Briggs & Stratton Engins

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Mower is 2 months shy of 4 years oul. 6.5hp Briggs bought at Lowes with non adjustable everything. It starts but then dies. Fresh gas, cleaned air filter, checked gas cap vent. Douched it down with carb cleaner-still, you prime it, it starts and then dies. Any soloutions??? Or do these things just last 4 years now. Used to be a briggs mower would last me until the chassis rusted out-at least 10 years. If 4 or so years is the new obsolescence-so be it but I got to think I'm missing something pretty basic.
What say you mates????

 

[M28]

Used to be a briggs mower would last me until the chassis rusted out-at least 10 years. If 4 or so years is the new obsolescence-so be it but I got to think I'm missing something pretty basic.
What say you mates????

I wish I could help, but I'm not that good. I will tell you however, that I maintain large lawns on two multi-acreage parcels and the current B & S engines are still running great well after I've toasted the bodies per your prior experience. Good Luck!

Brian~

 

[feralmerril]

Sounds like a primer problem. Try pumping the thumb pump if that engine has one, more. Has to be the carb somehow.

 

[Jack Flash]

If you've put a lot of ethanol through it, it may need to have the carb rebuilt. Our riding mower was acting like that so I took it to a repair shop. He bought a rebuilt kit for the carb and installed it. IIRC it didn't cost too much. It has worked fine ever since. I now drain the tank at the end of hte season and only use the best gas I can find.

 

[Wickahoney]

The problem is probably sonething as simple as an elctronic component thatis cracked or broken and the motor dies the second it heats up. The darned part is probably worth $1.

If you knew what it was and could get the part and put it on yourself the repair would be virtually nothing.

The problem I have with ALL new small engnes B&S, Honda, Kohler etc is that I don't have a clue about the electronics and even less idea of how to check each component other than swap them out.

Then come the kicker, the local guy charges $120 just to look at the thing. Then instead of removing said bad part he replaces a circuit board with eoth little electronic gizmos on it and when they are done it cost me $150 to get the darned motor running. Still it's cheaper than a new one.

Sort of like new cars. They run longer, get better milage and are easier all the way arounbd, UNLESS you have to or need to work on one.

There used to be a guy in Bruneau that did everybodies mechanical work in the valley. He finally retired simply because he couldn't keep up on the purchase of each and every individual tester or computer that was unique to each and every make of vehicle.

I think you motor proably has yerars left as long as you didn't use bad fuel and kept the air cleaner clean. The problem is going to be finding the ONE little diode or whatever that causes it to die after starting. :-(

Good Luck

RWT

 

[Bruce51]

The carb still has jets and it sounds to me like your mainjet is clogged. You will have to pull the carburetor and disassemble to clean. Its not hard to do and you can clean the tank at the same time. I've seen pieces of rust get stuck in a jet and act like a valve flipping open and closed. They can be blasted out with cleaner or an air nozzle preferably both. Good luck. Bruce

 

[Racegunner]

Take apart the carburetor. Other than that there is not much more to a small engine that could be wrong yet still allow it to fire up briefly. How's the plug?

Grandpa used an electric mower, but not before having several Stroh's beers (or homemade). That cord had more black tape holding it together than the original insulation. I liked to sit under the peach trees and listen to the whirrr of the electric mower while grandpa pushed that thing around in his Tshirt, shorts with dress socks and shoes. Whirrrrrrrrr- whack ...... then silence, then tape up the cord again.

 

[Spotteddog]

Somebody hasn't been adding Sta-Bil to each and every tank of fuel he's run through it all year, but most importantly @ last run and "shutdown"?
Rebuild/replace carburetor this year. Add Sta-Bil next, and in all following years.
(Serving suggestion- add an in line filter yearly. 90+% of no starts are fuel related)

 

[Amici]

The carb still has jets and it sounds to me like your mainjet is clogged. You will have to pull the carburetor and disassemble to clean. Its not hard to do and you can clean the tank at the same time. I've seen pieces of rust get stuck in a jet and act like a valve flipping open and closed. They can be blasted out with cleaner or an air nozzle preferably both. Good luck. Bruce

Sounds like it.

While you're there, check your float. The valve may be clogged.

There's a reason carb cleaner comes in a pressurized can with a straw.

 

[brown10]

Sounds like Bruce Lee is on the right track. One easy way to discriminate between electrical & fuel is to pour a little down the carb throat and see if it runs until the fuel is gone. If it does, concentrate on the carb's main jet. Briggs small engines pull the fuel from the float bowl through the main jet into the engine by vacumn. Not an expert by any means - just some experience by trial and error. Good luck!

p/s - the smaller engines make great targets.

- jerry

 

[shooboy]

The carb still has jets and it sounds to me like your mainjet is clogged. You will have to pull the carburetor and disassemble to clean. Its not hard to do and you can clean the tank at the same time. I've seen pieces of rust get stuck in a jet and act like a valve flipping open and closed. They can be blasted out with cleaner or an air nozzle preferably both. Good luck. Bruce

Been fixing them since I was 14. That is 99% chance of being your only problem. Clogged main jet is very common. Try starting it on starting fluid and spray a light stream in the carb while engine is running. It should continue to run until you stop spraying. That will definitely prove you have a clogged jet problem or sticky float. Easy fix, Shoo

 

[Bassamatic]

I used to always drain the tank and let the engine run until it ran no more but I was told by a small engine repair guy that is the wrong thing to do. Fill the tank all the way to the top and then add Stabil. Run it for a few minutes and shut her down for the winter.

I've been doing that to all my small engines for a few years now and have yet to have one not start in the spring.

Oh, have your carburetor rebuilt, shouldn't cost more than 40 bucks.

 

[2fingers]

Have you cleaned the small screen on the side of the carb? Rebuild Carb.

 

[41]

Sounds like the carb is gummed up. I had one today that has a weak spark and another..water pump, that has a gummed up carb. Had to run it with the choke partly on. The water pump has over 600 hours and the heads have not been cleaned. Best to leave them alone and use fuel cleaner.

Both have many hours with one being a 1985 Toro. It also needs the valves adjusted. The backup mower is a freebie from a moving warehouse.

I like the B&S because they are easy to work on and parts are reasonable.

You can get free parts list here and the repair manuals are $25 to download them all:

http://briggsandstratton.manuals-website.com/cgi-bin/searchisus.pl?computer_id=7218bse

41

 

[clubleaf206]

Behind the primer bulb there is a very fine mesh brass screen, remove the primer bulb and clean the screen. I had the exact same problem with my aunt's mower recently.

 

[DelavanKs]

Gas filter

Sounds like tome that the gas filter is plugged
Should be one on the end of the gas line in the tank
costs about a buck..........or dirt/rust in the carb.
CHUCK

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Thanks boys.....I'm a goin' in......I'll either fix it or break it to the point of no return

 

[pharmer]

Stop. Ain't a damn thing wrong with the mower. B&S don't run worht crap with ethanol in the gas. I've had to run it with the choke 1/2 to keep it from sputtering/dying since we "switched" to ethanol (actually can't get gas around here without it anymore). Try that first. Joe

 

[Landpimp]

yup, need to clean up the carb..been quilty of that myself.

I have gone to all Honda or all Still.....no more B&S crap or Generec gensets......tossed both my John Deere with B&S motors......just wasnt worth spending the money on anymore

I have over 2000 hours on my 1985 Karcher PW with Honda motor(GX340 I think), still fires up on the 1st pull, same motor is used on my 2009 Honda Genset

just got a Yamaha genset for free, aint been run since the late 90's, tank was full, drained the carb and the other thing, it fired up on the 2nd pull

if you need a new mower, I LOVE this Honda I got, its dead simple and I can run it with one hand
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/...P2LM&modelname=HRR216K5VKA&modelid=HRR2165VKA

 

[n4zov]

You didn't mention having changed the spark plug, but if it is 4+ years old, that is where I would start and then move on to the fuel and carburetor related suggestions.