Briggs & Stratton ride mower not firing

[christopherwheelous@gmail]

I'm no expert on small engine repair but I'm fairly a quick learner. My Craftmans LT1000 riding lawn mower died the other day while using it. I tried to start it up and engine just spins and never fires up. I checked fuel first and the engine is getting fuel so moved to spark. I do get a spark from the plug so I found that my flywheel key was sheared so I replaced it and the problem remains. I did shoot some starter fluid into the air intake and I did nothing. Actually a little fire shot back at me through the air intake. Not sure what else it could be. Any ideas? Much appreciated.

 

[Richard Milhous]

Fuel confirmed how?

Visible spark is not a guarantee of hot enough spark to start the engine.

Probably two different issues: sheared flywheel key caused the engine to die, but some other problem coincidentally surfaced at the same time that's causing it to not start.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

I'm wondering what cause the key to shear...
you didn't hit anything with the mower and cause a sudden stop?

 

[ILENGINE]

I'm wondering what cause the key to shear...
you didn't hit anything with the mower and cause a sudden stop?

Sheared flywheel keys on riding mowers are very rare due to the belts act as the shock absorber preventing sudden stop that would shear the key. Backfiring and improper flywheel torque will do it though.

 

[Richard Milhous]

Sheared flywheel keys on riding mowers are very rare due to the belts act as the shock absorber preventing sudden stop that would shear the key. Backfiring and improper flywheel torque will do it though.

What about extremely tight belts?

 

[ILENGINE]

What about extremely tight belts?

Unless you are using belts that are way too short they are not that tight.

 

[Richard Milhous]

Unless you are using belts that are way too short they are not that tight.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I had an old Deere with a weak tensioning spring and I replaced the spring with a drum brake retracting spring from a truck that was shorter and "slightly" stronger. Hypothetically speaking, of course, I pulled the flywheel and the key was intact. But *could* it have been tight enough to shear the key? It would, in theory, have taken a great deal of grunting and shouting to get that spring on.