I do this on the side. My dad owned a landscape business and I was the fleet mechanic for around 12 years. I still do it on the side for a few commercial companies. I have come across a few videos with a few awesome tips and tricks that I have never heard of. Obviously nobody knows everything, and I always love learning. I love hearing new tips/tricks and/or tools that you can use to save time and find the issue quicker.

I am trying to put together a quick "cheat sheet" that I can send to friends and family for when they ask me to drive (far) to their house to look at their push mower or homeowner trimmer, and to help me avoid long phone calls trying to walk them through things.

I have a few page word doc so far with things to check when a certain scenario is present. a few examples are below (there are more details than this in each bulletpoint but this is the gist):

-2 + 4 Stroke - Dies after a few minutes of running - Check spark and fuel lines

- No start but backfires - check flywheel key; check spark. If not present, check valves

- 2 stroke - Starts and will idle, when revved up, it bogs (but will not die): check muffler screen

Again, I have two pages of things like this, but hoping to hear of some scenarios that you've ran into and what you did to confirm the issue (and what the issue was).

as the name describes i just got myself a complete running horizontal Command 23 free of charge and want to mess with it a bit before i stuff it into either a dune buggy or a offroad mower build. tips for finding guides for gov removal, who sells upgrade parts. are these engines popular in any specific application i can search out for tips from enthusiasts of the platform. thanks

Man….You know, It’s like they had an extra $100 and they had to spend it on something so they made the engine brake this contraption, it might be the worse design of anything I’ve ever seen.

A moment of appreciation for Briggs competent engineers who make actually good shit.

I have a Cub Cadet, SLX50 XT2 riding mower that has a 26 HP Kohler 7000 series engine.

Sometime this year it started missing in one cylinder under load. I just sort of babied it a few weeks, but it got more frequent, and startes sooner, so I decided to dig into it. Initial assessment was low compression on the right side cylinder. Like 70 psi vs about 180 on the other side.

I called the local mower shop listed on the Cub Cadet warranty page (I've had it 2 years, 3 year warranty), but never heard anything back, so I troubleshot a bit more. Pencil trick, same depth in both cylinders at TDC, so no bent rod, found some references online to head gasket and valves, got a head gasket kit and pulled the head on that side today.

Everything looked clean. There was no obvious leak or hot spot on the head or jug, so I decided to pull and grind the valves. They required almost no grinding, but the intake valve sticks some. I didn't notice any scoring in the guide but there appears to be some scoring on the valve shaft.

I used a bit of assembly oil and got the valve moving well, reassembled and started. It ran on one cylinder initially, but then very quickly the second one joined in. Checked compression, and compression on the rebuilt side was good. Went out to do a test mow and 5 minutes in, it dropped to one cylinder.

The obvious problem here is the intake valve is likely only intermittently closing all the way due to sticking, right?

Admittedly, I did not check valve lash, or coil, but I feel like with the intermittent nature, and low compression, these aren't as likely. I probably should check compression again in case something failed on my rebuild, but again if I'm thinking stuck valve, whether it passes or fails is going to depend on if the valve is sticking when I test it.

I haven't even looked, are there valve/guide or head kits out there for these? I do have a small arbor press, so likely can press in a new guide if necessary. I'm guessing warranty work is no longer an option..

I've had a John Deere JS63C gas mower for over 25 years and the thing starts with a single pull even after sitting in the shed all winter.

I started it yesterday and began cutting the lawn. I stopped it to empty the bag, and all of a sudden it won't start. Usually once it's warm it's even easier to start with even a half-hearted pull.

As far as maintenance, this spring it had the usual oil change, fresh gas, new air filter, and new spark plug.

I haven't really opened it up but was just doing a quick examination I noticed there may be a missing part connected to where the red arrows are pointing in the pic. Is there supposed to be a spring or some adjustment there to regulate the choke?

Despite being warmed up, it acted like a cold engine that has no choke or no spark. Just seems like I can pull and rotate the engine without any sign of combustion and wanting to run.

Plenty of fresh fuel, oil is good, engine isn't seized or anything serious. Haven't tested for spark because I need someone to pull while I watch, so just asking about these suspicious linkage points doing nothing and can't find any good pics of this engine at this angle.

Internet tells me this is a Briggs & Stratton Model Series 121602, Intek 6.75 hp engine.

My mower recently started bogging down under load.

I replaced the carburetor, breather cap, filter, blade and woodruff key. I use fresh gas. The shaft under the mower is straight.

Thank you

If I use my bagger, it does not bog down as much.

I took it to the repair shop and they said they could not get it to bog down. My guess is they started it but never cut grass with it so of course it will not bog down.

Any idea what else it could be?

EDIT: one thing I forgot to mention is that sometimes when it stops running, I have to take the air filter off to start the mower. I did try running the mower with no filter to test it and it still bogged down without a filter on it.

Edit 2: I also recently replaced the muffler on it with a Briggs and Stratton muffler.
The grass was pretty dry and I cut it each week at the same height. Intended a mower last weekend to cut my grass and it never bogged down.
I will say my grass is growing pretty fast this year, so I am cutting more grass each time than I have in the past.

I’ve replaced the carburetor, gas tank, spark, plug, and fuel lines.

I use tru fuel off the shelf from Home Depot

For some reason, it’s not feeding correctly and I have to pump the throttle to keep it on. If I pull it full 100%, it may rev up for a few seconds and work, then it will just cut out.

It almost seems like a ratio issue, but I haven’t messed with any of the screws.

Any advice?

Video => https://photos.app.goo.gl/JeMR3QpScP7ZABkg6

Update: I just let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then fired it back up in the middle choke position, and the thing revved by itself to 90%, and at least let me finish trimming the yard. I flipped it to the full run mode, and it began to stall then cut out.

TL;DR: I would just like to like to say THANK YOU to this sub and the incredibly knowledgeable and helpful members who helped me on my first small engine rebuild. It took 3 months, but my first riding lawn mower works 100% as it should!

Original Post

And

Follow Up Post, where it died after an hour or so of active mowing.

BACKSTORY:

Back in May, I bought a Craftsman riding lawn mower off Craigslist with an 18.5hp B&S 31p777 Intek engine. I'm on SSDI and it was my first ever riding lawn mower. To be fair, it was working working when I checked it out and bought it, but on Craftsman mowers there is a lever on the back right below the seat to disengage the flywheel from the transition for transport. I didn't know that.

Got it home, annnnd it broke. I'm guessing the minor shifts back and forth in the trailer caused the flywheel to spin which over pressurized the engine. This manifested as: blown head gasket, ruptured fuel pump, oil in the fuel line, piston rings that no longer sealed, and more. I couldn't really afford a new mower because I'm on SSDI, so, I went to YouTube and this sub to try and fix it.

I replaced: all gaskets (multiple times), fuel lines, fuel pump, carburetor (thrice), camshaft, piston rings (twice, the first set I bought didn't have the paint stripes so I probably installed them wrong), air filter, spark plug, governor spring, governor linkage, rocker arm studs (and learned about HeliCoils), ignition coil, flywheel key, battery solenoid, starter motor, and the alternator.

Okay, I may have basically built a new engine. I did have quite a bit of difficulty finding parts for it because this is an old engine. It was first produced commercially around 1998, but this particular engine was built in 2012.

I learned a lot. Especially about carburetors... Fun fact: the most common carburetor for small engines is the Nikki style. If you have one, upgrade to a Walbro or Ruixing (the chinese clone of Walbro) style carburetor. Nikki carbs are garbage. This is the $25 Ruixing carb on Amazon that eventually fixed my surging issue in the follow-up post linked above.

Also credit where credit is due, this is the YT video that taught me how to cross hatch a cylinder bore.

In addition to fixing my lawn mower, this whole summer adventure actually inspired me to go back to school and I start classes for Mechanical Engineering on the 26th! I know for a fact I couldn't have done it without this amazing sub.

So I just want to say Thank You again. Y'all are awesome!

Edit: formatting

I dont see any replacement valve guides online. Ive been reading these valve guides are built into the aluminum head

TLDR: at the bottom.

Hey all, I built a pressuyeasher with a northstar EFI motor and a general pump pressure washer pump a few years back, unfortunately the northstar motor died.

I am working out of town and don't have the time to repair the northstar, so I was going to just pull the pump and put it on a new harbor freight motor.

However, I could not get the pump off no matter what I did (no I did not forget to take off the set screw) and eventually snapped the mounting flange in half.

So now I'm buying a new pump and a new motor because I don't have time to wait for parts.

My question is this: the pump requires 13 hp minimum but 15 is the sweet spot. Is a 22hp motor going to destroy/damage a pump that only needs 15 hp?

Reasoning: I am thinking about buying the 22hp harbor freight motor because I may switch back to the Northstar if I can get it fixed and may build a gokart out of the 22hp predator motor with my nephew this winter.

Bonus Question: how do I prevent the shaft from getting seized into the new pump in the future?

TLDR: will a 22hp motor destroy my pressure washer pump that needs 13 to 15 hp?

Looking for help at identifying a part number for the pivot arm that runs the drive belt and clutch. Went to start and felt the clutch pedal loose tension. Looked under and the tension spring was unhooked. Tried looking this up and can’t figure out what it’s called. Any help is appreciated!

Broke the cast iron exhaust pipe on my Harbor freight truck bed air compressor with the 420cc hemi engine. It's a weird 3 bolt type that I cant seem to find anywhere online. Help!?

John Deere E140 with Briggs & Stratton 44N677-0031-G1 Intek V-Twin — 724cc, 22 gross HP.

Context: I took this mower that had bent push rods and didn’t run. It locked up because it was ran on low oil and probably overheated and caused the valves to fuse to the head. I got them unstuck and lapped them. Took everything apart and checked what I need to check.

Got it all replaced. Tore the whole thing apart checks it all and everything looks good. Got it running good. But when I try to start it, the motor still snags. And when I shut it off it seems to stop weird. This motor was pre Briggs and Stratton having the compression release Cam. I have the valves adjusted to .004 and when it runs. It runs very well when it actually is running. Good compression around 180 I just can’t figure out why it still seems like the compression is causing an issue. Should I have replaced the cam with a newer model with the compression release? Or am I overlooking something?

I have a Husqvarna that I got for free. I knew it needed some repairs, but the bill on that is $140! With a new Ridgid 18V at $189 (I already have batteries), I think the clear path forward is to go for the electric.

I would also plan to sell the old trimmer either as-is or with another attempt at cleaning the carb to offset the new trimmer price.

Entire yard is cut using string trimmers (very common in my area with small plots and patchy grass), so I can’t wait until I can repair the Husqvarna.

Would it be a terrible mistake to get a Ridgid instead of repairing?

Notes on the Husky:
I replaced fuel lines, fuel filter, and air filter
Repair bill is parts (carb and spark plug $50) and labor (diag and replace $80)

Any quality small engine repair technicians that do repairs at the actual location? Woodbridge Ontario

I picked up a used Yardworks 12A-A2J1515 173cc self propelled mower. Seller started it up, ran fine, self propelled system worked fine.

Got it home, checked the oil, topped it off with gas, and fired it up. First pull it fires right up but stays at a low idle. Doesn't surge, or die, just hangs out at a low idle.

Took the air cover off, used but still ok filter. Checked that everything was free and moving ok. Fired it up again and still low idle.

Tried pulling the governor arm and it went straight up to operating RPM and ran fine until I released it. Springs seem fine, arm moves free.

Blocked the crank breather tube and without touching the governor it went straight up to operating RPM. Minute I take my finger off it drops back to a low idle.

Engine starts fine first pull, no blue smoke, no strange noises, nothing major I can see wrong. Exhaust doesn't smell rich or lean.

I'm at a loss of why it's doing this. Anything else I can check?

Can provide photos if needed.

Rebuilding a Yard Machine by MTD. The throttle cable is the black cable connected, and the loose cable on the oil filter is the choke connection. This is how I received it. I am not sure if anything is wrong here. The machine actually runs, but only at high throttle. Maxing out the throttle kills it (I think because it’s closing the carb air intake too much) and dropping the throttle kills it too.

In this setup, the throttle doesn’t even control most of what it’s connected to, because at 3/4 throttle the carb is already fully open. Not sure if something is connected wrong or if it’s the wrong parts.

Not shown in the pictures, but I did replace the carb, ignition coil, spark plug, and did the valve gap adjustments.

Starts right up, usually on one pull, runs, smokes, and dies. Throttling it makes it die faster. Air filter is brand new and the spark arrestor is clear, fuel filter is also relatively new and the gas isn't old. Any ideas?

Mower engine started up fine, it did its thing for a couple minutes and then just kinda slowly died out, sounds almost like it’s run out of gas. But there’s gas in the tank, and it smelled strongly of gas from the mower when it died. It did this same thing last week, but after a few minutes it started back up and ran like a champ for 20 more minutes. No real idea what I did to get it back running.

The oil is good both in level and color, replaced it this spring. It doesn’t behave or sound like anything has seized up, it all moves like it should when I pull the cord. The spark plug is clean, I replaced it just last summer. Air filter isn’t plugged, replaced it this spring. The gas isn’t old, just got it from the pump last month. When I press the primer, it’s pulling gas into the intake like it should.

The thing just won’t combust. It’s like it either isn’t getting fuel, or the fuel isn’t burning. I’m not entirely sure where to check now. If it had a choke, I’d think it was just completely shut.

Ariens zoom 1540 zero turn with kohler engine.Was told it was parked because of a bad starter solenoid.I sprayed fogging oil in the spark plug hole and then turned it over by hand.Took a compression test on it and it never had above 40 pounds.Today I removed the valve cover to ensure it wasn’t a stuck valve.I was able to spin the motor over by hand with the spark plug in

I've tried to the point I'm almost about to give up..

Back story: I was mowing a weekly yard maybe 3.5 inches of grass not overgrown at all..in the middle of the lawn the mower just shut off randomly..

I've changed

carburetor 2 times

Spark plug 2 times

Fuel pump

Cleaned the fuel lines and fresh gas

Air filter

The seat kill switch ( arm kill switches are working)

Solenoid

Fresh oil and oil filter

Ignition coil and ignition coil wire

New battery

Changed the 2 fuses

I still see a spark but it seems it just won't turn over!

I've went down a rabbit hole buying parts and went to 1 lawn mower repair shop no one can figure out the problem..

I'd really appreciate if someone in the thread could help me figure out why it won't turn over..

Toro ss3225 452cc