Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?

bcemail

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
Ok, I don't know much about engines but trying to figure this out. I have a cyclone rake with a B&S XR 208cc engine. When I first took it out this year it was hard to start. After pulling the rope a bunch it started up (with what sounded like a backfire or something) and gave off some white/blue smoke. Ran all day including starting and stopping several times. Next week, was a little hard to start but not bad and ran all day again.

Today, I could not get the thing started. I've read what I could and removed the spark plug. There was not a lot of moisture like some people described, but the end was kind of black (see below). I looked in the socket and the part in there looked to have a bit of oil on it, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking at/for. With the plug out I pulled the cord a few times and just felt air rushing out, so moisture spraying or anything.

I tried to test for spark with the plug grounded to the chassis and didn't see anything. Tried to test with the multimeter and couldn't get a resistance reading. Do I just need a new spark plug? Is there a reason it would go bad? We just got this last year so don't know if I did something wrong. I've never changed the plug on my JD mower.

I've watched videos about fixing the carb but didn't think I knew enough to start pulling that apart.

Thanks, and please let me know if there's some other info that would help!
 

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ILENGINE

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
May not be a spark plug problem, but you still won't go wrong by changing it anyway. I have found over the years to never trust a spark plug. Plugs can do weird things.
 

bcemail

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
May not be a spark plug problem, but you still won't go wrong by changing it anyway. I have found over the years to never trust a spark plug. Plugs can do weird things.
Thanks I'll start with that! Anything else to check? I was worried from the blueish smoke that I had oil somewhere in the engine (again I'm not really sure where it why since I'm learning as I go)
 

ILENGINE

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
may not hurt to check the oil level to make sure it isn't overfilled and possibly been gas contaminated from a leaking carb. If the engine was flooded to no spark, the extra gas can mix with the oil on the cylinder walls and piston to cause some smoke when the engine fires.
 

bcemail

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
may not hurt to check the oil level to make sure it isn't overfilled and possibly been gas contaminated from a leaking carb. If the engine was flooded to no spark, the extra gas can mix with the oil on the cylinder walls and piston to cause some smoke when the engine fires.
Thanks. Just picked up a new plug. I don't think I'm getting any spark still. Don't have a tester but tried to see the blue flash and didn't see anything. So would that mean a problem with the coil? Is that something I can fix or just needs replacing?
 

ILENGINE

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
Need to disconnect the kill wire from the coil before you consider replacing it. If still no spark then replace the coil.. There is no way to properly test the coil other than disconnecting the ground kill wire and see if you have spark or not.
 

bcemail

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
Need to disconnect the kill wire from the coil before you consider replacing it. If still no spark then replace the coil.. There is no way to properly test the coil other than disconnecting the ground kill wire and see if you have spark or not.
Was checking for spark with the plug out and held against the chassis correct? I have a tiller I tried it with and saw sparks. The leaf vac had no spark. I'll probably take it in for service since it seems like removing the coil would be a big job. Thanks
 

bcemail

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  • / Briggs Cyclone Rake won't start, I think I need a new spark plug?
Just in case anyone else finds themselves with this problem, service diagnosed it as a loose kill switch wire which was grounding itself against part of the engine and not allowing a spark. They also needed to clean out the carb, which I'm not surprised about since I haven't done that before and it was tough to start up this season. Kill switch is covered by warranty, carb cleanout is out of pocket...
 
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