Old snapper with 4 HP B&S

[nickengels]

Hey fellas, new to the forum. Earlier today I picked up for free an old snapper push mower 4 HP with the briggs motor and its actually in pretty decent shape. From what I saw on the internet it looks to be the 87-88 model year. I power washed the heck out of it but there is still more cleaning to do on it. Im going to throw in a new spark plug, air filter, Clean the carb and put in some fresh go juice and see what happens. If these remedies don't work, what problems do you guys know these old mowers to have? Briggs motors run forever so I hope I can get it to fire up. Any input is appreciated!

 

[mechanic mark]

We all want to pressure wash our mowers but it's not a good idea. Water causes multiple problems, gets in fuel, air, & oil components as well as electrical components.

 

[primerbulb120]

I pressure wash all of my mowers, but I always clean out the air filters afterwards and let the mowers dry in the sun.

And if the mower doesn't have spark, the ignition points may need replacing.

 

[redmondjp]

I pressure wash all of my mowers, but I always clean out the air filters afterwards and let the mowers dry in the sun.

And if the mower doesn't have spark, the ignition points may need replacing.

The Briggs engines all had electronic ignition by the late 1980s.

 

[Mow Joe]

Along with our lawn mower store, we also owned a self-service car wash which was next door, only 50' away. We power washed nearly every one we serviced. Unless you are a total idiot about where you spray, you won't cause any major issues. Of course, we knew what to do if the mower didn't start afterward. Many wouldn't start beforehand anyway. Many customers commented on how nice their mowers looked when they got them back, maybe justifying the premium price they paid for the services.

Briggs and Stratton introduced "Magnetron" in 1982.