Loose screw defeats voltage regulator?

I have a Simplicity P1728 snow thrower. The headlight bulb had gone so I bought an LED one. I handed it to my dealer to put in when he picked the machine up to service for something else. When he brought it back he said it had burned out instantly so he put a regular incandescent one it. The first time I started the machine the throttle was about halfway, when I pushed it up to full the new headlight bulb blew. OK, no voltage regulation.

It's part of the engine, mentioned in Briggs PDF MS4005_P_LO.pdf and frankly changing it is probably a project. It's shown on the page at http://www.cp-partsonline.com/product_p/26-304.htm

Now this looks like a 2 wire device in a plastic case so I'm guessing its only ground reference point is the mounting screw. If the screw rattles loose and falls out the voltage regulator won't work, right? I've had what seems like an unusual amount of trouble with things loosening up and falling off this machine. Twice now in 4 years it's been in for service, both times because something loosened up. It seems unusual considering we don't get much snow anymore so it's got not much over 20 hours on it.

Anybody seen this happen?

The loose screw caused intermittent grounding to the regulator in turn causes voltage spikes.

ILENGINE said:

The loose screw caused intermittent grounding to the regulator in turn causes voltage spikes.

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OK, thanks, that's what I thought. I plan to put off fixing it until summer when there's no more snow to blow. And gamble that it's a loose screw and not spend $30+ on a regulator just yet. I can always order one then and leave it apart for a week.

So many problems caused just by things loosening up, seems like there should be more locknuts and Locktite, and final assembly at the factory should be done with a torque wrench. First I couldn't disengage drive to the wheels, then I couldn't engage it because a motor mount was loose, now I can't keep a headlight in it. I had the dealer "service" it with a 2 hour labor charge this time. It seems to end up in the shop every year for something. It's not like my mower that runs for hours and hours all summer.

ab1jx said:

OK, thanks, that's what I thought. I plan to put off fixing it until summer when there's no more snow to blow. And gamble that it's a loose screw and not spend $30+ on a regulator just yet. I can always order one then and leave it apart for a week. So many problems caused just by things loosening up, seems like there should be more locknuts and Locktite, and final assembly at the factory should be done with a torque wrench. First I couldn't disengage drive to the wheels, then I couldn't engage it because a motor mount was loose, now I can't keep a headlight in it. I had the dealer "service" it with a 2 hour labor charge this time. It seems to end up in the shop every year for something. It's not like my mower that runs for hours and hours all summer.

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ab1jx said:

OK, thanks, that's what I thought. I plan to put off fixing it until summer when there's no more snow to blow. And gamble that it's a loose screw and not spend $30+ on a regulator just yet. I can always order one then and leave it apart for a week. So many problems caused just by things loosening up, seems like there should be more locknuts and Locktite, and final assembly at the factory should be done with a torque wrench. First I couldn't disengage drive to the wheels, then I couldn't engage it because a motor mount was loose, now I can't keep a headlight in it. I had the dealer "service" it with a 2 hour labor charge this time. It seems to end up in the shop every year for something. It's not like my mower that runs for hours and hours all summer.

Click to expand...

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ab1jx said:

OK, thanks, that's what I thought. I plan to put off fixing it until summer when there's no more snow to blow. And gamble that it's a loose screw and not spend $30+ on a regulator just yet. I can always order one then and leave it apart for a week. So many problems caused just by things loosening up, seems like there should be more locknuts and Locktite, and final assembly at the factory should be done with a torque wrench. First I couldn't disengage drive to the wheels, then I couldn't engage it because a motor mount was loose, now I can't keep a headlight in it. I had the dealer "service" it with a 2 hour labor charge this time. It seems to end up in the shop every year for something. It's not like my mower that runs for hours and hours all summer.

Click to expand...

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