Bad Starter Motor?

JonnyBlaze said:

Its a huge leak. Im about to give up on it. Smh.

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Don't have any idea where your engine is leaking???? But I have had a run on bad crankshaft seals leaking oil. Not a bad job at all. The worst part of the job is the clean up.

Back to the electrical system for a moment...

I must respectfully disagree with Rivets regarding his comments about the regulator/rectifier block and the diode with heat shrink over it. Regarding the presence of the diode, I'm pretty sure that's the line which goes to the magneto. I know some charging systems utilize a series diode for simple rectification but I don't believe that's the case with your engine. The diodes are used in series with the magneto primaries. They prevent flyback from the magneto primaries from damaging the reg/rec block when you shut the engine off. L120s do use a reg/rec block as you have on your unit. The stator should have two black wires going to a connector that plugs into the connector with the two yellow wires of the reg/rec block. The stator plugs directly into the reg/rec connector through no intervening connector(s). The mating connector to the single red wire coming out of the reg/rec block likely has two wires in it. One goes to the Ign Switch and then to the lights and the other should go to a fuse and then to the battery.

I'm a bit confused what current you were trying to measure, given your reg/rec block is not connected. Normally to test the charging system, you run the engine at high throttle and measure the stator voltage. If that's OK you then measure the current coming out of the reg/rec block to the battery. If that's OK, you know the reg/rec block is good. Not sure what you tried to measure given that they are disconnected.

Regarding your measuring charging current as the Briggs manual spells out, under "normal" conditions, you would unplug the connector of the red wire coming out of the reg/rec block. You would touch your red meter led to the red wire coming out of the reg/rec block and touch the black lead of your meter to the POSITIVE(yes, positive) battery terminal and that will tell you the charging current. Your meter must be set up to read DC current on the 10Amp scale and THE RED LEAD OF THE METER MUST BE IN THE 10A JACK OF THE METER. NOTE: In your pic, the meter is set to read 10A DC as it should, BUT you have the red lead in the wrong jack. It must be in the leftmost jack to measure DC current on the 10 amp scale. DO NOT TOUCH THE BLACK LEAD OF THE METER TO GROUND OR THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL OF THE BATTERY WHEN PERFORMING THIS CHARGING CURRENT TEST. If you do, your meter will act as a dead short and the fuse inside the meter will blow. Remember to move the red lead back to the right jack to measure voltage!!!

... I hope this helps a bit

I need to make a clarification to my previous post. According to the JD service manual for the L series tractors, the charging system you should have is 16 amps (for the L120). That is also consistent with the regulator/rectifier block you have(that is mysteriously disconnected!) Your stator would have 2 black wires going to a yellow connector, that would plug into the reg/rec block connector.

SO, PLEASE DON'T TRY AND MEASURE THE CHARGING CURRENT WITH THE METER YOU HAVE AS IT CAN EXCEED THE 10AMP CAPACITY!

The charging current can vary between 3 and 16 amps depending on battery charge. The no load voltage from the stator should be 30VAC at 3600rpm. (refer to page 7-10 of the Briggs Intek Twin Cylinder manual for more info on the tests)

Telesis said:

I need to make a clarification to my previous post. According to the JD service manual for the L series tractors, the charging system you should have is 16 amps (for the L120). That is also consistent with the regulator/rectifier block you have(that is mysteriously disconnected!) Your stator would have 2 black wires going to a yellow connector, that would plug into the reg/rec block connector.

SO, PLEASE DON'T TRY AND MEASURE THE CHARGING CURRENT WITH THE METER YOU HAVE AS IT CAN EXCEED THE 10AMP CAPACITY!

The charging current can vary between 3 and 16 amps depending on battery charge. The no load voltage from the stator should be 30VAC at 3600rpm. (refer to page 7-10 of the Briggs Intek Twin Cylinder manual for more info on the tests)

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I wont do it again. Promise. I dont know much about multi meters.

Im wondering if the oil is coming from the valve covers. Here are some pics.

The only thing the pictures are showing is a big oil mess. Very first thing to finding a oil leak is a clean engine as I said oil travels.

Today I removed the left valve cover (one below fuel pump) and the bolts weren't even that tight at all. It came right off and didn't have to pry it off or anything (I read on forums that ohv valve covers always have to be pried off and they get bent). I removed the old gasket material, cleaned both surfaces up real good and applied some Permatex Ultra Black, made specifically for heavy oil applications. As per directions, I gently snugged the bolts down, waited and hour, then tightened them up. Got to wait 24 hours to dry before I can start it. This is the side were I see a lot of oil underneath. I didn't see a drop on the other head or valve cover at all, so I left it alone.

I doubt this will fix the problem but it's a start. Since all the oil is on that one side, I'm thinking it could be a blown headgasket. If so, I will do it but I am nervous about adjusting the valves and everything... Also the vacuum hose going from the fuel pump to the valve cover was ripped in half where it goes into the cover so it wasn't functioning at all. Took a good one off the motor I did in my swap thread and ordered a new one.

Still leaking. Cant see it. I guess I'm going to have to pull it and clean it up real good. Must be crank seal or sump gasket.