Recent content by Richard Milhous

Probably something got jammed or disconnected when the air filter blew off. Which I've never heard of.

Check for bent crankshaft.

If the amp gauge was fried, it might read current where there is none but it wouldn't be able to detect being hooked up backward (pegs the other way) unless there was something to detect. Diode is most certainly toast. Might be other problems too.

People used lawn mowers for generations without governors at all. You can still get a choke cable for like ten bucks to push the throttle; it might also serve as an ignition cutoff.

A used mower has a used starter. How long before it fails?

A loan without collateral is a gift.

The diesel, m'lord, would be ignited by the gasoline. How this could contribute to blowing a head gasket, I dunno.

Yeah, like my diesel in a denatured alcohol can marked "DIESEL" in Sharpie. The two-stroke gas is in a completely unmarked red can...

Mine was easier than that; all I had to do was pull the flywheel, saw the mandrel off, and put the other parts on. It spins the motor and rewinds.

Man that cylinder is uglier than my first wife.

I had the exact same thing happen not long ago. Took me forever to figure out. Finally got it running and it threw a rod.

I have an old Murray push with a Briggs 95902, 1992 vintage. The starter pulley wore out where the recoil spring goes in, causing the spring to come loose and get scrambled up in its housing. I found a new spring and pulley, but can't get the spring to stay seated in the shroud. I can't find...

Ruh Roh. I am planning to do that on a trailer brake controller powered by the brake light circuit. I realized I needed a bypass (don't want to lose the brakes if the brakelight switch fails) and that if the brake lights had a short it would just blow the fuse on the bypass and... oops. I...

Unless it's one of those brands intended to last only six months until they change their name from Hung Kung Fui to Chi Chan Chong.

Unless this is a $100 part (and maybe even if it is), Bertsmobile is right. You don't know what the specs on the diode are supposed to be. I think there is probably supposed to be something moderating that voltage, and it's quite likely in the diode. Or could there be some other component...

I haven't, but what do you consider a good rating on Amazon? All that Chinese garbage usually has vast amounts of phony five star ratings. I look for the distribution of one to four star ratings and read the one stars to see if they reflect a consistent and real problem. Sometimes a lot of the...

I'm no electrical engineer but I'm guessing at least one diode is fried like an egg. Keep in mind you can test them for resistance at 9V or whatever your tester supplies but the response may be non-linear. I.e., it looks fine on the tester but the 40V peak from the stator might blow right...

I thought those worked by suction from the intake.

I dunno how you foo's tell what's burning by color. I only see "gray", unless it's moisture (white).

The battery might still be good. I'm more interested in figuring out what the multimeter is actually measuring, honestly. If the open-circuit stator is pumping 28V sinusoidal AC and the battery is fully charged, diode functional, the RMS voltage at the battery should be about 22V (assuming...

I'm curious under what conditions the 28 and 14V were measured - with or without any load connected? Did you try taking an AC reading downstream from the diode?

If your tester is reading 28V AC off the stator, your peak voltage is 40V each direction. The diode will have to take that voltage, and whatever peak current the stator can push into the battery - could be pretty large.

I don't know about this particular system but typically a rectifier includes capacitance to help level the voltage.

Sat outside for years, starts easily, runs great. *SULK*

Could water get in the oil? "was sitting outside for a couple of years". Yes, I think it could.

I was thinking maybe failed rings on one cylinder. That would be consistent with one oily plug; however it would smoke profusely.

Will it START with the wheels turned all the way to the right?

JB Weld is awesome, in the right application. I have a power window switch still in service that I JB Welded 19 years ago, and some bicycle handles that get heavy, frequent use have served for 12 years now. What's it's NOT is anything like a substitute for welding. It's nowhere near as strong...

180 psi on both cylinders?

WHAT liquid metal goop? JB Weld will melt out. An old wrench once told me that lead wool (used for obsolete plumbing) would work. Never tried it.

Ouch. Has that actually eaten into the block?

Brother in law??? Axle grease. With a dab of silicone, for family.

If it was mine, I'd load it with axle grease. If it's a paying customer, maybe not.

Condensation in the oil. It will get in your gas tank too. Last major ice storm my generator saw me through for 48. Took a few pulls - subfreezing at 100% humidity. My boss couldn't start his at all. Difference? I run the motor every eight weeks enough to dry it out, and I Stabil my gas...

Pennzoil? I wouldn't put that crap in my ex-wife's car! Or, come to think of it... I would.

Thanks. That head must run damn hot to need a metal heat shield.

I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE LIKE THAT CAN YOU POST A PIC?

So does everything else.

Two spark plugs were not defective, unless you pulled them both from a scrapyard. Test procedure, maybe.

Holy aping ass monkey!!!! I'll be more careful about chain tension. Crankshafts used to get straightened all the time, and I've used mowers with straightened cranks (have a suspicion I'm using one now). I never heard of one breaking, and I don't doubt one straightening is okay. But if it's...

Ha, you got better help than I did.

If engaging the blades causes serious shaking, there's a blade or related component bent. Look for obviously deformed blades. Turn the blades 180 degrees by hand (yeah, yeah, disconnect the plug or whatever) and see if one arm of the blade come around at a different height than the other.

It's not impossible for some fool to put grease in an engine, but 10:1 this is water.

If you're not getting spark, measuring resistance can confirm (but not completely rule out) the coil as a problem. I thought the OP already tried multiple spark plugs???

Bad gas? *Ethanol* gas??? I just read an account by a Soviet general from 1945 claiming they mixed captured Polish vodka into their gasoline to stretch the supply. Good thing those engines only had to last a few more months...

Three years "shouldn't" be a lot of wear. Unless it's crap to begin with, or you're brush hogging forty acres, or running without an air filter, or leaving it in the weather all winter, or... Stuff they make now won't last the way stuff made twenty years ago did. It's the main reason I try to...

A snowblower with a 4-stroke? A 1986 engine that runs? I'd be looking for a way to put a bigger gas tank on it before anything else. Or put a shrader valve in the tank cap and give it a push with a bicycle pump.

BANG! oops... I've never used anything but motor oil, never thought of that.

Going over the... throttle? shaft? From the outside? Messing up a part you never removed? Hell yeah. You don't know what's going on if you've never removed it. The slightest hint of disturbance, or mere coincidence, can change something. Especially if some desperado like me tinkered with...

He's talking about the connection between the carburetor and intake. If this is not airtight, the engine will suck raw air through the leak instead of fuel-air through the carb. On car engines I use motor oil for this test, but on car engines you can attach a vacuum gauge to see the change...

Except when they deliver a half-assed weak spark that won't pass the Slomo test. Like that infamous Ariens thread, or that fellow who confirmed spark by grabbing the plug wire but it turned out the points were burnt. Or my '92 that would give me a jolt but wouldn't catch until I replaced the...

If none of this makes it work you might consider that the brand new coil could be defective. Did you check its resistance? How exactly did you determine no spark? I still have a dwellmeter in a toolbox, pining away for the day when I have a real car to work on again...

Sir, I must dispute. If the pressure to be relieved were caused by the descent of a piston, then the ascent of said piston would create a suction, resulting in (probably unfiltered) outside air being drawn into the crankcase. I believe that the pressure being relieved is that caused by...