Mowing lawn this morning, hit a dense patch of grass and the engine sounded like it would stall so I raised the mower to relieve mulch. A loud pop and flash, similar to an M-80 (maybe not quite as loud) and a blue flash out the right side of the mower. (Muffler is on the left, so I knew it wasn't a backfire.)
A friend suggested the "finger over the spark plug hole" compression test which it appears to have failed: no vacuum or compression in the chamber.
The question...How much would a valve repair be if I take it back to Sears? ...To anyone else? (This is a 5 year old Craftsman 22" 6.75hp).
Thanks,
1s&0s