Message for Briggs and Stratton:

[The Push mower]

Please check your rod cap torque before shipping engines to retailers. DOM 4/29/19-yes it was a Monday build. Thought for sure the PO failed to put oil in this engine. Engine looks brand new including cylinder wall! Pulled cover off bottom and saw the rod bearing, rod cap, crankshaft and bearing were clearly destroyed. First rod cap bolt I removed (top/first photo) was barely finger tight. Other rod cap bolt appeared properly torqued.

 

[Rivets]

Before you start blaming Briggs I would do a few more checks. In pic #2 and #3 I can definitely see metal transfer, which is an indication of overheating. A loose rod bolt can be caused by lack of lubrication, which will cause overheating. I’m not saying that the bolt was not tightened properly, but your pics indicate there might be over problems.

 

[ILENGINE]

A loose rod cap bolt without other factors will not transfer aluminum. Rod and crank both show aluminum transfer which says lack of oil at time of start and run.

 

[StarTech]

If it was a problem being a loose rod bolts considering how of these engine are produce each year the dealers would be filing a lot warranty claims. To me it look more like a case of an engine being ran with very low level or no oil. It only take a few minutes with no oil to start this transfer process.

There have been no dealer service bulletins issued by Briggs for a problem like loose rod bolts.

 

[StarTech]

Going through the APSIs, CSBs, DSBs, and SBs I see only one recently that covered the 09P series. It in reference to a leaking valve cover on serial number range 20080100 - 20092800.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

No dog in this but had a customer being in a push mower last summer with a briggs engine said it had 2 hours on it and it just stopped. Pulled the rope and no compression. Put a screwdriver down the sparkplug hole and piston not moving. Told him to call the mfgr about warranty. He picked it up and took it to another shop he was told to take it to. He said he got a call that the rid cap came loose and crank and rod was toast and he got a new mower free.

 

[Rivets]

I’ve got no dog in this question, and we don’t know the reason Briggs granted warranty to your customer. I just know from my limited experience, 99% of the time when I’ve seen metal transfer like in the pictures posted, no warranty due to overheating caused by lack of lubrication. 95% of the time I agree with them, while the other 5% I’ve disassembled the engine and found enough dark oil to question their assessment. Getting warranty in these cases most of the time will depend on your experience dealing with the claims specialist.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

I'd ask the owner if he mows on any inclines. Oil slinger in good shape?

 

[bertsmobile1]

The only way you get metal transfer is not having oil between the two surfaces
This causes excessive heat which can stretch a bolt making it look like the bolt was loose from the start
Now if the bearing is on a pressure fed crank then you can get metal to metal contact but it would be very rare for metal transfer
What usually happens id the cap breaks and you get hammer marks in the journals .

So without having it in my hands I would concur with the others, most likely run with low oil .
However unless you pulled it out of the box yourself there is always the chance that some idiot has fired it up before you got your hands on it .

 

[The Push mower]

Brand new engine low on oil? Cylinder wall is very nice-oil starvation would have a cylinder wall scratched quite badly too, sorry low oil theory just doesn't fly. Can anyone go to a retailer and start pulling dipsticks and see how many are low on oil when pushed away from a retailer? If you want to simply disagree for the sake of disagreeing go ahead. One loose rod bolt caused this...piss and moan all you want to.