I have oil and dirt all over the exterior of my lawnmower engine. How do I find the problem?
The exterior of the engine and the top of the mower deck are covered with oil/dirt. I assume I have an oil leak somewhere. How do I figure out where it’s coming from? It’s a Craftsman push lawn mower.

April 18th, 2009 at 8:00 am
You could try washing it up really well and then let it sit for awhile. You may be able to see where the oil is coming from.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Clean it all up with solvent and a rag. After it is dry run it for a few minutes and the oil leak leak will be obvious. The dirt is what sticks to the oil. You likely have a Briggs and Stratton engine and since there are only few places that it will leak, you should have no trouble finding it. The o-ring on the bottom of the oil fill tube is probably the most common source of leakage on a vertical shaft Briggs.