Perhaps my use of Opti products is 'overkill', but I like to stick with what I know works. In the commercial lawn business, I agree that use of certain expensive products is not justified, but for the homeowner who changes oil once a year, the cost is not important. FWIW, I also use Opti-2, but at 66:1. It probably is okay at 100:1 but my nerve runs out at 66:1. It has been working for me at this ratio in Lawn-Boys and other 2-cycles for 13 years. Deposits are minimal and there is never a need for exhaust port or muffler cleaning. I recently sold my 1994 LB 10201, and the compression actually felt higher than new - the front wheels would come off the ground when pulling the starter cord. This is one of the major effects of Opti oils - surface improvement by 'Eutectic' means. It definitely is not synthetic, being a paraffin-based oil. Plus, Opti oils are designed for air-cooled equipment where automotive products are not.

roadbike -- Here are the answers to your questions with regards to my tiller : 1) No -- It takes me at least 6 month to go through 2.5G 2) Not sure -- a typical plastic gas certified container (is there something to look for?) 3) Yes (but perhaps not from now on) 4) Yes I spent $20 and rebuilt the Walbro WYL carb and it fired right up although it seems to have a minor issue with the high-end RPMs wanting to stall a little. There might be some other gunk further in I suppose. I was able to use it just fine last weekend. Darn carbs have itty bitty parts! BTW: IF I want to use something like MMO, is it a few Tablespoons in the volume of oil in the small Honda 4 strokes or ?? Unfortunately, this tiller does not see lots of use like the mower/edger/weed wacker.

Well, I must be the oil changing axle greasing nerd cause I do it religously every year. my 20 year old LT4000 axles looks like high polished crankshafts. I'm also the idiot that's completely disassembles my LT's to clean, inspect, and lovingly put it back togather. This also includes washing out the gas tanks and the wiring harness for cracks or bare wires. My 400 dollar LX266 looks like new under the fenders and hood.

famdog, this is just a suggestion (on your posting practice). Don't start a new thread every day or when you have a new comment. The first thread you made would suffice to carry the information dialog from opening day, to resolution day, whenever that might be, no matter how many twists and turns the thread makes along the way. Keeping just one thread per problem (in this case the problem is: leaking transaxle) provides a real time sense of continuity for readers to scroll through the progression of events, and this is often neccessary when we try to unravel complex issues. I'll use this "small detail" to illustrate why you should not create a new thread for each new thought. If (as I sit here) I wanted to take another look at your photo album, I would have to go back to another of your threads (which by today, could be on page 2, or page 3). This makes it a bit more troublesome to keep a degree of focus on the entire subject material when the details are separated by being in different threads. If, by chance, you are doing this because the forum has denied you to make a second post to a thread, you can defeat that silly obstruction (I say silly for the forum to have that unwanted restriction) by simply going to the line that is titled "Subject of posting:" and do something that alters that line of text. It can be as subtle as just adding another open space (or deleting a space), dropping a period or comma in somewhere, or as much as rewriting a new title. You are doing OK so far in that each of your threads have been "sort of" a separate issue, but realistically, the first thread you created, would still be appropriate for including all the later info. Regarding the newly noticed additional leak point under the pulley. Yes, you should install a new seal when you replace the fan. I also believe that the new oil leak is the result of foaming oil and too much oil in the transaxle. The seal might not have exhibited leakage with good oil at the proper level. But.....now that you KNOW the seal is capable of leaking, you need to replace it. Many times, seals of this type (seals around rotating or moving shafts) are "double lipped" seals. Double lipped seals feature an inner lip to keep the oil or other fluid INSIDE, and a second lip to keep dust and dirt OUTSIDE. The leakage here is declaring "new seal needed".