Briggs& Stratton engine will not turn over

[JimP2014]

This is from July 18th, 8:30 a.m. so it starts right up and it still goes into the hunting and surging. Maybe there is a vacuum leak. I've ordered two new head gaskets. The good thing is I don't see any oil around the chassis area. I was concerned about oil coming out of the engine. The hunting and searching might be reduced with a new head gasket or even sanding down the cylinder head. I've considered a shop to machine the whole cylinder head and the only part that I still am concerned with is the temperature is about 750° f. The engine is just sitting there. There is nothing going on. Matter of fact it's trying to idle but that temperature I think is pretty high for the machine. Pretty much doing nothing. I wish they could run about 400°. F but this video represents the best. It's been in maybe 7 weeks and again I am not a small engine mechanic. I'm just doing the best I can to figure out how to get it back to where it was with a lot of good information from various individuals.

Jim
Next step is to put a industrial fan blowing on the engine because I don't have the cooling installed and see how much that drops the temperature.

 

[JimP2014]

The good news in this video is with an additional fan. The temperature is under 400° f. That's fantastic! The other good news is the problem. It was exhibiting this morning is the same exact problem right now. It's not some random unknown problem. So that's good news but is still hunting and surging. I think tomorrow I'm going to work on the quarter inch fuel line. Disconnect it from the tank. Fit a new piece in there. Maybe 6 in and it will meet up with on off fuel valve.
Jim

 

[JimP2014]

I've gone down to some very basic troubleshooting. I connected a gas tank to a short hose that goes to the carburetor. I elevated the tank just to make sure about gravity. In any case, it's still hunts and surges would someone who actually works with engines sign off on this and say there's nothing wrong with the fuel going into the carburetor? Or could there be some sort of weird problem still with the tank and the flange on the tank? It just seems weird with this configuration. It's still hunting and surging when before. The configuration was a lot more complicated with a fuel filter, a shut-off valve, more hose and all that


Thanks,
Jim

 

[Forest#2]

Surging and hunting:

Try manually (with your hand, not the throttle control) holding the carb throttle at idle and see if the engine slow idles smooth, slight roughness, very rough, or will not idle at all on it's own?????

Report?

 

[JimP2014]

Surging and hunting:

Try manually (with your hand, not the throttle control) holding the carb throttle at idle and see if the engine slow idles smooth, slight roughness, very rough, or will not idle at all on it's own?????

Report?

Okay for that test. I was able to smooth it out a bit, but I want to repeat that test several times primarily to get more gas, get a better fuel line and make sure I have the fuel filter pointing in the right direction. But like I said, it seems as if when I control the throttle linkage with my fingers I can smooth it out.

Jim

 

[JimP2014]

Okay for that test. I was able to smooth it out a bit, but I want to repeat that test several times primarily to get more gas, get a better fuel line and make sure I have the fuel filter pointing in the right direction. But like I said, it seems as if when I control the throttle linkage with my fingers I can smooth it out.

Jim

So I just watched the video on the actual filter and this guy claims he spoke to numerous Briggs and Stratton engineers. He said it doesn't matter except if you've been collecting dirt on one side in the filter and you reverse it because you're doing another install. All that dirt could end up on the wrong side and go into the carburetor I never heard it explain that way and mine happens to be the clear one.

 

[davis2]

So I just watched the video on the actual filter and this guy claims he spoke to numerous Briggs and Stratton engineers. He said it doesn't matter except if you've been collecting dirt on one side in the filter and you reverse it because you're doing another install. All that dirt could end up on the wrong side and go into the carburetor I never heard it explain that way and mine happens to be the clear one.

You could have an air leak, or an adjustment issue. Check all the fasteners on the carb and intake.

 

[JimP2014]

You could have an air leak, or an adjustment issue. Check all the fasteners on the carb and intake.

So right now I'm able to tame the hunting and surging by doing nothing more than adjusting by holding on to the black lever on the carburetor which controls the choke. But basically when you block off air, there's no more hunting and surging pretty much.

 

[JimP2014]

So right now I'm able to tame the hunting and surging by doing nothing more than adjusting by holding on to the black lever on the carburetor which controls the choke. But basically when you block off air, there's no more hunting and surging pretty much.

The only thing I will add is sometimes when I run it for a few minutes the temperature is under say 600° f and sometimes I run it and the temperature is up near 800° f and I can't figure out why that's going on? I use an external commercial fan for cooling because I have that engine housing off and with that setup sometimes the exhaust pipe does not get any hotter than 500°. F. So it's not the engine housing but it is providing cooling but not all the time

 

[JimP2014]

The only thing I will add is sometimes when I run it for a few minutes the temperature is under say 600° f and sometimes I run it and the temperature is up near 800° f and I can't figure out why that's going on? I use an external commercial fan for cooling because I have that engine housing off and with that setup sometimes the exhaust pipe does not get any hotter than 500°. F. So it's not the engine housing but it is providing cooling but not all the time

Just did another test with a commercial fan blowing air away from the cylinder head and a thermal gun registered. OH that stands for overheating of the thermal gun so the temperature was up around 900° f. I have trouble believing this is all related to a carburetor, but I'm not ruining out that possibility?