I purchased a John Deere L108 18.5hp briggs and crapton engine in 2004 that threw out a balancer in the engine just one month after the warrrenty. To the credit of the local implement dealer they were able to procure an engine replacement even though it was out of warrenty. I still had to pay 350.00 bucks for labor however. Well, 6 months later the engine craps again with a mixture of oil and gas oozing out of the PCV valve spooging oil onto the deck. It will run for about 10 minutes before choking out. The oil had been replaced 3 times in 6 months and the service guy stated that the air cleaner was good, that they are baffled why this \"new\" engine failed so quickly. It would cost at least 400-500 dollars to \"possibly\" repair the damage. It is getting blow by from the piston rings at this point which is why the engine oil oozes out of the pcv valve onto the deck. Dont buy the new L 100 series lawn mowers with the Briggs and Crapton engines. Get the older ones with the Kohler or Kawaski.

Note: I paid over $1699 for the L108 in 2004 and even with a new engine it wouldnt be worth over $500 to sell it used. The implement shop doesnt even want to give me ANYTHING for parts, they say its pretty much a worthless machine in thier minds. So.. thats coming from the John Deere dealership regarding thier L series lawn mower tractors.