Is it just me, or is Briggs and Stratton starting to go downhill? (or have they always been this bad)
I was working on my girlfriends lawnmower today because it was vibrating so bad she couldn't mow more than 10 minutes with it and as I was taking apart the engine, i noticed that the carburetor and the whole intake system right up to the side of the block was plastic! I've never worked on a B&S engine that was built with plastic like that before! Well I came to the conclusion that the crankshaft was bent and this was causing all the racket, so I came in here to go on their website and get a part, and now instead of looking at the parts online, I have to order their parts list. I did this two years ago, and I could just go on their website, type in the engine model number and get the part I wanted no questions asked! But now I have to order the parts list!
Maybe im doing it wrong..someone chime in and tell me im stupid!
So, anyway...im just gonna tell her to go buy a new mower...it was a cheap one anyways! (maybe thats why the engine seemed to be built cheaply)
Its been a long day...

 

Ah, Briggs and Stratton motors never had anything going for them other than the fact that they were cheap as dirt. Anybody who wanted dependability always bought Tecumseh, Honda, Husquarvarniaiaoloscohpies..... or Kubotas.

In High School I had an Ag Small Engines class that essentially consisted of "tear apart Briggs and Strattons, sabatoge them and make them explode"... Amongst some strange design features encountered were plastic cam shafts (which we never had problems with), flimsy oil slingers (which limited the engines' maximum speed by about 1500 RPM), and carbureators (which just wouldn't run too good after they were turned into flamethrowers). Never did I see plastic carbureators, however. (They probably went to plastic after they learned about the Norco High kids turning the metal ones into flamethrowers...)

 

Yeah this engine had a plastic camshaft and an oil slinger that looked like it was about to fall apart...I've gotta try the flamethrower idea!
I've worked on a lot of B&S engines in the past (go cart, lawnmowers, leaf shredders, generators etc..) and this is the cheapest ive ever seen them made! the ones before didnt have a plastic part on 'em, ran like crazy, but they leaked oil like a detroit, and would only start 1/100 times!

 

just buy a new mower, it will be cheaper and get all the boulders out of the yard so the blade won't hit them and bend the crank again. Throw away engines now days.

 

I'm not sure anyone makes a decent small engine anymore. Briggs & Scrap Iron has never been high on my list, but I always thought Kohler was s'posed to be pretty good.... until I got one in my welder. So far, it only has 150 hours on it, and it's already had 2 rebuilds under warranty. I will say that Kohler has been pretty good about the warranty stuff, but with 150 hours, I shouldn't have to think about total rebuilds! I guess that's what I get for buying a motor from a company that makes engines AND toilets; their product lines are apparently interchangable!

chaikwa.

 

I didn't know they were the same company! Makes sense now...I have a 20 year old Toro with a Tecumseh engine in it that I inherited from my grandparents and besides the regular stuff like cleaning out the carb and fixing little things, i've never had a problem with it.

 

I'm really impressed with my current Briggs powered lawn mower. Over ten years old now, and every spring I get it out of the shed and it still starts on the first pull.

 

Yep, same company. Altho, the people I've dealt with at Kohler absolutely HATED it when I made that comparison!

chaikwa.

 

I teach a class called AG. Power 1 (over 15 years now), in it I teach students to work on Briggs & Stratton, Tecumseh, Kohler, etc... The one thing that I have found over the years is that the Briggs are easy to work on, but most times the parts cost more that the engine is worth. All the companies are using more and more plastic parts to make engines cheaper, lighter, more disposalable. If it truely has a bent crank shaft, junk it and buy a new one. I have an outside storage area at school and guess what brands of engines I have the most of sitting around? Briggs & Stratton, when they are working they run great but when they have problems, it is usually expensive to work on unless it is something minor like carb float, diaphram, etc.. Good Luck with it.

 

We use kohler's in a couple of our carpet cleaning units and they run great. Got close to a 1000 hours on both and all we do is change the oil. My family had a 20 year old honda lawn mower that would crank on the first pull and didn't use any oil. Smoked like a freight train when it was cold but once warmed up it was great. Our new honda mower sucks. It's a pain to crank and it's hard to keep running. The honda we had on a carpet unit also sucked. About 500 hours and it was trashed. Bores were scarred, valves were leaking, just junk. I guess they really don't make them like they used to.

 

Then you've never had the distinct pleasure of working on the overhead valve Tecumseh's 14 to 16hp. Makes a briggs and scrap iron look cheap to overhaul.

Its a very interesting way to work on an overhead valve engine. Bring the piston up to TDC, using a special too to hold the valve against the head and another tool to compress the spring you remove the valve spring keepers and the spring, then let the valve drop against the piston. Do the same thing for the other valve.
Now you can take the lower valve cover off and remove the rest of the head bolts. Sound like fun doesn't it.

 

Thanks everyone! Glad im not the only one that thinks these things are junk...This engine I worked on was actually the cleanest on the inside of any small engine ive ever worked on. I actually have the piston sitting on my desk right now and it barely has any scratches on it and the top looks good as new...im going to give it to the girlfriend and tell her I forgot where it goes when she wants the mower back...

 

Sounds like a challenge to me!

 

After you do it 1/2 a dozen times or so you can do it with your eyes closed.

 

Just one more formerly trusted American brand name that's cashing in on their good name by making cheap throwaway consumer trash for their bottom line. (Briggs&Stratton, Black&Decker, etc.)
B&S and other mfr's used to make Top-of-the-line all cast-iron engines that literally ran forever. Hence the name recognition:B&S = long-life/quality...

Not any longer...

How do you like those anodized aluminum cylinder bores??? No 2nd chance at life if you score those...
Neighbor's new looking mower (B&S engine)was pushed out next to the curb, and I really thought he just forgot to put it back in his garage after mowing one afternoon. I knocked on the door and let them know they left their mower out. Nope, throwing it away!
I went back and checked the oil.. thick grey aluminum fines in the oil, no compression = Junk!

K.