowed oil to enter the cylinder past the piston. Oil in the cylinder will cause the compression to increase substantially and maybe not start from the battery. Oil in the cylinder/piston ring grooves will cause the engine to smoke for 20-30 minutes. The way to properly change the oil is through the base plug or valve spigot attached to the crankcase.
Hi Zork and All...
UPDATE: I got it working....
I did mentioned in my Thread @ 02-20-2012, 07:44 PM
" What I did is I Lifted the Tractor from the Back and Put it on Two Cinder Blocks, one on each wheel. I let the Oil Drip a bit and Started the Engine and BAM... It starts up right away. "
Anyway, to answer your question, Zork...
I took the Valve Cover off just to see... I got the MTD for cheap $125.00... What I got to lose right? LOL. But I'm GLAD I took the Valve Cover Off... I saw Gummy / Black Oil coming out like Crazy... And I also learned something.... It was more like a Curious thing LOL... Anyway... Like I said I'm Glad I did cause Gummy Dirty Oil was leaking out... So I started the Engine and the Engine FIRED right up....
So that gave me an Idea... Drain all the OIL.... That's when I lifted the MTD from the Back with the help of the Cinder Blocks and Drain everything, including the Oil Plug and the Filter... Once that was done, I start the Engine, without Oil, LOL... Just a quick test....Still Good/Start... I put good Oil in and started the Engine and it worked right away, FIRED up quickly and SMOOTHLY....
Anyway, I want to CLOSE this Thread.... I got it working since 02-20-2012, 07:44 PM...
BIG THANK YOU TO ZORK AND ALL.....
P.S. I did watch this Vid, but I didn't have to Adjust it... Maybe someday...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbYbSKN4CxI[/ame]