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Well we have an 48hl olathe sweeper which has a new briggs on it as of last year... Unfortunately the guy running it ran it out of oil(tho he swears he checked it) So now a year and 2 grand later we are stuck with a paper weight once again... I put about 1.5 quarts into the motor when it happened so it was for sure low! Had it sit for about 30min and while I was gone getting the backhoe to drag it back to the shop, the employee that was using it tried to start it again(after I told him not to mess with it) He said it ran for a couple sec and then just shut off! Today I got a few min to look at it.. Motor turns free for about a turn then locks up(plugs are out of it) The starter wont even get past it.. So im thinking the connecting rod snapped and it just it wedging itself against the block...I couldnt look down the rear spark plug hole as I was trying to spin it so not sure if that piston is moving, the front one is for sure moving. Any ideas what might be wrong? I wanna tear into it at some point but not sure what im gonna get into(tips/tricks).. Im pretty sure the motor is Fubar... I havent called about the warranty but im pretty sure they wont cover it since it was an operator error unless they can find a manufacture defect in it somewhere... My new plan is to use one of the 18hp vanguards that we have on an older motor that is no longer in use(old school 3 wheeled yazoo) Im hoping it will still be enough power to run the hyrdos and sweeper part of it... I ideally want to get it running again and get rid of it! Would rather use a vac to attach to our dump truck.. The old boss who is no longer there was up for spending the money on a new motor last year vs a vac system...:thumbdown:

I had a similar one come to me a few years back and I removed the spark plugs, inserted a long screwdriver, slowly turned the flywheel by hand and felt for piston movement. One piston was moving and one wasn't. If that's the case for you then it's time to open the engine and find out how much damage has been done. The fact that the crankshaft only turns one turn and locks is reason enough to look inside.

Good luck.

Lawnranger said:

I had a similar one come to me a few years back and I removed the spark plugs, inserted a long screwdriver, slowly turned the flywheel by hand and felt for piston movement. One piston was moving and one wasn't. If that's the case for you then it's time to open the engine and find out how much damage has been done. The fact that the crankshaft only turns one turn and locks is reason enough to look inside.

Good luck.

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Yeah if I get the time here soon I for sure wanna tear into it.. Bad part is I was about 50-75 yards away and could tell it was sounding weird.. Was on my way to tell him to cut it off and I took literately 3 steps and heard it lock up(no bang just right off)..... I knew that exact sound when it shut off that it locked up

Turn the engine by hand backwards and forwards.
IF it goes clunk & stops at the same place then you might have lucked things in and have a loose magnet under the flywheel.
Tip the engine drain plug down and drop the oil inspect it for lumps of metal.
I bought a cheap USB boreoscope a few years back and a cheap laptop PC to run it from.
It was an excellent investment as I get to see what is in the sump by shoving it down the pushrod tube and ditto for the plug holes & pushrod tubes.

Being a cheap unit it has a focus 6cm to infinity where as a mechanics on is 1 cm to 30 cm.
However this was $ 20 and my original mechanics one was $ 200 and has a very thick tube.

Well took it back to the place that put the engine on it and he said he was gonna tear it apart and look at it.. He said depending on what he finds he may be able to get briggs to warranty it but isnt sure yet.. I told him about the 18hp we have and he said if our 23 hp is trashed he might be able to use the heads on the 18hp.. Then swap over the carb and intake since they are the same block.. So that could be a plan B


Thanks for the help!