B&S 19hp 330000 series Cam Follower Failure

[tgzzzz]

I have new B&S 19hp 330000 series. When asked why it was junk on Facebook, one guy said the issue was the cam follower. I haven't gone the YouTube route yet as I wanted to hear the forum's experience. My questions are along the lines of being proactive. How long do I have?

 

[bertsmobile1]

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[ILENGINE]

Briggs engines don't use cam followers. they are a flat tappet to a push rod which actuates a rocker to open and close the valves. Most common issue is broken compression release on the camshaft. or if engine overheats will cause the valve guides to move into the springs causing bent pushrods. I have never seen a tappet failure on a briggs engine. A couple of flat spotted lifters on Kohler commands but that is it.

On occasion there will be a soft camshaft lobe the will wear round and not open the valve but I have seen that like 3 times in 25 years.

 

[tgzzzz]

Thank you sir. The Briggs fares poorly on the FaceBook BadBoy page. I was disappointed that the cam is plastic but they can't sell millions a year if they're junk.

 

[StarTech]

Again ?????????????????????

The Briggs 21, 28, 31, and 33(0000) series camshaft is nearly all metal except for one tiny plastic bushing.

Yes the camshaft ACR are prone to failure just like the head gaskets are prone to early failures. Considering the total number of these out there these failures are way over blown but are a known issue.

 

[ILENGINE]

Again ?????????????????????

The Briggs 21, 28, 31, and 33(0000) series camshaft is nearly all metal except for one tiny plastic bushing.

Yes the camshaft ACR are prone to failure just like the head gaskets are prone to early failures. Considering the total number of these out there these failures are way over blown but are a known issue.

The briggs ACR failure rate is a lot lower than people realize. I would bet in the range of 1 in 100,000 and same with the head gasket failures. Look at the stink people raised over the plastic cam gear in a couple of the Kawasaki engines a few years back were people were calling those engines junk, but you never heard anybody mention that the failure occurred around 800-1200 hours. How many people even keep their mowers and put that many hours on them before replacing the mower.

 

[tgzzzz]

Cool. One guy claimed he had a "stack" of blown engines. I am familiar with that variety of brand loyalty.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I trained in Metallurgy then added a Materials Science masters to that followed by a pile of diplomas mostly in various types of diagnostics
So take it from me that 99.999999999% of the clots who post on Face Book , Whats App, You Tube etc are blurting from their backsides when it comes from this stuff.
I have tested plastics that are stronger than mild steel & have superiour wear charasterics to grey cast iron and a diaphragm plastic that was 10 time the price of gold .
In the eyes of Joe Pig Ignorant Public plastic = cheap where as in reality that particular type of plastic is the perfect material for the job.
The drive gears of the Courage cam shafts come to mind , they knock down the engine noise quite a bit and require next to no lubrication.
Then when it comes to design they have less than zero understanding and again I refer to the Courage engine , all but perfect for a ride on mower once they sorted out the counter balance mechanism.
Still the only mower to have a clean hang down oil filter and the ability to strip it down still mounted to the mower which take 2 to 4 hours off the major repair time .
IT should have been the bench mark for all new generations of mower engines but because it was so radically different it got rejected by all of the arm chair experts thus failed in the market place .

 

[tgzzzz]

Thanks Bert and others. Like all old pharts here, I grew up with Briggs.

 

[bertsmobile1]

B & S had 1 and only 1 thing going for them
Parts were very ( unrealistically ) cheap and old parts were readily available
Now neither is true so there is zero reason for using one .