Today I was trying to start an old tiller my grandpa bought forever ago. I think it's an older Troy-Bilt or Craftsman. The engine is an 8 horsepower Briggs & Stratton, Model #190402. I pulled the cord and it started ok and ran for about ten seconds. Since it was kind of cold, I set the choke to half. The same thing happened. I set the choke all the way on, and tried again. It ran pretty fast for about 15 seconds, then I heard a loud pop from the exhaust side of the engine, and crap blew out from under the head. I pulled the head off and spun the flywheel around a couple times. The cylinder had oil draining into it, and the valves didn't move at all. It had new gas in it, and ran fine the other day. The oil was good, and I have recently pulled parts off and cleaned it, as it hadn't been started in years. It's always been a frustrating tiller, but this was the first huge problem it's had. Is it time to scrap it, or is it saveable?
#2
Scrubcadet10
Valves not moving, more than likely it's a camshaft problem.
Could be The cam it's self (lobe wiped out, or gear broke)
Could you expand on what you mean by oil draining into the cylinder?
This is a flathead engine correct? Not ohv..... Wanted to be sure I read the model right.