Engine Starting Problems
#1
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starting problem
I am having a problem with a sears 15hp rider with a briggs & stratton. I noticed some smoke while cutting grass for an hour near the starter. I checked the oil and found it very low. This week it did not start. I tried jumping it directly to the starter and through the battery. It turns over only slightly and after a few tries starter smokes. need help diagnosing
#2
You said while mowing you saw it smoking over there. Either your startor is stuck in the on position and is burning up, or you have a electrical problem, and either wires, or the startor is burning up. Best thing to do is keep the keyswitch to the OFF postion and look for problems. Others will reply soon. Let us know how it goes.
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is it possible engine is damaged and heavy to start because oil was low. I also stated to get the "check starting sequence" light when trying to start with the key. I noticed a no/nc switch(spring loaded) that I depress and the light goes away and engine starts to turn over half heartedly
#4
Hello aabbassi!
I split this thread from the other thread you posted into to keep the discussions seperate, since they do not pertain to one another.
Try removing the starter and check it off the engine. If it still turns very slowly, you have a bad starter. If it turns well, then try turning the engine by hand. If it is very hard to turn, you may have engine problems.
I split this thread from the other thread you posted into to keep the discussions seperate, since they do not pertain to one another.
Try removing the starter and check it off the engine. If it still turns very slowly, you have a bad starter. If it turns well, then try turning the engine by hand. If it is very hard to turn, you may have engine problems.
#6
Very easy. Remove the 2 1/4" screws holding the cover over the starter gear. Remove the cover. There you will see the two 1/2" bolts holding the starter on. Just take them out and remove the starter wire with a 7/16" wrench.
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Starter removal
This is an opposed twin engine and it is a bit difficult to remove the starter since the two screws (bolts) that mount it to the engine are tucked under the flywheel (one more so than the other). But before you remove this, go ahead and remove both spark plugs and then turn the engine over by hand by applying pressure with your palm of your hand onto the flywheel screen and turning in a clockwise motion. With both plugs out this should turn relatively easy. If not, your having run the engine low on oil likely caused internal engine damage.
#8
If the engine is one of those twin cylinder Briggs models, then you will have to pull the flywheel to get at the bolts to remove the starter. I did that job a while back and I could find no other way other than that.
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it is a twin and i can,t to the screws, so i will try your suggestions. Presently i can turn the engine with my palm with plugs in, maybe a quarter turn at at time, but iwill remove plugs and see if it will turn more. I will let you know what happens. Thanks
#10
I have had problems starting a lawn tractor with a twin Vee B&S engine. In this case the problem really wasn't with the engine. It was with the belt drive for the blades. The starter motor can be overloaded if you are trying to crank the engine and turn the blades at the same time. The solution was to re-adjust the belt drive so that there was plenty of slack in the belts when the lever was in the "disengage blades" position. I think that the standard B & S starter motor has a hard enough time cranking a two cylinder motor let alone swing the blades too.
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it's not the engage belt, i pulled plugs out and turned by hand fairly easily. i am having hard time removing fly wheel, nut kind of rusty and it is diffiocult to hold the wheel as i try to unscrew. i tried jumping to starter again and one time it almost started, but only once out of ten times. I see the starter gear engage and it is a little slow to dis-engage.
#12
It sounds like to me your startor is shot. Does anyone know if there is a way to test startors for that possibility? Get back to me on that guys, I am still learning.
#13
I suppose it's possible that the bendix drive doesn't allow the pinion gear to disengage when the engine starts.
You need a big strap wrench that will go around the fly wheel in order to get the nut off. Don't try jamming a screw driver between the cooling fins. You risk breaking a fin off when you do that, take it from someone who has first hand experience. After you get the nut off you will need the right puller to actually remove the flywheel. The normal Briggs flywheel puller won't work on the twin cylinder version. Again, take that from someone who spent much time trying (unsuccessfully) without the right tool. You need the puller that looks like a long 'H' where you can spread the puller bolts out about 4 inches (if I remember correctly). Without the right tools you can spend hours trying to remove the flywheel, tear up your tools, tear up the engine flywheel, and STILL not make any progress. There is no substitute for the proper stuff here.
You need a big strap wrench that will go around the fly wheel in order to get the nut off. Don't try jamming a screw driver between the cooling fins. You risk breaking a fin off when you do that, take it from someone who has first hand experience. After you get the nut off you will need the right puller to actually remove the flywheel. The normal Briggs flywheel puller won't work on the twin cylinder version. Again, take that from someone who spent much time trying (unsuccessfully) without the right tool. You need the puller that looks like a long 'H' where you can spread the puller bolts out about 4 inches (if I remember correctly). Without the right tools you can spend hours trying to remove the flywheel, tear up your tools, tear up the engine flywheel, and STILL not make any progress. There is no substitute for the proper stuff here.
#14
I remove the starter on twin cylinder engines with the flywheel installed. Use a 1/2" open end wrench and you can get the bolts out. It's a tight fit, but it works.
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everyone has been a help, here is what happened and i am getting confused. I sprayed wd40 in starter and tried jumping with the the cooler fan and screen off the flywheel. It started and i took it for a quick spin say about a thousand feet, engine got hot, back fired and stopped. ilet it cool down, put fan on and tried jumping again, it turns over buit would not start.
is there a oil filter that i can change, could it over heat running a thousand feet( 5 minutes cutting grass) without the fan on flywheel?
Could it be that I need to change plugs and fuel filter?
The other thing is that when I try to start using ignition switch, iget "check starting sequence" light. I have to reach under and depress a rectangular box with a switch on it, looking at the wiring diagram the only double pole NO/NC switch is the clutch switch, I don't know if it popped out or not from it's place. in one of the parts pictures it is shown just coming from the wiring conduit and not really attached to anything much like the fuse is.
Need help so i can cuy the grass.
is there a oil filter that i can change, could it over heat running a thousand feet( 5 minutes cutting grass) without the fan on flywheel?
Could it be that I need to change plugs and fuel filter?
The other thing is that when I try to start using ignition switch, iget "check starting sequence" light. I have to reach under and depress a rectangular box with a switch on it, looking at the wiring diagram the only double pole NO/NC switch is the clutch switch, I don't know if it popped out or not from it's place. in one of the parts pictures it is shown just coming from the wiring conduit and not really attached to anything much like the fuse is.
Need help so i can cuy the grass.
#16
Sounds like you have a safety switch that's open. That would keep you from starting the mower. Perhaps the mounting bracket is loose and the switch doesn't close properly. That's usually the cause when the trouble is intermittant. What happened with the oil situation??
#17
It can run hot pretty quickly without the cover and fan, but probably not enough to damage it in 5 minutes worth of usage...depending on how hard it was working. The switch you are pressing is the clutch safety switch. It should be depressed when you hold the clutch pedal down. It should be attatched, not loose. It may have shut itself off due to the overheating. The coil might have gotten too hot.
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oil was my first problem, when i found it low. Then it was not enough power to turn engine over to start. switches are the seat switch, which i have had taped closed for 2 years, blade disengage, and clutch switch, which i have been depressing past couple of days. I have to find where it mounts.
The starter seems to turn now after I sprayed with WD40, but only when i jump it directly from the car to the starter itself, which i guess by passes the the switches. so now it turns over but won't start.
if it overheated enough when i drove a few minutes without the fan, could it be the coil got hot and damaged? (coil on flywheel)? hoe do i check the coil.
The starter seems to turn now after I sprayed with WD40, but only when i jump it directly from the car to the starter itself, which i guess by passes the the switches. so now it turns over but won't start.
if it overheated enough when i drove a few minutes without the fan, could it be the coil got hot and damaged? (coil on flywheel)? hoe do i check the coil.
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Over heating
Without the fan and shroud, it certainly could overheat that quickly - the shroud is there to direct the cool air produced by the fan over the cooling fins as well as the ignition coil. Yes, the coil could overheat in that period of time. The simplest way to check possible coil failure is to buy two in-line spark testers (Briggs part number 19368) and install them as required, run the engine at full throttle, all the while watching closely each tester for a break in spark. With the fan and shroud installed this may take 10-15 minutes - so that the engine gets up to operating temperature. This is the only method Briggs recommends for coil testing. If you know of someone with a transistorized-coil tester, you may want to have them test the coil this way. I would still go with the first method first - this works, in my opinion.
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i got it to work, thanks all. starter iguess was sticky. I bought a charger and charged up battery, put the fan back on and it worked. the fan does really move heat away from engine.