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Briggs and stratton mower died and now makes no noise whatsoever.

1725 Views 25 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  DexterII
So I have an old Briggs and Stratton (Model #:11P9-02-2693-B1) That I used for mowing lawns in my neighborhood. So, I'm mowing, right? And the lawnmower is Kinda pulsating with the up and down speed. So I'm not really concerned, because my other lawnmower did this, too, and I just cleaned the Carb and it was fine. But anyway, the lawnmower sped up really fast, and died. A bit of smoke, just a little hazy cloud, nothing big, came from the air filter, and the lawnmower died. Wont start. Not even the slightest cough. So I go home, and Clean the carb, Try to get it to work, and it does nothing. Gave it starter fluid, pulled again, wont budge. There was new gas and old oil, because my neighbor gave it to be if I fixed it. At the time, I didn't know how to change oil, so I just ran it with old oil, not knowing if it would damage the engine. The mower was sitting in my neighbor's shed for a couple years and the gas in the carb was bad, and I had cleaned that before I used it. But now, I drained the oil, when I figured out how too, and put new oil in, and it still wont work. Like I said, the engine wont sputter, cough, spit smoke, nothing. I checked the spark plug by shocking my little brother (Accidentally) but it still works. I even got a new one, But it still does nothing. PLEASE HELP! I need this mower It is the nicest one that I have.
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I was wondering if the pistons are locked, because I don't think they're moving. I checked when I was cleaning the Carburetor the second time. But, There isn't any resistance when I pull the cord. This is again, A Troy-Bilt Briggs and Stratton.
Does it have compression? Can you feel compression and if you remove the spark plug does it blow your thumb off the plug hole when you pull it over? My first thought is that when it sat unused gas leaked through and thinned out the oil. Then it ran until it broke.
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I'm confused with some of the description. You say it won't budge but then you say there is no resistance on the pull cord. If you managed to get a spark, that tells me that the motor is turning. Also, you said "pistons" (plural) - the model number traces to a single cylinder engine. When you pulled the plug, was it wet after trying to start it.
If the motor isn't turning, you've probably seized it. If it turning very freely and you have no compression, you have likely either broken a ring or holed the piston.
If this is the nicest mower you have I'd hate to see the others.
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Okay, so I am very uneducated in what kind of engine it is. I thought that the engine had two pistons because I took off the front cover that hid what I assumed was the two pistons. But, what I meant by It wouldn't budge is that It wont start, make noise, sputter, anything.There is no resistance when I pull the cord, and It does spin the blades. I am getting a spark, and it has a new spark plug.
I'm confused with some of the description. You say it won't budge but then you say there is no resistance on the pull cord. If you managed to get a spark, that tells me that the motor is turning. Also, you said "pistons" (plural) - the model number traces to a single cylinder engine. When you pulled the plug, was it wet after trying to start it.
If the motor isn't turning, you've probably seized it. If it turning very freely and you have no compression, you have likely either broken a ring or holed the piston.
If this is the nicest mower you have I'd hate to see the others.
My other mower is a newer Briggs and Stratton and the only reason I find this lawnmower to be my best is because it is self-propelled, and my other one, which is quite nice, is not.
If there is no resistance, the engine is junk, beyond your capabilities. Take the spark plug out, put your finger over the hole and pull the cord, you should feel compression. Take the head off, you should see the piston moving up and down and the valves opening and closing.
Okay, so I am very uneducated in what kind of engine it is. I thought that the engine had two pistons because I took off the front cover that hid what I assumed was the two pistons. But, what I meant by It wouldn't budge is that It wont start, make noise, sputter, anything.There is no resistance when I pull the cord, and It does spin the blades. I am getting a spark, and it has a new spark plug.
You said that you cleaned the carburetor, often inexperienced hands, mess this up, by turning the metering screw too much, and basically shutting of the fuel flow.

And they sometimes tighten the metering screw too much, then back it off.

This will ruin the carburetor, because the needle then reams the hole out and caused a permanent flooding situation.

If you have spark, and compression, then your problem lies in a poor fuel delivery.

ED
You said that you cleaned the carburetor, often inexperienced hands, mess this up, by turning the metering screw too much, and basically shutting of the fuel flow.

And they sometimes tighten the metering screw too much, then back it off.

This will ruin the carburetor, because the needle then reams the hole out and caused a permanent flooding situation.

If you have spark, and compression, then your problem lies in a poor fuel delivery.

ED
Yes, but the engine makes no noise, if there was a fuel problem, the engine would still make some noise, right?
Ok, so I forgot to mention, because I'm an idiot sometimes, the engine backfired when it died. And, I just checked if there was compression, and there was very little. The head came off and the things under the cover that says OHV weren't moving. Like I said, I'm very inexperienced and don't know if that's important or not. So. If its possible to get it fixed, should I do it myself or take it to a mechanic?
Ok, so I forgot to mention, because I'm an idiot sometimes, the engine backfired when it died. And, I just checked if there was compression, and there was very little. The head came off and the things under the cover that says OHV weren't moving. Like I said, I'm very inexperienced and don't know if that's important or not. So. If its possible to get it fixed, should I do it myself or take it to a mechanic?

Engines can backfire and it either means something or nothing. Sometimes it's something as simple as a little low velocity unburned fuel/air hitting a hot muffler at shut down.
If by OHV cover you mean the cover of the 'rocker box' where the rocker arms live (they move the valves open and closed by the action of push rods which are moved by the camshaft), and those bits are not moving at all when the engine is turned over, then that suggests a significant internal problem, like a stripped cam gear. That might be the reason for no/low compression if one of the valves is stuck open. That might have been caused by inadequate lubrication by running it with old sludged oil (do you even know they level of the old oil when you used it). Most small engines have pretty unsophisticated lubrication systems.
Unless you are up for an engine tear-down, I'd be scouring the classifieds.
There are quite a few here who can help you, but we don't have your engine sitting in front of us, so we need you to help us help you. As Lenaitch pointed out, your first post was very confusing, and they're not getting a lot better, so you need to s-l-o-w down and tell us what you're seeing. For example, the head didn't just come off, so you removed it? And do you mean the actual head, or are you referring to a bonnet, such as the fan shroud? The decal that says "OHV" may be over the valves, or maybe not, but, again, we don't have the engine setting in front of us to be able to say if anything under it should be moving or not. My guess is that it's on top of the engine, which is not where the valves would be since it's presumably a vertical shaft. The backfire when it stopped is not a surprise, sort of figured it did, although you didn't say that earlier, and jumping ahead causes me to think that maybe it locked up due to poor lubrication, which could have sheared the flywheel key, which is no big deal to replace, and then, after it cooled down, things freed up. That does not mean that no long or even short term damage was done, but, with a new key, it might run for a while yet. But all guesses with little detail to go on.
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Here is the illustrated parts manual for that engine:


https://www.briggsandstratton.com/eu/en_gb/search.html?searchrequested=11p902-2693-b1


It is indeed an OHV (valve-in-head) engine. On re-read, I tend to agree with Dexter - did you take the cylinder head off or just remove the engine shroud?
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Here is the illustrated parts manual for that engine:


https://www.briggsandstratton.com/eu/en_gb/search.html?searchrequested=11p902-2693-b1


It is indeed an OHV (valve-in-head) engine. On re-read, I tend to agree with Dexter - did you take the cylinder head off or just remove the engine shroud?
I probably just removed the engine shroud.
I probably just removed the engine shroud.
Okay. I looked at the illustrated parts manual, and I did wind up just removing the engine shroud. I am going to (tomorrow) remove the cylinder head. But. Are the valves supposed to move when I pull the cord?
Okay. I looked at the illustrated parts manual, and I did wind up just removing the engine shroud. I am going to (tomorrow) remove the cylinder head. But. Are the valves supposed to move when I pull the cord?

Yes.


I'm sensing a fairly low level of understanding how an internal combustion engine works. If you want to tear it apart as a learning exercise, cool. If you want to tear it apart with a hope of having it run again, you'll probably need a head gasket, a torque wrench and probably other things that I can't think of right off the top of my head. There are a few decent small engine repair manuals out there. I would suggest buying one.
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Agreed; if you want to tear it about as a learning exercise, cool. But I'm not sure how much is to be gained by arbitrarily removing nuts and bolts, more likely than not having to buy parts that may not even be needed in order to get together again, or perhaps taking it to a point beyond reasonable to repair, as compared to picking up a manual as was suggested, and using it to possibly help you isolate the problem and correct it. By taking it completely apart, yes, you will see the valves, the piston, the crankshaft, etc., but you can see pictures of those in the manual, as well as an explanation of what each component does, and, just reading between the lines, I do not not know that you would be able to reassemble it to running condition, let alone be able to inspect each component and identify whether it is suspect or not. Nope, my recommendation would be leave it together for now, pick up a manual, and do a thorough diagnosis. Or, if you want to forego the manual, at least start by reading some of the suggestions already made, check it out as far as you can, and come back here with your findings and next set of questions.
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Okay. I looked at the illustrated parts manual, and I did wind up just removing the engine shroud. I am going to (tomorrow) remove the cylinder head. But. Are the valves supposed to move when I pull the cord?
For now that you've just removed the cover that has OHV stamped into it. With the spark plug removed, slowly pull the rope to rotate the crank shaft and watch the 2 rocker levers that you see after removing the OHV cover. At the end of each lever there is a push rod that goes down into the engine to the cam shaft. If those 2 push rods and rocker levers do not move or if only 1 of the 2 moves you're done at this point. If both rocker levers move as the push rods move up and down, put a pencil in the plug hole and pull the rope. If the piston doesn't push pencil out and it doesn't go back in with a little pressure on the pencil for a complete revolution you're also done at this point.
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One of the most helpful things I did a number of winters ago was take an evening non-credit small engine course at the local community college. It gave me better confidence working on them and opened my eyes to how astonishing simple they are - it seems amazing they run at all. We had to supply our own engine and I was forbidden by SHMBO to take the mower that actually ran but I had a 'parts supply' mower in the barn. My JD lawn tractor is 31 years old and the Lawnboy push mower is pushing 40. And I have a decent generic small engine manual.
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You are turning the engine over when pulling the start cord. Every movable part in any engine will move when attempting to start it. If you cover the plug hole with your finger and pull the cord to try to start it, the compression should blow your finger out of the hole. Have you even tried a compression gauge? Have your tried pouring a little gas into the plug hole and then starting the engine? You are getting spark to the plug, that tells us that the upper part of the engine is still free turning. Also remove the air filter to ensure that the engine can breathe easily while troubleshooting.

Always change the oil on any engine that has sat for any period of time. Oil is the life blood of any engine.

Make sure you have a new head gasket and know the proper torque for the bolts and the patter to tighten them.
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