Pony wont start

oregonweedwacker

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Grandma's 2010 Pony won't start. It has a 17.5 Briggs. I drove it over to the garage to replace the mower belt and it started just fine. After I dropped the deck and slid it away, I went to move the tractor and it turned over but wouldn't fire. I checked the spark first. It had plenty. Then the fuel; O.K. I cranked it a bunch of times and still nothing! So, I shot a little starting fluid and still nothing. I have fired a whole bunch of junkers in my time with a little spark and some starting fluid, but I'm not getting anywhere. Does anyone have any thoughts?
 

reynoldston

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Grandma's 2010 Pony won't start. It has a 17.5 Briggs. I drove it over to the garage to replace the mower belt and it started just fine. After I dropped the deck and slid it away, I went to move the tractor and it turned over but wouldn't fire. I checked the spark first. It had plenty. Then the fuel; O.K. I cranked it a bunch of times and still nothing! So, I shot a little starting fluid and still nothing. I have fired a whole bunch of junkers in my time with a little spark and some starting fluid, but I'm not getting anywhere. Does anyone have any thoughts?

You are testing the spark with a tester and getting a good 1/4 inch of spark. It helps to remove the air filter to use the starting fluid. So you are getting fuel and spark now. So the only things that are left compression and timing. Spark, fuel, compression, and timing and it will run.
 

Boobala

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Could be the valves need adjusting ... Briggs OHV engines are "persnickity" about a few things..
 

oregonweedwacker

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Could be the valves need adjusting ... Briggs OHV engines are "persnickity" about a few things..

It was the valves. I saw on another part of the forum to manually bring the piston to TDC and then fire it. It fired which means I need a valve adjustment. Thanks for the reply.

What a great forum!
 

reynoldston

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to manually bring the piston to TDC and then fire it.
What a great forum!

That has me completely confused? How would do you do this? The only way to know if it has tight valves would be a leak down test or check the adjustments.
 
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