two problems with 31c7070603b2 engine. Help please

[trevorsking]

To make a long story short I have a Troy Bilt 42" lawn tractor with a 17.5 HP Briggs and stratton engine model #31c7070603b2. This mower was winterized back in 2010 and I ended up with it. When I drained the oil (from both the chamber and crankcase) there was a lot of water in there as well. I dried it out as best I could and also took off the carburetor to check out the float bowl and intake pipe. After I reassembled the motor with fresh oil and spark plug I tried to start it and to my amazement it started on the first crank, now here lies the problems. The first one is that I have no response to any throttle cable adjustments, it just keeps running at a high RPM and I have not been able to slow it down. I have not adjusted the idle speed yet because it is still at the setting it was previously. and my second problem is, last night I was still working on it when the sun went down, I started the engine and tinkered with it for a few minutes (about 2-3 minutes) to try and fix problem #1 when I noticed that my exhaust pipe AND muffler were glowing a dull red and getting brighter by the second. So I shut it down of course. Today I took the exhaust manifold and muffler off to make sure I didn't have any fluid in there, which it didn't. Yes the engine smoked a lot when I first got it going but I expected that due to the oil getting every where in the motor.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated,

Ron

 

[ILENGINE]

Make sure the throttle linkage moves freely and isn't binding. When the engine isn't running the governor holds the throttle open, and over time can stick in the open position. The red muffler exhaust could be due to the over fast run, but isn't overly unusual for the muffler and exhaust to lightly glow, especially on today's high temp, lean run emissions engines.

 

[trevorsking]

thanks ilengine,

I checked the linkage and there appears to be no obstruction or sticking of either linkage attached to the carburetor but I went ahead and applied some 3in1 oil just to be safe. Do you really think that the exhaust and muffler glowing a soft red is normal, I have nevered mowed in the dark so I wouldn't really know what the muffler looks like after operating it for awhile. I guess I will just keep an eye on it and carry a fire extinguisher with me at all times.

thanks again