Briggs& Stratton engine will not turn over

[JimP2014]

So the temperature of the exhaust pipe is about 800° f and the plastic fins are broken and I did not put the the shroud around the engine but I'm not exactly making it work hard. It's just sitting there running. It is starting to exhibit the hunting and surging issue from say 2 weeks ago and prior to all that the reason I even started messing with in the first place is because I thought it was smoking A lot and the color of the smoke was white. That was maybe 4 or 5 weeks ago. I'm trying to figure out if there are just a few things that need to be done or there's something seriously wrong with the engine?

I don't mind spending the time if it's salvageable.


Jim

 

[ILENGINE]

ILengine thanks for your help on this so far it's the success if I have a damaged flywheel fan and I certainly don't want to screw off anything that I spent about 16 days trying to fix, but I'm wondering if it can cut? Say maybe 800 square feet without blowing up. Definitely got to order flywheel fan. They're about 30 bucks on Amazon. Anybody have any ideas? Can slightly damaged flywheel fan, plastic type. Provide enough cooling to cut 800 square feet of grass. That's all I want to do?


Providing of course when I put the PTO clutch on it keeps running.


Thanks,
Jim

Depending on how damaged the fan is. If workable I would at least put the blower cover on to direct some of that air over the head for cooling.

Lower left corner of the valve cover has some oil dripping. The valve cover is not a perfect seal but could there be something else going on?View attachment 69097

Most likely just the gasket leaking. Or if it has sealant. everything has to be dry and free of oil/grease/contaminated for the sealant to cure properly without leaking.

 

[JimP2014]

So I just was reading many articles on running hot and obviously was not a single person telling you you have a million different things. But I'm wondering first of all it could be running too lean and then the air filter. There is none right now so maybe the breather tube? And I wonder about the valves. Maybe the exhaust valve has an issue. I can say these are things I don't normally have a problem with so I'm sort of lost on the whole thing.


Jim

 

[JimP2014]

So I just was reading many articles on running hot and obviously was not a single person telling you you have a million different things. But I'm wondering first of all it could be running too lean and then the air filter. There is none right now so maybe the breather tube? And I wonder about the valves. Maybe the exhaust valve has an issue. I can say these are things I don't normally have a problem with so I'm sort of lost on the whole thing.


Jim

What I'm trying to say is it's better to have one person telling you or a couple then reading a million different articles. That's what I'm trying to say because it turns out to be a million different things

 

[ILENGINE]

Definitely need the air cleaner and the breather hose needs to be present and connect to prevent dirt intrusion into the engine. Takes very little dust to totally wipe out the rings and cylinder wall. I wouldn't worry about the valve until you have an issue.

 

[JimP2014]

Definitely need the air cleaner and the breather hose needs to be present and connect to prevent dirt intrusion into the engine. Takes very little dust to totally wipe out the rings and cylinder wall. I wouldn't worry about the valve until you have an issue.

Okay got it on those issues I did read if you run it too. Lean it gets too hot so I'm going to fix that a little at a time. When I had the flywheel off I was going to inspect that breather assembly but that didn't happen. Hoping whatever hunting and surging is going on is 100% carburetor that I can deal with. I'd rather hold off on buying a flywheel fan just in case I destroy the engine first. I hate when you have leftover parts you can't use.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[JimP2014]

Okay got it on those issues I did read if you run it too. Lean it gets too hot so I'm going to fix that a little at a time. When I had the flywheel off I was going to inspect that breather assembly but that didn't happen. Hoping whatever hunting and surging is going on is 100% carburetor that I can deal with. I'd rather hold off on buying a flywheel fan just in case I destroy the engine first. I hate when you have leftover parts you can't use.

Thanks,
Jim

I try to adjust the carburetor while it's running with that that engine housing on and I couldn't do it but with the engine housing off it's doing the hunting and surging thing again and it sounds like it might even be banging. It just doesn't sound right. And the throttle. So the throttle mechanism is bouncing back and forth as it's hunting and surging. I'm thinking maybe I need to get this right which is only like a couple minutes and then when that looks good try and put the engine shroud back on?

Jim

 

[JimP2014]

I try to adjust the carburetor while it's running with that that engine housing on and I couldn't do it but with the engine housing off it's doing the hunting and surging thing again and it sounds like it might even be banging. It just doesn't sound right. And the throttle. So the throttle mechanism is bouncing back and forth as it's hunting and surging. I'm thinking maybe I need to get this right which is only like a couple minutes and then when that looks good try and put the engine shroud back on?

Jim

So I use some of that high temperature red sealant and I locked down the valve cover but yet there's oil dripping directly below the valve cover and I can't figure out where it's coming from. Meaning maybe the cylinder head? Maybe the block itself?


J8m

 

[JimP2014]

So I use some of that high temperature red sealant and I locked down the valve cover but yet there's oil dripping directly below the valve cover and I can't figure out where it's coming from. Meaning maybe the cylinder head? Maybe the block itself?


J8m

Okay, from what I can tell it really is leaking from the valve cover which is sort of a relief that it's not something else

 

[ILENGINE]

Okay, from what I can tell it really is leaking from the valve cover which is sort of a relief that it's not something else

With the RTV sealants you have to make sure there is nothing contaminating either surface. but also have to keep the oil residue that is in the head from running back out onto the surface while it cures. Some of those sealants take 24 hours before they are ready for use. The last one i did I elevated the front of the mower before removing the leaking covers, and kept it that way until the next day to prevent the oil in the head from causing issues.


There are a few 1-5 minute ready to use sealants on the market but still require the same prep. The Permatex red high temp is a 24 hour cure sealant.