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

[Cub Wanter]

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

Is 3 years of use really excessive wear time?

This is why I'm having a hard time taking briggs seriously right now... shoot, at this point they should just give me a new carb since we're still in "could be anything" territory... all initially from an early faulty fuel solenoid

 

[bertsmobile1]

Wear is some thing that can not be eliminated nor can rates be standardized.
Just too many variables like the type of dust around your place & the size of the dust particles.
How long you let the grass grow before cutting & how much you cut .
My shop is on a river flat and the dust is very very fine and mostly clay like so it will neverwear a carb.
five hundred yards up the road the dust is sandstone so very agressive .

Some carbs can be a right royal PIA to clean
There are times I need to give them better than 20 x 1/2cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner before the crud that is causing the surging finally gets dislodged
Others that are surging so bad it causes them to backfire through the carb & muffler have come good after a 15 minute scrub .
Even worse are the carbs with fixed pilot jets as you have to remove the blanking plugs in order to back flush the primary air passageways.
Then you get clots who poke their air duster with the compressor set at 120 PSi output into the air inlet which blasts any crud in there so hard up the air passage you have to drill it out .

 

[Richard Milhous]

Three years "shouldn't" be a lot of wear. Unless it's crap to begin with, or you're brush hogging forty acres, or running without an air filter, or leaving it in the weather all winter, or...

Stuff they make now won't last the way stuff made twenty years ago did. It's the main reason I try to keep the old junk running.

 

[Cub Wanter]

Cleaned again... just for the heck of it... and I like a good joke....

Now it won't start at all.... Anyone know how one may contact Briggs? I wanna see if they can point me to a small engine company.

 

[slomo]

Cleaned again... just for the heck of it... and I like a good joke....

Now it won't start at all.... Anyone know how one may contact Briggs? I wanna see if they can point me to a small engine company.

At 15 y/o mower with a 3 y/o engine. Doubt Briggs can help as everything is long out of any warranty.

What did you clean and HOW did you do it?

You are not trying to fix much on this. Sounds like you want to talk to someone on the phone about it only.

 

[slomo]

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.

You still have a dirty carb or impeded fuel flow from the tank. Engine is running lean causing your surge issue. It wants more fuel as you found out by covering the carb with your hand.

Remove the fuel tank. Flush it out then blow out with compressed air and EYE PROTECTION.

Replace the 15+ year old fuel lines and filter if you have one.

Perform valve adjustment

Clean the engine block and cooling fins YEARLY. Remove all the dirt and oil as in spotless.

Clean, replace or rebuild your OEM Briggs carb.

 

[Richard Milhous]

Bad gas?

*Ethanol* gas???

I just read an account by a Soviet general from 1945 claiming they mixed captured Polish vodka into their gasoline to stretch the supply. Good thing those engines only had to last a few more months...

 

[Cub Wanter]

Doubt Briggs can help as everything is long out of any warranty.

Sounds like you want to talk to someone on the phone about it only.

No mate, I don't expect briggs to do anything, they can't even build an engine/carb to go beyond 3 years...

Hoping the guy on the phone can tell me who CAN build an engine. That's about the nicest thing they could do for me right now.

Already cleaned/rebuilt carb like 6 times... it went from "I don't feel like it" to "nah"

 

[Cub Wanter]

Alright gang... suddenly decided to start running... still got that surge... gonna try to sea foam it out

Really all that's left to try

 

[slomo]

Take it to a mower shop if you are not going to troubleshoot and fix it. Maybe the Briggs guy can fix it over the phone.