In this instructable I will show you how to repair a lawn mower engine, and how to finally kill those gremlins which have been lurching in its bowels. Of course there is now way I can tell you every single problem that could happen to your engine, so I will tell you the major parts of the engine, and how to repair them. I am not a trained mechanic. What I have learned comes from years of reading, and much trial and error. Hopefully from that I can teach you how to become more of an independent person, and maybe save you a few bucks
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Signing UpStep 1: Disconnect the spark plug.
Before you do anything with the lawnmower you should disconnect the sparkplug. This will leave no chance of the engine starting with you working on it. It is better to loose a few second than loose a few fingers! It is also be a good idea to wear some working gloves, because engines can be very sharp and dirty which will give you an infection. Eye protection should also be worn so that gasoline and bits of metal cannot end up in you eye.
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It appears that all small lawn mower engines have a standard attachment hole configuration in the base of the mower. That is except for Toro. It looks like the standard is rotated by 45 degrees from the engines now for sale. Is this true?
Will a new engine mounted side ways on this configuration work ok?
Can the manual start mechanism be installed so that it is in a different position so that it will come out of the new engine in the proper position to be pulled from the back of the engine?
Sounds like a lot of problems to be worked around!!!
a Briggs and Stratton
Classic, Sprint, Quattro or a Quantum
or is it a Tecumseh
Craftsman 197CC with Kawasaki FJ180V-FS05 series motor
thak you
it will not start,has good spark,i shot ether in back of carb. flame came out,so I am wondering does this prove that I have a timing/valve problem? or could this happen from a dirty carb?
Thank you,
Great article btw, let me know if you have any other questions.
!. take the air cleaner off (but return the bolt to the hole, and screw the bolt in part way.
2. start the engine after priming per normal
3. give it a shot of starting fluid or WD-40 down the throat of the carb, if you can keep it going with a spray bottle, then you have a fuel problem and can rule out ignition or timing issues
I'm guessing you either need to re-clean the carb or there is debris in the fuel tank that block off the fuel after it it gets started.
Does the bulb return to "inflated" as soon as you release it, or is it a little slow?
>>You asked if the re-inflate bulb on a briggs & straton engine was slow to reinflate. That is happening to me and I'm guessing it is from restricted air flow into the carb.
remove the air cleaner, spray with carb cleaner, reassemble at least the center bolt that holds the air-cleaner on (important for many engines). Do a $1.98 tune-up - This is detailed by me in the comments here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Clean-Motorcycle-Carburetors/ I
n your case, you'll need to prime, start the engine, and slap your hand over the air intake before the engine dies due to lack of fuel. You might be able to quickly remove your hand and spray into the air intake some carb cleaner or wd-40. to keep it going. It sounds to me like you have a fuel delivery problem. You can verify it's the fuel by starting it and keeping it going with sprays from wd-40 down the carb throat.
I'd also check and see if there's anything in the fuel tank, and wash it out if need be. If there's a fuel filter, it may be worth trying to replace it.
Dave Rock has quite a few videos on small engines. Try going to
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Davidsfarm#g/u
and then use the search box with the term "briggs" to tease out the good stuff from all the track racing and car jumping vids. Good luck.
If you haven't tried this, take out the main jet ( doubles as a screw) that unscrews when you remove the bowl. Then get a little wire and push it through the top and the bottom of the jet as well as the little holes on the sides. When the jets get clogged, the mower can't breathe.
if your lucky it is just water to empty from the float bowl: water and/or corrosion debris, is the common reason for brief run and shut down, after squirting a bit of fuel through the spark plug hole before replacing spark plug (after have checked for such a bit of debris or carbon in the spark gap, and if spark to check magneto)
And for electrical, just lay the spark plug (connected with the spark plug wire) on the engine fins (for ground connection), pull the starter rope and look for the spark..
If that's not the case, check to see if the flywheel key is partly broken. This could mess up the timing enough to cause your issues. It's a > $5 part.