I bought a ride mower with a Briggs and Straton engine less than a year ago and it is been increasingly difficult to start. Last week, I stopped it in the middle of my lawn and now it won't start anymore.
* When I turn the keys, I can see the engine turn 1/4 of the way, but then do nothing else
* Once, today, (on about the 50th try) the engine did what looks like a full 2 rotations, but died before I had time to release the clutch
* I replaced the spark plug last week. The tip of it was black and kind-of burnt looking, so I put in a new one.
* there's plenty of gas and oil in the engine, though I did notice blue smoke coming out of it when I went up or down hills before it stopped working. I assume this was the oil, but I'm not sure why it seems to be burning on such low hills and assumed that the engine was overheating
Make sure that the valve clearances are set at .004-.006. Excessive valve clearance is an every day problem on the single cylinder briggs, with an occasional failed compression release mechanism on the camshaft.
#4
SONOFADOCKER
Valves went out of adjustment - notated how many tries or bulldozer battery the engine can not complete a compression and exhaust stroke .
