ssewalk, from the few times I've opened up my motors, I went looking for any loose part while it was open and the only "loose" part is the easy start's moving parts. All of the stuff I have used that have easy start made the same noise when i hit really tall grass or pile of leaves, etc. None of them ever blew up reinforcing my guess.
BTW: is it me or has this forum pretty much died??? Nobody posts anything new here. I just look once in a while...
Q