Gunner Asch wrote:
Perhaps someone tried to run it with an old old can of 2 cycle oil
premixed and the gas had evaporated?

I don't think so - there was a couple of ounces of pure oil in the
cylinder. And the gas in its tank was OK.

Maybe it *was* through the PCV valve. Maybe the machine rolled onto its
side, with the engine running. Oil was pushed through the PCV valve by
crankcase pressure & carb vac & drawn in the cylinder. The oil in the
float bowl did have some gas mixed in (i.e., it wasn't as pure oil as in
the cylinder), so maybe it had come through the main jet. This is
sounding like the most plausible scenario.

It's running great now. Since it was just the engine at the dump & not
the whole "mower", the owner probably bought a new engine for $500 or
more. Sucker.

Bob