New guy, same Briggs surge (bs)...

[Cub Wanter]

Okay, entire story, here we go.. Craftsman lt2000 of 15 years with a Briggs intek I bought (new) 3 years ago, ran beautifully up till last week when it decided to just not start.

I got right to diagnosing, worked my way to the carb when I borrowed a friend's chinese ebay carb.. finally it started (hooray) so I took my Ruixing unit carefully apart and cleaned, in which 3 years of 100% gas yielded a new looking everything in the inside...

Upon reassembly I plugged in the fuel solenoid by itself and discovered it faulted (as borat would say "great success") So no problem... I order a new solenoid and gasket for installation.

NOW.... my issue is a tough cold start (like a solid 10 Mississippis to fire up) and aggravating surge when I push throttle to "blade" level, with continued surge with the blade engaged.

I've gone nearly nanners over this nonsense and am ready to set this thing on fire and make smores off it. Then piss on the ashes... Only detail I can "help" with diagnoses is if I remove the air filter and choke the intake with my hand for a few seconds, it clears up the surge for a bit. Everything seems to be in order, what could I possibly be missing?

Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated.. Thank you

 

[bertsmobile1]

As for hard starting , remove the air filter housing and check that the choke is fully closed .
As for the surging, check that the carb is not leaking air around the manifold by saturating it with WD 40 or similar from a trigger pack not a spray can and manipulate the governor to make the engine speed up & back off, look for white smoke in the exhaust .

 

[Cub Wanter]

Mmkay... the starting is with the throttle all the way down, it just stays so hot and muggy where I live (Knox TN) that before all this, I could go crank it once a week for the weekly cut, and it would fire up after like 3 seconds... same conditions I'm sittin at the 10... so I know something is up... driving me bonkers

Sprayed around the carb... I got slight hesitation nowhere aside from spraying over the throttle shaft? not the choke one... I don't want to overreact yet but... there's literally never been anything there to "seal" it... how is it possible to mess up

 

[Richard Milhous]

Mmkay... the starting is with the throttle all the way down, it just stays so hot and muggy where I live (Knox TN) that before all this, I could go crank it once a week for the weekly cut, and it would fire up after like 3 seconds... same conditions I'm sittin at the 10... so I know something is up...

Sprayed around the carb... I got slight hesitation nowhere aside from spraying over the throttle shaft? not the choke one... I don't want to overreact yet but... there's literally never been anything there to "seal" it... how is it possible to mess up

He's talking about the connection between the carburetor and intake. If this is not airtight, the engine will suck raw air through the leak instead of fuel-air through the carb. On car engines I use motor oil for this test, but on car engines you can attach a vacuum gauge to see the change. WD40 I guess would do better at getting sucked into the manifold and burned than at sealing the joint, hence you watch for smoke. It will NOT hurt your engine, unless you spend twenty minutes emptying a whole can of WD40 on it.

I don't know what a "trigger pack" is, or any reason why you wouldn't use a spray can.

 

[Cub Wanter]

He's talking about the connection between the carburetor and intake. If this is not airtight, the engine will suck raw air through the leak instead of fuel-air through the carb. On car engines I use motor oil for this test, but on car engines you can attach a vacuum gauge to see the change. WD40 I guess would do better at getting sucked into the manifold and burned than at sealing the joint, hence you watch for smoke. It will NOT hurt your engine, unless you spend twenty minutes emptying a whole can of WD40 on it.

I don't know what a "trigger pack" is, or any reason why you wouldn't use a spray can.

Yeah, I meant carb, intake and all... I got no change in idle except going over the shaft... but I'm having a hard time accepting taking the carb off and cleaning it messed up a part I never removed... then again I'm having a hard time accepting Briggs is still in business... this has been a battle for the last week

Edit: Oh, and I think trigger pack is like when you buy WD in the gallon jugs that comes with the squirt bottle

 

[Richard Milhous]

Going over the... throttle? shaft? From the outside?

Messing up a part you never removed? Hell yeah. You don't know what's going on if you've never removed it. The slightest hint of disturbance, or mere coincidence, can change something. Especially if some desperado like me tinkered with it before to make it run.

 

[Cub Wanter]

Yeah, I feel ya... but the briggs/carb diagram tells me there was no reason to go squrreling around in there.. I was in it for the still new, ungrateful jets

 

[bertsmobile1]

He's talking about the connection between the carburetor and intake. If this is not airtight, the engine will suck raw air through the leak instead of fuel-air through the carb. On car engines I use motor oil for this test, but on car engines you can attach a vacuum gauge to see the change. WD40 I guess would do better at getting sucked into the manifold and burned than at sealing the joint, hence you watch for smoke. It will NOT hurt your engine, unless you spend twenty minutes emptying a whole can of WD40 on it.

I don't know what a "trigger pack" is, or any reason why you wouldn't use a spray can.

You don't use a spray can because the propellent is very volatile
SO you got your nose in there nice and close then a stray spark ignites the propellent.
WHoof, no eyebrows or even worse.
On car engines it is not so much of a problem because the front guards keep you well away from the engine but on a mower you could very well be hunched over the entire engine even more so if the hood is still on the mower
So out of curosity what do you lot call the container with a trigger that you pull to cause spray to come out the other end ?
Pump pack ?

A little bit of a leak around the throttle shaft is usual as here is no seal in there
However a big leak shows excessive wear so the carb is now scrap metal

 

[Scrubcadet10]

Yeah, I meant carb, intake and all... I got no change in idle except going over the shaft... but I'm having a hard time accepting taking the carb off and cleaning it messed up a part I never removed... then again I'm having a hard time accepting Briggs is still in business... this has been a battle for the last week

Edit: Oh, and I think trigger pack is like when you buy WD in the gallon jugs that comes with the squirt bottle

 

[Richard Milhous]

You don't use a spray can because the propellent is very volatile
SO you got your nose in there nice and close then a stray spark ignites the propellent.
WHoof, no eyebrows or even worse.

BANG! oops... I've never used anything but motor oil, never thought of that.