OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Tech Talk how do I fix my mower

I'll offer all the likely causes of the problem in one go, rather than one at a time. You've covered the rocker cover gasket already. My previous post covered the cylinder head gasket.

The simplest item it could be - it could probably be fixed in less than one minute - is that the oil filler tube could be out of position - it is shown in the red oval below:

Because the mower base has a recess running around it, leakage from this tube would result in a pool of oil where you have shown it in your picture: that is the lowest point in the recess.

If it isn't that, the next item to worry about is the crankcase cover gasket, shown in the red oval in these pictures:



The last item to worry about (other than a cracked casting, which seems unlikely) is the bottom crankshaft oil seal, underneath the mower, circled here in red:

Oil flooding out from that seal might (it seems barely possible) result in a few splashes being thrown outward by the blade plate and ending up on top of the mower base, as in your picture. Most of the oil would simply be splattered around the underside of the mower, rather than getting on top of it.

So, my favourite possibility is that the bottom of the oil filler tube is now out of position, due to it receiving a bump somewhere along the line. If that has happened, chances are you just need to remove its attaching screw at the top of the tube, put it back where it belongs, and reinstall the attaching screw.