Recent content by Tbone0106

Most Briggs engines in that size range don't even have an oil pump. They have a "splasher paddle wheel" thingmajig instead. In any case, there is no line that goes from an oil pump to the carburetor. What you're looking at is almost certainly a breather hose that vents the discharge from the PCV...

Of course the EPA knows it. In recent years, the EPA has required so much ethanol to be blended into the fuel supply that the fuel supply literally can't take it all. As cars and trucks become more fuel-efficient, fuel production has fallen far short of EPA estimates, and there's no place to put...

Interesting comments here. I've been working for a lot of years as a small-engine service guy, and I'm the kid that tore down the little Briggs engine on Dad's push mower in 1966, when I was eleven years old. I've seen a few things. Fuel stabilizers don't work to prevent the damage ethanol...

That's wild. Almost every single-cylinder Briggs explosion I've seen involved seizure of the connecting rod bearing (bushing), not the lower crank bearing.

The numbers you provided don't compute, so I can't say. If it's a single-cylinder vertical-shaft engine, it almost positively has an 'impeller' system, and not an actual pump. This is why these engines are so sensitive to oil levels, and tear themselves to pieces when the oil is just a little...

If the engine does not have an actual oil pump, you're wasting your time. The vast majority of Briggs engines don't have oil pumps; instead they have oil "impellers," or little paddles on a wheel that sit in the oil sump and just sort of splash the oil around in every direction randomly. (Most...

There is undoubtedly another key on the bottom of the crankshaft, one that keys the blade flange to the motor. On most push mowers, the blade acts as a flywheel. The engine won't run at all without a blade, and if the blade is not in sync with everything else, you've got no mower. My bet is the...

What do you suggest? Gasoline? Lye soap? Nobody is going to drop the deck off a mower in order to flip it and clean it with a toothbrush after every mowing. Many modern mower decks have a fitting for hooking up a garden hose and cleaning the underside using water and the splattering action of...

Throwing a belt has a lot of different causes. Alignment of the pulleys is critical. (They should rotate as nearly as possible on the same plane, sometimes not possible on a riding mower because the deck moves up and down.) Pulley guards matter; if one is missing, that could cause the problem...

A tree frog? An entire tree frog? There had to be a good story behind that one. Either that or somebody just left the thing parked for a very long time with the fuel cap off.

Something to consider.... On several mowers I've worked on -- all MTD products, including my own Cub RZT50 -- a bit of debris in the fuel tank has stopped the engine randomly. This happens because the fuel pick-up is unfiltered and the fuel has to pass through a narrow 90-degree brass elbow...

Many years ago, my partner and I built a ranch-style house for an owner in Brown County, Ohio. We installed cedar lap siding. The owner came along and sprayed it all with a mixture of 50% Diesel fuel and 50% ATF. He wanted the reddish tone that the ATF would provide. I have to say it was pretty.

I put no words in your mouth, bub. I quoted your post directly. Three times. My point was that you posted extensively (and factually incorrectly) about population growth in various places. And when I called you out on it, you tried to change the subject to birth rates, which is tenuously...

I know a guy whose job it is to go around the county and test pump gas (E10) for ethanol content. (The legal maximum is 10%, but it may contain less than that.) How does he do it? Simple! He adds a measured volume of water to a measured volume of E10, shakes it up for a minute or two, and places...

Oh boy! If you think the UN doesn't have a 'strong political agenda,' I have a nice shiny bridge I'd like to sell you, along with some oceanfront property in Oklahoma. I got my numbers from WorldData.info and several other sources. I'm not a big fan of Fakebook. In your earlier post, you didn't...