I bought a new starter and installed it. The tractor started right
up. I mowed our lawn. My son mowed the neighbor's lawn. No problems.
So I guess whatever caused it to stall out initially will remain a
mystery. I would like to thank everyone who gave advice. The advice
was very helpful and I learned alot.
For the benefit of the archive, here are some additional things I
learned along the way.
1) I checked the local B&S service dealers for a new starter. Their
prices were very expensive, almost so expensive that it would not be
worthwhile to make the repair. I found a dealer on EBAY who was
selling an after-market replacement for a fraction of the cost of the
B&S with a one-year guarantee. I emailed him and he was also willing
to sell a B&S replacement part at a much better price than local
dealers. Since this was an older tractor (13 years old), I went with
the after-market which was about 50% cheaper than B&S.
2) The Briggs and Stratton repair manual says to remove the flywheel
to get to the starter. I was able to easily remove and replace the
starter without touching the flywheel. Maybe there are some versions
of my engine model that are put together a little differently. For
mine, however, messing with the flywheel would have been pointless and
made the job much more difficult.
2) I ended up removing both cylinder heads to check the valves and
engine condition. While they were off, I cleaned the carbon deposits.
I particularly noticed some carbon deposits around the valve seals.
Although the deposits were not preventing the valves from closing may
have interefered with an optimal seal. WOW, cleaning made a huge
difference. The egine went from sounding tired and missing fairly
frequently to sounding like a brand new engine. Doing this standard
maintenance was definitely worth the time. If someone else does this,
however, just make sure you have the manual for the bolt tightening
sequences and torques.
wrote:
I have an older Sears Craftsman lawn tractor with a 180 opposed twin
cylinder Briggs and Stratton Engine. My son was cutting the lawn with
it the other day and it gradually stalled out on him. He started it
up again, but it quickly stalled out again. Now the engine will barely
crank and will not start.
I checked the battery with a multi-meter and it tested at 12 volts. I
tried jumping it with a portable power source and this did not help. I
tried a new on/off switch and this did not help. I removed the cover
and I can turn the flywheel by hand without difficulty. The oil level
appears to be ok.
Any suggestions of what I should do next. I don't have much
experience with engine repair, but due to the tractor's age I don't
think it would be worth taking to a repair shop. So I willing to take
a shot at home repair.
From what I've read I am thinking the starter engine might be the
problem. One internet source suggested jumping the starter directly
from the battery. I am willing to try this, but it appears on my mower
that I need to first need to remove the flywheel to get to the starter
and this looks like a major undertaking, especially given the age of
the engine.
Is the starter where I should start or are there other things I
should or could check first? One question I have is whether a problem
in the starter would have caused the engine to stall out after it was
already going?
Any other suggestions on how to troubleshoot this issue? I do have a
basic Briggs and Stratton manual for the engine on a CD-Rom, but it
does not contain alot of trouble shooting info (at least that was
helpful to me) on the starter/electrical system. It is helpful,
however, on assembly and disassembly issues.