Starter got hot enough to melt plastic in it?

[unioncreek]

I have a Briggs and Stratton 31C707-0154-E1 16.5 hp engine in my Yardman mower. It's been hard starting this year and I've adjusted the valves about every month. Sometimes it will start sometimes not. The battery is good in it, so when it doesn't start I use my truck to jump start it. It finally wouldn't start this past weekend so I used my push mower to mow our 1/2 acre of lawn. That was a workout. I decided to check the starter so I hooked the jumper cables from a spare battery directly to the starter and it barely turned over. So, I pulled the starter and took it apart. You could tell it had gotten pretty hot. The mower is 13 years old, so I've gotten pretty good use out of it. I'm assuming that I'm better off just buying a new starter. Who has the best service and prices online?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[bertsmobile1]

:welcome:

Before you go burning up a new starter you need to address the hard start problem.
If the tappets are going out of adjustment after an hour or two then you have problems with the head , cam or decompressor.

So lets get your engine running or you will be throwing good money after bad.

What exactly do you mean by hard to start ?
Turns over slow ?
Turns over normally but wont kick at all ?
Turns over normally kicks but wont catch ?
Turns over lumpy

 

[unioncreek]

It turns over slowly. If I can get it to turn over at the normal speed it will start. This year has been the worst, in the past I just adjusted the valves once a year. It could be the decompressor, I'll be able to tell if that's what it is when I overhaul it. I'm planning on overhauling it this winter, due to it burning oil. I haven't checked the compression, but it runs strong.

Bob

 

[bertsmobile1]

Sounds like you know what you are doing.
Try Jacks small engines for the starter.
They are good people to deal with and have reasonable prices.
There is a higher output ( longer ) starter I have fitted a few of these and they work a treat.

 

[Tinkerer200]

Assuming you are adjusting the valves correctly, you may have a rocker arm stud loose in the head OR cracked rocker arm. However, I suspect the spring has come off the compression release inside the engine thus intermittent operation.

As for the starter, B&S says to not hold the starter engaged more than 5 seconds at a time followed by a 10 second rest, cooling period. I say 3 seconds. I would check the local small mower repair shop. They usually have bunches of good used starters lying around. Large shops don't fool with them. I have several but the shipping would make them impractical.

Walt Conner

 

[unioncreek]

Thanks for all the advise. I will probably just finish my mowing this fall with my push mower and overhaul the Briggs this winter.

Bob