Recent content by grumpyunk

So far everyone says sayanora to this B&S. OTOH, it does not have the head gasket failure so common to the brand. The valves themself seem to have a lot of meat left on the seating area, and could be ground or lapped to improve compression. Need a picture of the valve seats built into the...

SAE 40 has been hard to find for decades. It was specified for use in Midget/Sprite transmissions back in the 1960's, and was almost not anywhere on the shefl. No WEB to search either. I kind of remember getting it as Sears Robuck in their automotive section. That for sure will not work too...

GR:"The 17 hp has over revved and basically blew up! it will start and overrev and blow oil out the breather tube all over." If it will start and run, then the internals have not blown up yet. For both the Briggs and the push mower, check that the governor linkage is still connected and moves...

The governor pulls the normally Wide Open Throttle - WOT- closed to attain idle speed. The throttle will sit at WOT if the governor is not pulling it closed. The run quality might be affected by the fact the engine is being started from cold, and would normally have need for a slight choke for a...

If it revs too high, then the governor did not pull the throttle plate closed as the rpms increased. You can get a full service manual in PDF at Kohler's web site. It covers a lot of the CV series and more. I would look closely at the throttle linkage. The throttle plate normally is pulled...

QUOTE: "The never ending debate with 87 corn gas will never cease." Fuel that has ethanol added does have a more limited shelf life, or actually 'tank life' than plain gasoline. If left in the carburetor, exposed to atmosphere, it will tend to absorb water from the humidity in the air. It...

If you want to know if your fuel is adulterated with ethanol, pour some into a glass jar. Add a glug of water, say 1/8c into a peanut butter jar half full. If there is ETOH in the 'premium' fuel, it will be drawn from the mixture and combine with the water. It should then fall to the bottom...

Given the quality control level present in most factories, it is difficult to predict battery life. I have had the term vary from 2 years to 7 years. Allowing the battery charge to go low when stored will decrease battery life. If nothing else, put a charger on at least once a month during...

You could try several things to help sealing. A cotton swab(Q-tip) dipped in valve grinding compound and twirled around while held against the seat may polish the rough edge enough to allow a good seal. You could attempt to remove the seat and flip it end for end and re-install it. The other...

The 2A setting is for motorcycle batteries and those of similar capacity. If you charge a small battery at a higher rate it will make the battery temperature rise. Many new batteries that are shipped w/o electrolyte will have instructions to charge around 2A. My OLD Sears charger has 8A/2A...

Search for 'tachometer digital' on aliexpress and you will find a good selection. There is one model that wraps around the plug wire for its input. It will register rpms, and also has a resettable hour meter, such as for oil change intervals. One version has a non-replaceable battery, and the...

To get the engine to 'hydrolock' from being tipped on its side/end would take some time UNLESS your rings were pretty well worn out. Hydrolock is the situation where there is liquid in the combustion chamber that prevents the piston from fully traveling to TDC(top dead center) and which may...

The late 1980's Snapper has/had a module that required the shift/gear lever be in neutral in order to enable the ignition. There is no seat occupancy switch, and, it's been over 20 years, it may have had a blade release cutout switch also. It was not powered by the battery. In Neutral and with...

FWIW, Amazon has had a bunch of counterfeit parts on sale recently. Motorcraft spark plugs and filters are a couple I have read about. ebay may also have the same thing. I think I would be careful and inspect closely any auto parts etc from both sites. I have ordered Stens and other parts...

When mowers were $99 each at K-mart, repairs were not even considered. Changing the oil or the air filter? Maybe. The preceptrion is likely still that OPE is cheap, and repairs are expensive. I do not think perception has caught up with reality. Ten years ago the lowest price push mower with...