Hi forum, I need some help.
[u]The long story , I was visiting an elderly friend and he had an old lawn beetle mower out in front of his shed. I know he mows his asparagus patch about this time of year and his tractor was not going so I guessed he was trying to get the lawn mower started. He was convinced it was a spark problem so I offered to have a look at it and threw it into the back of the car. As it turned out spark was not the problem the spark plug lead was just shorting out before it got to the plug. Quite a few years ago I bought a spark tester, I figure it has paid for itself in skinned knuckles, twisted elbows and time saved. Problem was the fuel, if any, in the tank had gone off and the rest appeared to be just topped up with water. (Could be that's why his tractor wont start) Cleaned the carburettor and tank, added some fuel and it went first pull. I have heard of these lawn beetles before probably on this forum and was impressed with how smoothly and quietly it ran. Filled with the euphoria of having had a win I chucked it in the car and took it back out. He may be elderly and possibly silly enough to put water in the fuel tank but he is still pretty sharp. He asked me if I would like to have the beetle, as he had bought a new mower a few years ago when it would not start. I said sure but you just keep it here until I need it.
He asked if I could have a look at the Briggs I think he had it out of the shed and ready to go when I got there.
The shorter story [/u]
The Briggs is a stationery engine and has an 8cm square piece of metal attached to the fuel line with a bit of electrical cable. I think originally it would have riveted onto the air cowling. The only similar motor I have seen in the forum was a post from Marvic asking for help to identify his Briggs.
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/20530.html#Post20530. The details on this one are Model Number 141332 Type Number 500649 Serial Number 32627
My spark tester could not find any spark and after watching a couple of U-tube videos I figured the condenser was not working. A credit to outdoor king that they appeared to stock a suitable condenser and coil but also offered the electronic ignition module. Any one who knows me would have guessed that I would go for the cheaper option, ignition module installed great regular spark and ready for a test run ( I had put quite a bit of oil down the plug hole and flushed it with a little diesel prior to giving it an oil change and pulled the carburettor off and cleaned it and the tank while I was waiting for the parts)
With a little petrol down the plug hole I got about 5 pops to one back fire through the carburettor all fairly feeble. I thought maybe the backfire could be a valve.
Pulled the head off and was pleased to find the cylinder bore to be in good condition and could not feel any slack in the piston the valves and valve seats also look to be in good condition. I did not remove them but you cannot blow back through the carburettor or exhaust when the appropriate valve is closed. Valve clearances are 0.011 for exhaust and 0.007 for intake. I put it back together and checked the compression which was 100, probably acceptable for this engine? Does any body have a recommended head bolt torque?
So I had a second look at the carburettor and maybe I have found the problem, when I disassembled the carburettor it was a little tricky to get apart as the main jet outlet (not sure what it is called) was extended right up into the top of the carburettor and catching on the float when you tried to pull it apart. I just reassembled it the same, only not putting the jet in until I had assembled the carburettor. Unfortunately I get an error message:"
Files can be no larger than 0 Bytes."
when I try to upload a photo so when I get that sorted out I will post a photo as it would be a lot more obvious then my explanation.
Althought I think it is a fuel problem, the other thing that I can think off is the electronic ignition module, I believe that I have read somewhere on this forum that some of these older motors may have a positive earth, and it will not damage the ignition module if I just change it around. Not really concerned about the positive earth but will it damage the ignition module if I swap it around?
I will get back with the photo.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
