What A joke W/Pix

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

Bought this POS 3 years ago to take care of the leaves, Yea Right. Up until this year so far so good. Son was making the 4th round this week sweeping up leaves when the B&S OHV engine decided to slip a push rod .Oil was pumping into the carb thru valve cover hose. Stopped and hauled it to the shop, took the engine down,re positioned the rod, so now I'm not going to trust it again for next year, Another engine but not an OHV POS.We don't mistreat our equipment,just a bad design idea from B&S.Now wondering if you folks have had the same experiences with this engine? Regards LOU. PS this is hooked on our garden tractor,so it is tractor related.lol

Brad Buchanan · Oct 25, 2012

I don't know about the motor, Lou but that black box attached looks just a little bigger than my first apartment.

Regards,

Brad

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

Thats my bedroom, when the war dept (wife) gets mad at me.Small TV and an electric heater and army cot is my home.lol
LOU

huntingreen2day · Oct 25, 2012

Well if you are not going to use an OVH engine you must be going to put an older one on then. Don't know of anyone building new flat heads.

Jon Hagen · Oct 25, 2012

Put Mobil 1 synthetic 5-30 or 10-30 motor oil in it and you will not have valve sticking trouble with that motor. Besides that it will start easier and use less oil.
They run a little too hot for mineral oil, which cokes up the valve stems and causes valve sticking.

Synthetic is the only oil Briggs recommends for any engine load at any temperature.
B&S synthetic oil recommendation.

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

Jon Hagen, Thanks, but we are using synthetic, no trouble with the valves, the pushrod that operates the valve came out of the lifter,causing the valve cover hose to push oil thru the hose into the carb.Sorta looked like he was fogging for bugs while he was vacuuming leaves.lol
Lou

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

huntingreen2day,
If we can't find a standard valve configuation, by Briggs & Stratton, we will go to honda or kohler type engine.Hopefully we will luck out on one or the other.In my opinion, Briggs made a mistake with that type of application on that engine.Always liked Briggs until this one, especially the cast iron heads,last forever and very little mechanical trouble,may have to go to an older engine design. If so we'll rebuild it.Thanks,LOU

S.Crum · Oct 25, 2012

You honestly expected a B&S motor to run more than a hundred or so hours without having to tinker it ? All B&S makes is Walmart lawnmower engines these days ! I've got a 4 year old B&S pressure washer with the B&S 6 HP motor. It has about 100 hours on it and last year the ignition mag went bad on it, then this year the first time I tried to use it it popped twice and had no compression. Why would I need the exhaust valve seat to stay in the block? I lined the seat back up and into the block and staked it with a puncture wound punch and so far so good, But if you want any degree of dependability, you might want to look at a Honda engine.

Jon Hagen · Oct 25, 2012

Good your using synthetic oil in that engine.
Also make sure the cold valve setting is not more than .005. The valves get loose on those motors which can deactivate the compression release making for hard cranking / pull rope kickback.
Also make sure the rocker studs are tight in the head. On occasion a rocker stud will back out of the head and loosen the valve gear to the point the pushrods drop out.

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

s.crum, We're begining to believe you.What a shame,they used to make bullet proof engines.If we wanted a cheap design, we would have bought a China engine that runs on rice wine,and uses water buffalo dung for lubrication.Thanks for the Honda recomendation,Guaranteed the old engine WILL be replaced with something better.
LOU

Lou from Wi. · Oct 25, 2012

Jon Hagen, Thanks for the information, it's nice to know.So far there was no kickback on the rope,but will double check the settings.
LOU

Jon Hagen · Oct 26, 2012

Briggs still makes some flathead engines.
I just bought a new low end Briggs & Stratton pressure washer which has the flathead 675 series engine on it. Their new "sure start " fuel system is impressive in how easily it starts.
Most of the time it is running about 1/2 way through the first pull.

You really should not be having problems with that OHV engine though, I have two older rider mowers with 15 hp OHV Briggs engines that have been very reliable.
Usually loss of valve seats out of the aluminum heads like s crum experienced is related to overheating from clogged cooling fins.

Traditional Farmer · Oct 26, 2012

Replace it with a China made Honda clone it'll last for a long time.Briggs engines are some of
worst built these days that I've owned.The old Briggs flatheads were some of the most durable around.

Uncle Ernie · Oct 26, 2012

Lou,
Other than the engine issue , how do you like the lawn vac? I am looking at buying one just like it and would like to hear "from the man that own's one"!

RGMartin · Oct 26, 2012

That generation of B&S engine are really sensitive to old gas. Been there done that. Old gas means pre-detonation and sticky valves=bent push rods.

Those engines are fine, but require fresh gas. When you are done with it for the year make sure you drain it, and run all the gas out of the carb.

Bret4207 · Oct 26, 2012

Had a similar deal with a vertical shaft 25HP B+S. Push rods kept popping out, then the rocker arm bolts let go. Not a good design IMO. They do have an industrial series engine that seems to work a lot better, but you won;t find them on Sears or other consumer grade stuff.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 26, 2012

Lou,
Had one exactly like that. Used it for 13 years to pick up Fall leaves only. It worked flawlessly. I then gave it to a buddy in '08 and it's still running. It was great at picking up those huge Catalpa leaves and seed pods I had in my 6 acre yard

Fred from MO · Oct 26, 2012

I have a briggs flathead engine I rebuilt in 1986 and I still use it to mow grass every week.

IH10020 · Oct 26, 2012

I use Marvel Mystery oil in all lawn equiptment & tillers, have for years with no valve proplems. Most are Kohler engines which are known for sticking valves.

Lou from Wi. · Oct 26, 2012

Fred from MO, Thats exactly what we're after.They can keep the OHV design.
LOU

Lou from Wi. · Oct 26, 2012

Uncle Ernie,
The machine is marvelous,except, the engine. Saves alot of time raking,blowing and carrying. We use the leaves for compost, the mower and the vacuum chops them up fine enough to break the leaves down quick. The extra 4" hose is nice for areas you can't fit the mower and cart into.You just have to watch out for limbs and rocks so it won't plug up,or damage the blades. We also have a chipper shredder that we use to further cut the leaves into finer pieces.The limbs and branches are also run thru the chipper shredder and used on the banks of our sand hill.
I don't think you would be disatified with it,provided the engine doesn't do what ours is doing.We never mistreat our equip. too expensive to replace. We was looking at the DR until the price came up,way too many zeros at the end of the number.LOL
Lou

Lou from Wi. · Oct 26, 2012

Bret4207, that seems like this design, I wonder why they put a bad designed engine on a good piece of equip?Doesn't say much for their quality.Tempted to use a "redneck" solution, put a bungee cord around the pushrod to hold it in place. Thanks for the reply,LOU

Lou from Wi. · Oct 26, 2012

RGMartin,Thanks,
We always use new gas, and drain all the fuel and add a couple of tsp of oil to the cylinder,clean the plug,and powerwashing the units, at the end of the season.Saves trouble starting it up next seasons use.Takes a while to do all the engines in the fall, but well worth the time and hassle of fixing and trouble shooting next year.Just can't understand this type of problem from a reputable engine manufacturer.Sure diminishes our opinion of them.
Thanks for the reply, LOU

Lou from Wi. · Oct 26, 2012

Traditional Farmer,
We're with you.Flatheads are the answer for us.We figure we have all winter to find a "better" engine. The new engine claimed "progress" PHOEY!! Older design worked for years with minimal repairs, if taken care of.
Thanks for the reply, LOU

DScott · Oct 26, 2012

(quoted from post at 20:26:13 10/25/12) Bought this POS 3 years ago to take care of the leaves, Yea Right. Up until this year so far so good. Son was making the 4th round this week sweeping up leaves when the B&S OHV engine decided to slip a push rod .Oil was pumping into the carb thru valve cover hose. Stopped and hauled it to the shop, took the engine down,re positioned the rod, so now I'm not going to trust it again for next year, Another engine but not an OHV POS.We don't mistreat our equipment,just a bad design idea from B&S.Now wondering if you folks have had the same experiences with this engine? Regards LOU. PS this is hooked on our garden tractor,so it is tractor related.lol

A friend of mine bought one of those vacuum units from TSC last year. Brought it home and cranked and cranked on that thing until he about had a heart attack. He took it back for a refund. I swore off B&S engines several years ago for the same reason, they are junk.

wisbaker · Oct 26, 2012

I have a B&S intek engine on my snow blower and have been quite happy with it. this will be the 7th season for it, I've changed oil & plugs nothing else. It starts easy if I remember to turn the gas back on. We're an hour north of Green Bay on the Mi/Wi line so we get a fair piece of snow, although not as much as when I lived up near Marquette.

What A joke W/Pix

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