Briggs and Stratton snow thrower spitting flames

[ryan2148]

Hello guys I have a Gilson snowblower with a 190000 series briggs and Stratton engine and I was snowblowing at night and noticed a lack of power and bright red glowing exhaust pipe and flames spitting out. I bought it last week and cleaned the carb out and it ran ok. Once I saw the exhaust I read a bit and they said there was a leaking exhaust valve so I pulled the head off and cleaned all of the carbon off and lapped both valves and set the valve clearances (.012" exhaust and .009" intake) . Put it all back together and the exhaust pipe was still glowing and still spitting flames. Now I am suspecting the valve timing as the engine was rebuilt by the previous owner.(its over 40 years old) I have attached a picture Any help would be greatly appreciated. :smile:

 

[EngineMan]

Lean is the only thing that will make exhaust run hot, or under fueling, timing that too far out of adjustment so check it out.

 

[ryan2148]

Hi I have tried richening it and leaning it and it makes no difference the engine just spins slower when it is rich. Also it only throws snow about 3 ft even when the exaust is glowing so I don’t think the engine is spinning fast enough. (The belts are new and properly tensioned)

 

[Rivets]

You don’t have your valve clearances set properly. For a 190000 series engine, your unit intake should be between .005-.007 and exhaust should be between .009-.011. Start by setting them to specs and then adjust your carb.

 

[ryan2148]

The reason I set the valve clearances a bit high is because I thought the exhaust valve was opening too soon and this was recommended by a different site. Having bigger valve clearences would cause the opposite problem

 

[EngineMan]

Make sure that the carb has been well cleaned and set up right, also check that the gasket(s) between carb and engine are not letting air in somewhere making a lean mix.

 

[ryan2148]

I have already done this and the seals are good and the carb is cleaned (as posted above) it spins really slow and sounds Rich when I richen it out

 

[Rivets]

Seems that the other site is where you feel you are getting the best info, in your opinion. I’ve not heard that opening valve clearances will give you a richer mixture, but maybe I’m wrong. Will get out of the way and let someone with more knowledge than me see if they can help you.