Hello Mark,
Been busy tidying up because daughter is coming back from Oz for a 3 week holiday. I will try out your suggestions in the next day or two and report back. I have had a lot of rust damage including a bit to the bore Argh! but all this has been cleaned up and starting is no problem. Must look out for a new block at some stage as this is one solid mower and deserves some attention. None of this has caused the problem as it was running too fast from the word go, and the water ingress happened when it was dumped in a corner of the garden!
Regards,
Andrew.
