I have an older Snapper rider with a 14 HP Briggs electric start. The starter will not spin the motor on cold start. It acts like the battery is dead but it is not. New battery and all connection have been cleaned from battery, relay and starter. Now, when hand starting by pulling the motor it is extremely hard to pull and turn over. I could
turn the rider over by pulling hard. Eventually it will start by pulling and after that the electric starter will start the motor. Anyone know what the problem is?
What's the numbers on the engine out of curiosity?
Hard starting could be oodles of things. Since it's hard to start with both recoil and electric start, that'll rule out any electrical/starter motor problems. Probably best to focus on valves, carbon buildup and oil/gas leaking into the head causing hydraulic lock.
Is there any smoke once you get it started? Can you remove the spark plug and turn the engine easier? When you do, does any gas/oil come out (pull it slow first then fast to see if you get spray)? With the spark plug out, do you see the valves lifting properly? When the engine runs is there low power or loss of power?
IMO, if the engine is a flathead, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the head and check things out. I generally do that in new (to me) mowers I get, especially the ones I'm going to be using myself. Head gaskets are cheap and you can take the time to clean the carbon out like Briggs suggests.
