Briggs Intek oil leak

phcaan

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I have a Husqvarna mower with a Briggs Intek 400000 engine with 371 hours on it. The unit has been properly maintained since its purchase in 2011. The other day I started it up to prepare it for the season and found a serious oil leak from the engine pully area. Has anyone experienced this before? When I put the mower up in the garage last fall there was no oil leak.
 

Rivets

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Common problem with an oil seal leaking. Not a difficult or expensive fix, just a pain in the butt, as you have to pull the engine to do it properly.
 

bertsmobile1

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I do them engine in.
Stand the mower up on its end after removing the deck.
I then stand on a short platform to get myself at a comfortable working height.
Clean the area with a dry soda blaster , then a degrease, polish the PTO shaft and that is 3 hours saved.
Not as easy as having the engine on the work bench granted but when you are working one up the time saving makes it worthwhile.
 

Luffydog

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3hrs wow can usually have them off in about 15min hate to see the labor bill for that $10 seal.
 

bertsmobile1

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3hrs wow can usually have them off in about 15min hate to see the labor bill for that $10 seal.

Stihl list price is 45 minutes each way + 15 minutes for cleaning
I use that for labour costing as it is the only complete pricing schedule I have.
And this assumes that the mower is in a new condition, clean with fasteners that come out easy which is rarely the case.
The total labour for a lower oil seal is 2 hours which is what I charge out.
Even then there are times it can take near an hour just to get the pulley stack off.
Usually I can do a seal, mower in / mower out in around the scheduled 2 hours if I leave the engine in place.
Removing it can easily double that time.


A side banger with side exhaust that does not need to be removed could go out & in, in those times.
Even better if you don't have to remove the hood & side panels.
Very few OHV ones can be done in those times.
It can take better than 15 minutes just to get the muffler off on an old engine.
Then there are old rusted mounting bolts and corroded mounting tabs on the engine which are prone to breaking off if you are too violent with them.

Kawasaki allow 2 hours each way on warranty work for replacing the engine, which is about the only charge out in their schedule that is reasonable.
 

phcaan

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Thanks, everyone, I cleaned it up, changed the oil with some oil for high-mile cars, ran it for a couple of hours, and the leak seems to have stopped. I gave the mower to my son for my daughter-in-law and bought a new 400S Ferris zero turn for me. A Kawasaki FE651V and a suspension for my creakey old bones. Looks like a win-win to me.
 

bertsmobile1

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Sounds good.
You sound like a person who values their gear.
It is very important to do an oil change before you set the mower down for winter ( unless you use it for snow ).
Sitting over winter the oil can sludge out blocking oil ways and acidic combustion products in the oil can corrode engine parts.
For most cases, a single end of season oil change will be fine even if that means going over the recommended hours, remember that they are recommendations and not set in concrete.
Even more important is lubing all of the shafts and wear points which will rust over winter thus accelerating the wear when it goes back into service the following season.
 
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