lawnmower wont start briggs and stratton

hans747

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Location
Asheville, NC
hey folks,

I've got a dirty old walkbehind mower with an 8.5 hp briggs engine that stopped working the other day. Here's what happened: I was mowing a hill for a about 40 mintues. I stopped to catch a 2 minute breather. So I parked the mower facing across the hill (gas tank side higher than the carb so as not to stall) and set the throttle to halfway between full run (rabbit) and stop (turtle). After about a minute the engine shuts down like it ran out of gas. No smoke or anything unusual.

I go to start it up and the engine turns way too easily. Like there's no compression. It was the same way when I bought it used. The previous owner gave up on it because it wouldn't start. Turns out the head bolts were loose and compression was escaping. Today, all the head bolts are ight. As you turn i over, air is being sucked in the carb and pushed out the muffler. I don't have a leakdown tester at my disposal.

Is there any other way to diagnose this problem?
 
take the plug out and put a little bit of oil in the cyl and the put the plug back in. The cyl walls may have been washed with fuel and the oil will build compression. This has worked for me before. Could also try seafoam too.
 
Bullardbs said:
take the plug out and put a little bit of oil in the cyl and the put the plug back in. The cyl walls may have been washed with fuel and the oil will build compression. This has worked for me before. Could also try seafoam too.
Click to expand...

hmm... good idea! I'm going to give that a try tonight. thanks
 
DIAGNOSIS: among a multitude of other things wrong with this crappy engine, the exhaust valve is not shutting all the way.. I was going to rebuild it, but while tearing it down, i noticed the previous owner patched a hole in the side of the block with JB Weld. Not worth the effort anymore. Time to find a replacement engine...

Thanks for all the great advice, guys! you gave me hope. :)
 
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