3yr old Craftsman DYT 4000 -48" deck / 24hp B&S v-twin Intek OHV.
Ok, wife was mowing and noticed the engine bogging down while blades engaged on even the lowest of grass. Pulled hood and noticed while sitting idle the engine would down rev and spit oil from somewhere near the bottom of the right head. After a minute the engine would rev back up to a normal idle and then the oil smoke. Then again after a minute the down rev and oil appeared. Sears came out and said either blown head gasket or valve issue. I pulled the head and looked like there was a blown head gasket on the side of the head where the oil is drawn in to the valve and it was also blown at the bottom, where I was seeing oil. So I cleaned up the head, valves and replaced gaskets... Both sides for good measure. Gapped the valves at .005. Engine sounds good, but now when I engage the blades it sounds like the engine has a hard time starting the blades spinning. Oh yea, I replace all three belts and put an edge on the blades... It takes like two seconds before the blades sound like they have come to their full rpm. Now, with the deck at its highest point, it still has a hard time cutting and bogs down the engine. Double checked that the belts where on right and started researching the problem. This mower has an electric blade engaging mech. PTO I think it's called. Could this be causing this. The engine sounds like it has plenty of power until the blades are engaged. In fact I drove the mower, front tires, up to a railroad tie and the back tires dug down three to four inches and the engine never stuttered....
