motor trying to freeze or battery? briggs and stratton 287707/mtd mower

cc3337

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  • / motor trying to freeze or battery? briggs and stratton 287707/mtd mower
Hello
i have a mtd 42" cut with a briggs 287707 14.5 on it, problem is, when i turn the key, motor will spin one time and stop, battery man says battery is good, i can spin the motor with my hand at top but it is very tight, like good compression, could i have your opinion on motor or battery causing this? Motor spins fast and free with plug out.
thanks
 

ILENGINE

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  • / motor trying to freeze or battery? briggs and stratton 287707/mtd mower
From your description, the valve clearances need adjusted. Remove the spark plug, and the valve cover. turn the engine to where the piston is about 1/4 inch past TDC in the position where both valves are closed. Adjust the intake to .003-.005 and the exhaust to .005-.007 and see what happens. I believe you will find that the intake valve is the bottom valve on the head due to the close flow head design. After adjusting the valves, turn the engine over by hand and watch the valves open and close. At a point just before TDC you should see one of the valves get bumped of it seat temporarily, that is the compression release. Most likely it will be the intake valve thats gets bumped, but could be the exhaust. if you don't see the bump off, post back for further instructions.
 

cc3337

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  • / motor trying to freeze or battery? briggs and stratton 287707/mtd mower
Ilengine

thanks
just got home to adjust my valves as per your instructions, and when i took the valve cover off, i noticed one of the rocker arms is very loose, so loose it can be moved right off of its resting spot on the valve, also the attaching arm of the same rocker arm is very loose coming out of the engine, the other rocker arm is snug, as well as its attaching arm, i thank you so much, me and my 9 yr old son have taken this as our project, i had this mower running but it had a deafening popping and smoking when given throttle, might also help you

thanks again
 
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