Ariens Briggs & Stratton won't start.

[slomo]

Let's start over. We are now 7 pages into this hopefully minor deal.

Engine is from 2012 - no oil changes and uses E-10 - facts

Air, fuel, spark and compression

What I would do.

1.CLEAN that filthy engine, remove metal engine shroud. Make it like you just bought it. Degreasers, power washers, scrubcadet10 brushes and more soap. Remove all the grit as you will be opening the engine.
2.Perform valve adjustment - never heard if this was ever done. Follow Bert's advice.
3.Remove small black kill wire off coil/s. Engine should run till tank is dry, assuming she is a runner with no engine damage. Check for spark now if engine doesn't run. Should spark every time.
4.Your carb has a solenoid on the bottom. I would snip the plunger off, reinstall and use a fuel shutoff valve 30 seconds prior to killing engine.
5.Clean AND rebuild carburetor with OEM Briggs parts. Clean again if it doesn't run proper. Talking inside the carb.
6.Remove and clean fuel tank. Blow out both ways with compressed air. Get all the grass and grit out.
7.Install new fuel lines, filter and shutoff valve inline to carb.
8.Verify your engine has good fuel flow AT carb. Drain into a glass jar. Your engine has a fuel pump.
9.Crack gas cap and check for fuel flow at carb if none previously. Sounds like you do as fuel gets into the cylinder/s.

After she is running

1.Change that feminine oil. Put SAE30 oil in ONLY. As you found 5w-30 full syn consumes oil on every mow.
2.Adjust valves yearly if you want a good running engine.
3.Clean the bock and cooling fins YEARLY. This is in your engine manual. Neglect this and you are looking at engine damage.

 

[slomo]

You need to do several oil changes because you've never changed the oil since 2012. Eventually is will be clean again I hope. Assuming you didn't burn up something internally. You live in hot Texas......

 

[D_H]

Let's start over. We are now 7 pages into this hopefully minor deal.

Engine is from 2012 - no oil changes and uses E-10 - facts

Air, fuel, spark and compression

What I would do.

1.CLEAN that filthy engine, remove metal engine shroud. Make it like you just bought it. Degreasers, power washers, scrubcadet10 brushes and more soap. Remove all the grit as you will be opening the engine.
2.Perform valve adjustment - never heard if this was ever done. Follow Bert's advice.

I was trying to hold off on opening up the engine until it seemed to be a last resort. Just FYI.

3.Remove small black kill wire off coil/s. Engine should run till tank is dry, assuming she is a runner with no engine damage. Check for spark now if engine doesn't run. Should spark every time.

Can you dive into this for me. Are you talking about me doing this after the mower is actually running? I'm a little fuzzy on this, so explain it a little more for me please.

8.Verify your engine has good fuel flow AT carb. Drain into a glass jar. Your engine has a fuel pump.

What do you mean by good flow at the carb and drain into a glass jar? Are you talking about taking the fuel lines off at the carb and drain the fuel through the filter and into a container? Explain that.

Right now I can take the fuel line off at the carb and fuel will drain out of the end of the fuel line, small stream coming out of fuel line.

After she is running

1.Change that feminine oil. Put SAE30 oil in ONLY. As you found 5w-30 full syn consumes oil on every mow.
2.Adjust valves yearly if you want a good running engine.
3.Clean the bock and cooling fins YEARLY. This is in your engine manual. Neglect this and you are looking at engine damage.

The fins are clean, no debris, not even a blade of grass. At most they only ever get a few blades of grass in there which I can easily blow out. The bottom of the mower gets grass clipping buildup every couple of months which I regularly clean out. The mower is dirty now because I ran through a wet ditch a few times along with some dry areas where no grass grows. So wet grass clippings, dry dirt after that is why the mower looks so horrible.

What do you mean by a valve adjustment? I'm not a mechanic so I don't know how to do a valve adjustment. I could research it if no one wants to tell me.

Try pinching off the fuel line while cranking. Wondering if the cylinders are flooding as in carb needle sticking open?? Remove the plugs to clear and dry out the cylinders while cranking.

I forgot to say that when I turn the ignition key to test that fuel solenoid, I can hear a very positive click from the bottom of the carburetor, each time I turn the key. Turn key on, click, turn off key, click, over and over, etc.
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I'll go clean the mower, go get some gasket sealer, take off the valve cover and look for movement on the valves. One guy said they should both move in unison and seat nicely during operation. If they are not working properly, then I should further take apart and check for bent or broken rods and repair. Correct, am I missing anything here?

If both valves appear to me to be operating correctly. Then I'll get a carburetor rebuild kit from Briggs and Stratton, if I can find that, and then take the carb apart to clean and replace gaskets then reassemble.

I'll keep you posted.

Anyone update with any other pertinent information.

 

[beg]

Usually when a flywheel key shears from hitting a rock or whatever the engine stops immediately and you know what you hit, but I once had one that had apparently sheared previously but the flywheel didn't move enough at the time to notice. It later shifted from nothing but heavy grass that couldn't have sheared the key. But usually when an engine stops abruptly, it's lack of spark or fuel or (N/A for this case) a thrown rod or broken timing belt.

I use a timing light for spark detection, it's pretty reliable and lots more fun than just grabbing the plug contact.

what I have come across when this happens is the auto float shutoff on the bottom of the carb replace 2 of them on my neighbors craftsman B&S IC 16.5 hp

 

[D_H]

I'll go clean the mower, go get some gasket sealer, take off the valve cover and look for movement on the valves. One guy said they should both move in unison and seat nicely during operation. If they are not working properly, then I should further take apart and check for bent or broken rods and repair. Correct, am I missing anything here?

I have cleaned the engine compartment. Soap and water, brushes, degreaser, soap water, brushes, rinse, compressor blow dry.

​

Picture attached: Take a look at the fuel filter. I noticed the fuel level increased. Normally it is not that high inside the fuel filter. Normally the fuel level is around 1/2 or 1/4 full in the fuel filter. Thoughts on that?​

​

If both valves appear to me to be operating correctly. Then I'll get a carburetor rebuild kit from Briggs and Stratton, if I can find that, and then take the carb apart to clean and replace gaskets then reassemble.

I took the valve cover off the engine. Visual inspection; looks like nothing is broken. Everything looks like it has a light coat of oil.

Question: Valve adjustment is mentioned. I've never done a valve adjustment. What is that like? Should I just YouTube that and hope I get someone who knows what they are doing?

• I turned the flywheel with the valve cover off.
• First the bottom valve articulated in and then out.
• Next the top valve articulated in and then out.
• Now both valves are extended out, I guess in the closed position; and the flywheel becomes hard to turn. Continuing to turn the flywheel, I hear an air release type sound, like a vent exhausting suddenly, then the flywheel becomes easy to turn and the bottom valve begins to operate.
• The process repeats.

Yesterday evening I took the fuel line off of the carburetor and sprayed a little carb cleaner into the inlet. Most of the cleaner came right back out of the inlet it seemed. I repeated this a few times. I connected the fuel line back up.

Start up from that = no change.​

Any further thoughts on the ignition coil being bad based on what I've said?

 

[slomo]

Ignition - there's a small black wire under the coil. Should have a connector on it. REMOVE IT. Crank the engine and see if it fires. If the coil and coil gap are good, should fire and run till the tank is dry.

Engine looks cleaner. Thumbs up on that. Hope you didn't get water in that swooping elbow that goes to the carb.

Fuel tank looks internally clean from what I could tell. You said you removed the hose AT the carb and have good gas flow.

Work on the spark confirmation in the first paragraph above in this reply to you. Let's verify you have spark or not.

 

[slomo]

Picture attached: Take a look at the fuel filter. I noticed the fuel level increased. Normally it is not that high inside the fuel filter. Normally the fuel level is around 1/2 or 1/4 full in the fuel filter. Thoughts on that?

normal

 

[D_H]

Ignition - there's a small black wire under the coil. Should have a connector on it. REMOVE IT. Crank the engine and see if it fires. If the coil and coil gap are good, should fire and run till the tank is dry.

Work on the spark confirmation in the first paragraph above in this reply to you. Let's verify you have spark or not.

I remember you writing this earlier, I was unsure of when in the, getting the mower back to working condition, you were recommending me to do this.

What are we trying to determine by unplugging the wire? What does the black wire do?
Why should I run (if it starts) the mower until the tank is dry? The tank is almost full. Can you dive into these a little bit.

I'm unsure if you are telling me that I need to run a full tank of gas through the motor until the tank is dry and the engine shuts off or if you are just saying that the engine should run like a stripped ape or run like a champ or a sewing machine. If it does run by unplugging that wire, what does that mean? Coil is bad?​

No, water didn't get into the air inlet to the carb. I was very careful with the water and I only removed the filter for illustration. I did a ChrisFix style Super Clean but with less brushes, and microfiber towels.

 

[slomo]

That small black wire under the coil is the ignition kill wire. It grounds out the coil and stops the spark plug from firing killing the engine.

If you remove the kill wire, the engine should run, IF the carb is working proper that is.

Removing the kill wire tells you the coil is working or not. You should have spark every time your pull the rope AT the spark plug.

 

[D_H]

That small black wire under the coil is the ignition kill wire. It grounds out the coil and stops the spark plug from firing killing the engine.

If you remove the kill wire, the engine should run, IF the carb is working proper that is.

Removing the kill wire tells you the coil is working or not. You should have spark every time your pull the rope AT the spark plug.

I have a riding mower.

Mower info:
Ariens: A20H46
Product: 93605300
Model: 96046002300
Engine: Briggs and Stratton Intek with XRD 540cc -> 331777-1372-B1

Things I've done since it died.

• Put a new spark plug in it. [(Calls for Champion# RC12YC - obsolete) compatible NGK - BKR5E. 7938 is what I used.] I also found and bought Briggs & Stratton 5092 PN: 496018S.
• Checked for spark. Getting spark to the plug.

I have pulled the (new) spark plug out and rested it on a frame screw while the plug is plugged into the spark plug boot. The spark plug sparked every time. I gapped a different (new) plug to 1/4" and did the same test. That plug sparked a few times only, most of the time nothing.