B&S Professional series engine??

Found this write up on another lawn site.

The B&S "Professional" series engines are nothing more than the old Intek engine with a larger air, fuel, and oil filter. They haven't been out long enough, and used enough across the entire country in different climates and conditions yet to really establish a good rep, but just the fact that they are nothing more than an Intek engine gussied up with commercial filters, and a so called cyclonic filtration system should be clue enough to stay away from them. Not a single one of the many dealer around here that sell them will recommend one to anyone who cuts more than an hour or so a week.

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Something few people talk about with regard to engine longevity is 'cycles.'

A thermal cycle is a cold start, reach operating temperature, and cool down to ambient temp.

The OP, with is predicted 1/2 hour mow time, will have 2,000 cycles on his engine when the hourmeter shows 1,000 hours. Commercial users may only have one cycle per 8 hour day, as the engine never cools down to ambient until the end of the day. The homeowner's once a week start is dry; most of the oil has drained off the lubricated surfaces. The commercial guy's mower may not get more than one dry start all summer as it will probably not sit for a full week during the entire mowing season. So I ask: Who's engine is really seeing the more severe duty?

If you want to get a lot of hours out of your engine, put a lot of hours on quick, and follow the mfg's maintenance schedule.

Briggs and Stratton Professional series engines have the standard air filtration system and not the Cyclonic Air Filtration System.
The Cyclonic Air Filtration System is an excellent filtering system with a filter that is easily cleaned by tapping the element on a hard item shaking loose the fine particles per the operators manual instructions. I have a Commercial Series engine on one of my Zero Turn mowers that also has a collection system which makes operation much more dusty. The filter works great, this engine has about 700 hours on it and runs fine. I tap clean the air filter frequently as the collection bags hang directly behind the engine. When the interior of the filter starts to loose the bright whiteness, I replace the filter.

I contacted B&S, so I guess I will wait to see what they say is the biggest difference between the 2 engines are (kind of want to hear from them). If I don't hear back from them......I guess it's off to the local JD dealership.

I don't see where the Commercial series B&S engine is an option on the machine that you are considering.
The Professional series and Commercial series both have cast iron cylinder sleeves whereas most or all Intek series do not.
The cylinder block on the Commercial and possibly the Professional series has been reinforced.
The Commercial series has a taller blower housing and cooling fan as it supplies more cooling airflow to the engine and the engine oil cooler, in addition to the incoming air thru the Cyclonic air filter and into the carb. Also has removable access covers to allow cleaning of the cylinders. It also has a cast aluminum intake manifold. The Commercial series is designed to be used on Zero Turn machines.
The Professional series has the standard blower housing, no engine oil cooler, plastic intake manifold and standard oval air filter/debris filter thru which incoming combustion air directly passes.
Both have engine oil filters installed.

You sure about the inteks not having a cast sleeve?
The few inteks I've tore into all had cast iron sleeves.
I thought that was the deal with the Inteks being a better, more durable engine.,

I've got a "NOS" engine from 2004 never fired once that actually says, Intek I/C on the gas tank. Horizontal.

"You sure about the inteks not having a cast sleeve?
The few inteks I've tore into all had cast iron sleeves."

There have been very few B&S engines 10 hp up, if any, built in recent years which did not have a sleeved cylinder bore. I have rebuilt dozens of Intek engines and never have seen one which was not sleeved.

Walt Conner

Ok I got a reply from B&S and hears what they said......

The Professional Series™ engine has all the features of our Briggs and Stratton Intek™ engine with the additional features of chrome plated exhaust valves to reduce valve wear and a super-finished crank pin bearing to reduce friction and heat under heavy loads. This series also uses premium oil and fuel filters as opposed to the standard versions. Because of these changes, the Professional Series™ engine has a 40% longer engine life when compared to the expected life standards of a Briggs and Stratton Intek™.

So with that being said would anyone go with this engine or a Kawasaki 18.5 HP I-Torque (FS600V) that comes in a JD X350?

Hi guys,
I was wrong about B&S Inteks not having a cast iron sleeve. I thought the last small Briggs that I worked on was an Intek but it wasn't.
I usually deal only with Briggs Vanguard twins, Onan twins and an occasional Kohler K or Magnum as these are the engines on the Case/Ingersoll tractors that I service periodically.
I had repowered my own Scag Tiger Cub with a Briggs Commercial series engine with Cyclonic air filter which has turned out to be a good engine. My other mower is a Hustler X-ONE, 60" rear discharge with a Kawi FX730V. Nice machine, it should be at $11,500!!
Later
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing: