B&S burning a lot of oil - most probable cause?

[Tobi09]

I think this is a good idea. To your experience, running an engine with a lot of gas mixed in the oil for a few hours does not necessarily lead to completely worn out piston rings (due to loss of lubrication the gas causes) ?

The following is an example of interpreting date Code 99011556:

The first two digits (99) denote the year of manufacture. In this case it is 1999.

Ok, let's apply that to my code numbers in question:

Code No. of the engine: 9604014A
So my engine was built in 1996

Used Before Code Date of the rings is 01041900
Which means 2001. Since my engine was built before 2001, I need the old rings with part no. 495854. Since this is the same (according to some stores) as 499996, I can also use these? But why are they sold separately then by B&S and why is there such a price difference?

https://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-499996-Standard-Piston/dp/B000K1YFI2
https://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-495854-Standard-Piston/dp/B0038U3MJ0

Not planning to order rings right away, just in case I will need them.

 

[Rivets]

Those ring sets should not be interchanged. The old set (495854) is for an L-head engine and the new set (499996) is for an OHV engine.

 

[Tinkerer200]

Some early OHV 28 series engines took the same rings as "L" head 28 series engines. His code number will tell the story.

Walt Conner

 

[Tobi09]

Just to let you know: the head gasket was blown. Replacing it solved the problem completely, so the piston rings seem intact. Thanks to all participants of this thread.

 

[turbofiat124]

I accidentally added too much oil my 21HP B&S Intek engine last fall. I did a quick check on the internet and added 60 ounces instead of 48 ounces based on this chart:

http://www4.briggsandstratton.com/miscPDFs/oil_capacity_chart.pdf

It didn't take long before I blew a head gasket:

http://s222.photobucket.com/user/turbofiat/library/craftsman mower?sort=2&page=1

The mower was OK as long as I was mowing on flat ground but started mowing sideways on a hill, all of a sudden the engine started smoking really bad and started making that "death rattle". I managed to restart the engine but it was never right after that.

It didn't seem to really smoke until I started going up a slight incline.

I wanted to put off fixing the engine after the end of the leaf mulching season but because the spark plug fouled and the oil was turning black as coal, I figured it might be buying a new engine before it was all over so I decided to go ahead and replace the head gasket.

The bad thing is before this happened, the mower didn't use any oil but now it smokes on startup for about 5 seconds if it's been sitting for a couple of weeks and I had to add about 1/2 quart the other day (maybe after 15 hours after replacing the head gasket). Which is really not that bad but the engine only has about 200 hours on it. I guess as long as it's not fouling the spark plug, I'm not going to worry about it.