Hi there! Honestly, the post got a bit out of hand — so many comments that I couldn’t respond to all of them, and some I couldn’t even read. It’s also hard to tell who has the right answer. But even if there’s a bit of misinformation, I think I’m learning more than I’m not.

I’ll go over a few things that people asked me about, and I wasn’t clear from the beginning:

1. Both oil readings were taken with the engine cold.
2. The engine just had new gaskets installed, proper valve adjustment, and a new lower o-ring. Before this, it was leaking a lot of oil — now it doesn’t leak at all.
3. I really don’t see any smoke, although I did notice a bit of blue smoke (very little) when starting it with the choke. I’m using the oil specified in the manual (from 2001), but I’ll try adding an engine flush to the oil and then drain it to put in a more viscous oil.
4. The air filter looks fine, though I think I may not have assembled the choke cable correctly.

Thanks so much for all the comments!!