I have been keeping busy fixing mowers and chippers that I previously thought of as parts repositories. One such mower is a 2010 model Toro Recycler with a 190cc Briggs, mod# 128T02-3125-B1. I had given this mower to a friend several years ago. It ran well at the time and had no issues. A year ago he returned it, having replaced it with a new rechargeable electric. The pull cord was broken. The front right wheel was crunched not too surprising given that it is nice disposable plastic crap, but how come the left one survived? And the piece de resistance, the body had two spots rusted through. But, he said that the engine ran strong right up to his breaking the cord. Hence, I have been keeping an eye out for a mower with a blown engine but solid body. Then came corona isolation. I don’t have a welder, but came up with a way to fix the body. I cut out the rusted metal and and patched the holes with some galvanized steel scrap from an hvac job. I applied a heavy bead of exterior grade silicone caulk and pop riveted the patches over the holes. I found a wheel from a scrap Murray that is same size and its bolt screws into the Toro fitting. The pull cord was easy fix but substituted window sash cord since that’s what I had. The oil was to the full mark and a little dirty. The fuel tank was clean. The carb looked clean but I shot some carb cleaner and air through it anyway. The plug looked good, gap just a hair too big. Regapped it. Air filter was filthy, as was everything else. Not oily, but just caked with soil. Changed air filter. Cleaned the whole machine. It started on second pull and ran strong. Started mowing and noticed after a few minutes that the motor was ticking rapidly, like the tappets in my old slant six Plymouth. I shut it down and went to change the oil, but just for grins tried to start it again. No joy. Not a hiccup. Rolled it to my shed to change oil and tried to start one more time. The pull cord couldn’t move the flywheel. Motor was locked up! I tipped the mower and drained the oil. Horror show. Silver streaks amidst brown mayo. Must have been water in the crankcase, tho it was not visible on the dipstick. I figured that I seized the engine and decided to call it a day and try the fancy bourbon my son-in-law gave me.
Next day I moved the blade by hand and the engine moved freely! Refilled with fresh 10w-30 and started it on second pull. Same as before, started ticking, shut it down, no restart. My first thot was coil going bad. I put my spark tester on and pulled the cord. I could see a spark, but past experience has shown me that sometimes a visible spark is just not strong enuf. Replaced the sparkplug. Ran the mower for 10 minutes. It would not restart. Replaced coil with one off a John Deere with same briggs engine. No difference. Thot maybe the JD coil was bad, too. So replaced it with another coil from aforementioned Murray. All the coils, BTW, had resistance per my multimeter. Third coil made no difference. I began looking at this website and others for ideas. One problem area is the autochoke. Mine works flawlessly. The choke is wide open when it refuses to hot start. Running out of ideas, I substituted a primer bulb, no choke, carb for the autochoke carb set up. Mower started easily but would not restart after 10 minutes. I replaced the autochoke set up. Thot maybe the fuel cap vents were plugged. Replaced fuel cap. Problem remained. One other piece of information: I tried squirting starter fluid thru carb when motor was hot. It did not even pop! But if I let it rest for 3 or 4 minutes, it starts up and runs, although it doesn’t run vigorously for 30 or 40 seconds. That, I think, is an autochoke issue as the choke partially closes after a few minutes.
I think I have eliminated all the air and fuel issues, so must be compression? Do I need to open this engine? What should I look for? Is the ticking a valve or a tappet? Have I missed something obvious? I put a capful of Sea Foam in oil to see if it would loosen a sticky valve. That didn’t work, either. Help!! I’m running out of bourbon and ideas.
