Briggs and Stratton won't run

[Tom]

My wife complained that her "wheely dealy" won't run.  That's her pet name for her wheel mounted string trimmer from Sears. It has a Briggs 6 horse on  it.

I can't pull the rope because of my shoulders so Mostly I was looking and meditating.  Occassionally someone would walk by and I'd ask them to pull the rope.

I finally figured out what was wrong and decided to put it in writing in case y'all run into the same thing.

As it turns out, she thought she was low on oil and put some of my 50 weight  in it.  The stuff I use in my Cat on the flatbed truck.  It's too heavy and she over filled it too.

There isn't but about a quarter of an inch on the stick to say full or add. IF the machine is sitting on an angle, it would be easy to over fill it.

The oil had run out of the carb somehow and had saturated the paper air filter.  There was no air getting into the engine.   When I took the filter off the engine ran.   Now that I've been through everything else looking for the problem, I'm pretty certain that the machine is in good shape.  She's happy as a lark and is looking forward to mowing down some tall grass tomorrow.

[florida]

I had a push mower years ago with a rope start. Not only did I have to wrap the rope every time but I had to do it over and over until I was out of breath. I finally removed everything until I could see the crank nut, chucked the proper size socket in a 1/2" drill and let'er rip. I never pull started it again.

[Don_Papenburg]

That reminds me of the time I worked at the roofing company in town .  We had a highschool kid come in for deversifide occupations  class.  One day I got back early from a job and the kid is having a fit because he could not get the hyster to run . He said that it would not even turn over. I told him to check the batt terminals listen for thestarter to click and all the other things that you checkk right away. I took my tickets to the office and came back out . He still had not gotten it to start ,but he said that it was spilling oil out the fill tube when he tried to crank it over.  I said that don't sound good the darn thing ran just fine in the morning.  So I checked there was oil right to the top of the full tube.  That old Continental Y112 had a full belly ,no place for the pistons to move .  I asked where the oil came from ? He said thast he had checked it and it was empty ,he could not see any oil so he filled it like he did the lawn mower, right up to the top of the plug.

[sgtmaconga]

bet you never find a dry ring in those motors. tom how did you clean out all of the 50 weight?

[Tom]

I haven't got it cleaned yet. I'm going to flush it with some 10w20 I have in the barn.  I figure a few seconds of running in that will clean it all out.

[rewimmer]

I came home from work one day years ago and my wife showed me blisters on her fingers so I ask her " how did you get the blisters?" She said "I cranked on the _ _ _ _ mower trying to start it for 30 min and it would not start". I had taken the spark plug out a couple days prior to her blisters.

[woodmills1]

one of my neighbors asked me to tell him how to change the oil in his hydrostate riding lawn mower.  I showed him the drain and fill and explained how to and how much, then left to do some errands.  A few hours later he called to say the thing was smoking like mad and wouldnt move.  When I got there he insisted he only did what I told him.  A short inspection revealed that he had drained the hydrostat transmission and then added 2.5 quarts of motor oil.

I didn't learn my lesson on this guy, so when he asked about changing the oil in his Nissan pick up I again explained how and how much, and even loaned him my oil filter wrench.  He calls the next day and screams, you better get over here the truck is smoking from under the hood.

seems while trying to spin off the filter he had contacted the main feed from the battery at the nut on the started with the filter wrench.  This shorted the sytem and melted the terminal right off the battery and fried the started.

Needless to say no more home repairs for my neighbor.

[sawguy21]

I see stuff like this regularly at the shop. Some people should not touch tools.

[Grawulf]

And you're still alive to tell the story rewimmer ??         

[Tom]

The really good thing about Gael is that she learns.  She now knows not to overfill that engine with oil and won't.  As a matter of fact, when it needs oil again, she will probably holler 'Tom-m--m!'

Nah, I'm just kidding.  Shes usually pretty good at stuff once she knows.   Everybody has to learn.  I'm just lucky that she likes to mow so much. 

[Slabs]

I see stuff like this regularly at the shop. Some people should not touch tools.

I've run into a number of people about whom I've said that "it should be illegal that they own even a screwdriver and pliers".

Tom

At least Gael had the initiative to check the oil and do something.  So many people wouldn't.

[Ed_K]

 Take the chain and bar off the saw put a fan belt around the pull cord pulley around sprocket on saw pull up tight and rev up the saw "it'll start now". Tom dump the 50 and fill with diesel run awhile and dump and refill with right oil  . When I was a kid I had a car that was full of sludge filled with diesel and ran it for 800 miles it was real clean inside then  . Got a whole summer outait till cold weather  .

[limbrat]

Ed k   I had heard people ducussing doing that. I had visions of dislodged chunks of gunk rushing to every port and push rod in the engine to get a better place to plug up. Glad to see someone did it it had the smell of a urban legend.

[rebocardo]

> The oil had run out of the carb somehow and had saturated the paper air filter.

I have learned not to inspect mowers with  B&S engines by turning them on their side towards the air filter. For some reason whenever I do they will not start until I put in a new air filter    I can't believe they sell those little filters for $10.00+ and I can't believe I used a sock one time in place of a filter so I wouldn't have to buy one.  

[Tom]

I washed this one with gasoline.   It worked pretty good, looks like.   I'm not so sure that it wasn't in backwards before.  I noticed the writing on the cover that said place paper side of filter this direction.  So, I did.  That put the wire supported side toward the carb.  It makes sense to me.  Wonder why it was turned the other way?

To get the oil out of the crankcase, I turned the whole machine over and poured the oil out of the opposite side than the carb.   Couldn't find a drain plug.

It fired right up and Gael is as happy as if it were Christmas. 

[Corley5]

I came home one afternoon to find Dee happily blowing leaves with the Husky blower.  Problem was I used the last of the mixed gas the evening before.  Luckily the blower had a little mixed gas left in it to cut the straight gas she dumped in from the five gallon can and she only had it running for few minutes before I got there.  It didn't seem any worse for wear and I expalined to her that it needed gas mixed with oil from the little can   I mixed her some gas and she went back on her merry way 

[blueduck]

Kinda reminds a fella of the new Corb Lund song "hard on equipment"  http://www.myspace.com/officialcorblund

e al probably have done something if we think hard enough that is not the correct way of doing things, and ive turned a mower over and found the oil in the air filter a time or three [takes me a while to figger things out from one year to the next on some things]

William

[Corley5]

Twice I told kids working for me haying to gas up an old Farmall and I turned just as they were putting the spout into the radiator    I learned to show them gas cap   

[woodmills1]

years back I had a chevy pickup with a 6 cylinder in it.  When I bought it the lifters made so much noise it sounded like it was gonna blow up.  Warmed it up real good and drained the oil and filled it with transmission fluid and ran it for about a half an hour, then drained it and replace the filter and filled with fresh oil.  Fixed the noise quite proper.

[Tom]

I'm embarrassed to say so, but I filled a hydraulic tank on a Case 450 dozer with diesel oil one morning.  Whoops, wrong side.

Woodmills, did it ever run again?

[theorm]

When I was a pup, I overheard Dad saying that he had to fill up the pickup. So I filled it up for him, with the garden hose....

40 years later there was a Dennis the Menace cartoon doing the same thing. Mom cut it out and sent it to me. With 9 of us 'helpers' around, it is surprising that Dad could keep anything running.

Theo

 

[Tom]

back then you could get a hose into the tank to siphon it out.  Now they have the neck so clogged that it takes a mechanic and a day in the shop.

[Polly]

     next time you get someone to pull rope to start the briggs hold on to plug wire with bade arm good medicine 

[Tom]

You got that right!   It'll straighten your hair and most anything else you got.

[sawguy21]

I remember my dad's buddy getting a big kick out of that when I was 9 or 10 He took us water skiing so I couldn't stay mad.

[limbrat]

I helped dad in the garage once he would hold a lit gas rag on a stick up to the carpenter bee holes in the garage rafters. Kitchen matches were in the kitchen right by the garage, I couldnt reach the rafters but i did get the rolled up matress we used for camping. It was the first whippen worth remembering

[Polly]

        all jokes aside dr swank in cincy ohio jewish hospital can fix shoulders i got one compleat new knee and new hip going back jan for another hip  give him a call he needs the money