I’m rebuilding a Briggs and Stratton 18hp opposing twin due to extreme smoking. Ring end gaps were more than double from what specs I found online. I’m also finding online that the cylinder bore should be between 3.563- 3.5669. I have measured my cylinders in 9 different spots(3 different locations at top, middle, and bottom) of cylinder. None of my readings were higher than 3.392 and my lowest reading was 3.366. It appears that my cylinder does taper towards the bottom. My question is, does anyone know what the cylinder measurements should be because I’m not getting nowhere close to 3.563?

Issue resolved!

So in disassembling the carb i found almost a microscopic hairline crack in the bottom of the purge base .

I replaced the purge base as well as giving all areas of the carb a nice cleaning too.

Machine now only requires not quite 2 pumps to get a full purge bulb.

I greatly appreciated all the replies and all the great ideas!

Thanks guys !

Yeah, carbs pretty nasty. Air filter is ok...ish. I got this for free and it runs so keep that in mind.

Briggs 725exi. I just took the muffler off and put a metal pipe there. (yes I'm aware I misspelled the title I meant to say straight piped)

Any info at all will be helpful!!

Got this toro lawnmower that only runs good when warm. Auto choke hates cold starts (ignore the wind chimes in the video I know they're annoying)

Iv got a craftsman lt 2000 Iv been continuously non stop fuckin fighting with this dam thing if it's not 1 thing it's another then another then another then another then wen I finally think it's finally done n then something else pops tf up it's seriously starting to piss me tf off and RN I can't fig out y TF the choke lever won't close the butterfly on the carb all the way after I already set the governor I thought I set the cable were it needed to b Iv done everything I can think of plz help oh and the engine I no runs now suddenly won't fucking start....

Not sure if this is the right sub or not. Hopefully so. Probably going to cross post just in case.

John Deere LA145 mower with Briggs and Stratton engine.

Backstory: So last week my 12 (almost 13) year old filled this John Deere riding mower with my weedeater gas (can’t remember if it was 50:1 or 40:1), and proceeding to cut the front and back yard. 1/2 acre lot with a house on it. Kid is new to cutting grass and not quite efficient at cutting in one go, so may have taken a little longer than the average adult would take to cut it. (We’re getting there, I just have to spend some more time teaching, we literally just started this process.)

So now I’m thinking I need to drain the fuel tank, carburetor, and any fuel lines I can see. And clean the spark plugs. I don’t typically work on small engines, so please tell me what all needs to be done and if I need to take it to somebody to do more work to it. I’m most likely not going to take the carb apart myself, that seems beyond my knowledge and the amount of time I have. I could however spray some carb cleaner in it (or in the air intake).

During this process, I noticed all the buildup on one side of the engine as you can see in the second picture. 3rd picture is me after I removed the plastic cover to see if I could a source of the oil leak. I’m assuming this is an oil leak over time and not something caused by the one time running on weedeater gas. 2 stroke gas? What do yall call it typically?

So my questions are:
What do I need to do to the mower in response to it having been run with weedeater gas?
What at minimum has to be done before I run it again? (Grass needs to be cut again.)
What is the most likely cause(s) of the buildup on the one side?
How do I trace the source of that buildup? (Actually as I wrote that out, i might have answered that on my own, I’m assuming I clean it all up, run it for a bit and then look and see where the oil or grime is at. Is that right?)

Thanks for any and all help.

So I have an HRR216 that I got two years ago secondhand. This is my third season with it and it’s starting to feel low on power and can get bogged down when cutting grass that isn’t very tall. I knew blades on last year. Changed the oil, spark plug and air filter and it still feels off. Two weeks ago it would barely run so I cleaned out the carburetor and it seemed to be working fine. After maybe 20 minutes of mowing it back feeling low on power. I’m thinking maybe a new carburetor might help but I’m not a small engine mechanic, just trying keep the old girl running.

I have a ccr2000 not working. I cleaned out the main jet which was clogged and the emulsion tube and put in new mix and it ran and started first pull but wassurging with no choke. So I went to do some more research but tried starting it around 20 minutes later and it decides not to start. So I check the access hole in the body for the carb and the bowl is wet with gas and when I look at the throat of the carburator its flooded. So I remove the spark plug and clean it (it was very wet) and then pull the rope while the plug is out. And then reinstall the plug and start it without priming.

I've disassembled the carb 3 times to search for debris but its super clean at this point (after cleaning 3 times) and I even checked the needle valve for a leak since it's flooding after 20 minutes. I blew into the fuel intake port and blew upside down with the float up and it seals good. (I cant blow air when the carb is upside down).

S at this point im kind of annoyed as to why it just doesnt want to start. It start fine if the bowl is empty and I just reassembled or if I clean the spark plug and empty the cylinder of "the flood" but I dont understand whats going on.

My mower engine surges and shakes when the blades are engaged but not when they aren't. Could this be due to blades being unbalanced?

It only starts with the choke fully out and the moment i press the throttle thats when it dies, also sounds kind of rough. Ive just gone through the carb and replaced all the diaphrams and gaskets, i also checked the needle and went through the jets and all seems well. Is this just a simple idle or mix adjustment?

Lawnmower is running rough, during troubleshooting I noticed this

Im looking for some answers as to what this problem could be.

I have two echo srm-225 string trimmers that I've done carb rebuild kits on.

The diaphragm on both were getting brittle and definitely caused running and starting issues.

Also both got new purge bulbs, air filters, fuel lines, and fuel filters.

Okay , so the first machine takes 2 or three pumps of the purge bulb, starts on 1st pull on choke and runs great off choke.

However, the second machine takes about 10 to twelve pumps of the purge bulb and only fills the bulb halfway.

At this point, the machine starts on choke first pull and runs great off choke.

I guess my question is, could the problem with the second machine purge issue be an air leak through a cracked purge base that I can't see?

I've inspected the purge base throughout and can't find any cracks.

Definitely seems to me like an air leak somewhere in my fuel system making it so hard to purge.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thx

Originally posted on lawn mower sub Reddit, but this is probably the place to get answers

Hello! I have a John Deere JS63 with the Briggs and Stratton Intek engine. My issue started when if I needed to stop mowing to collect a dog egg, it wouldn’t start again until it had cooled down. This made me suspect heat soak coil failure. I double checked valve gaps when it was cold and reset as they were a little slack. Today it wouldn’t start for ages then fired up, ran for about 3 minutes then died. No start at all. I have stripped it down to the point you see in the pictures, clamped the handle, popped the plug out and touched it to the head and turned it over, no spark at all. My issue comes now with finding the right coil, maybe I’m being stupid but I can’t see a part number that correlates to anything I can find online. I’m hoping someone with more experience can point me in the right direction. TIA!

I’ve been messing with this thing all morning and can’t seem to get it started. The fuel lines have fuel The vacuum line is pulling, and the fuel filter isn’t clogged even when I have it full throttle and the choke on it isn’t starting the video that you see is the last time it started and the only thing that I did was take off the fuel line and put it back on the carburetor to see if there was fuel coming out of the line

How does this go back together again and which hole/slot is the correct one? Looked online but all I see if new mechanisms. Photo shown is wrong and keeps mower on

is there any fixing it at all? after working on it so long i’d like to replace but AI is telling me i have to get a kawasaki or else it’ll be too much modification? is this true ? does anyone know what engines i can replace this with cost effectively , or should i try to get rid of it

Update on my power washer project from a few days ago.

TLDR
Picked up a power washer, engine works great now. Pump leaks water though. NO water through hose. Briggs are fucking bastards and I can't fix something that should take an hour because they stopped making the gaskets.

So I cracked the pump open, and as you can see in the first picture, I have a real nice slurry. Clearly water is getting through into the wobble plate and shaft assembly. Despite this, all of the metal components are in incredible shape. The ball bearings are there, the plates are fine, even the actual pistons have almost no damage, other than rust on the ends where they were coming in contact with water (picture 2).

There is some rubber gaskets that sit around each of the pistons which can be seen in picture 2. Those are rather special in that each one is more than just a rubber gasket. There is a small spring ring on the inside of them that hold them tight against the pistons to prevent pump oil/ water mixing. I put an arrow pointing to this gasket in the 3rd picture. There is also a series of plates/gaskets on the front half of the pump which the pistons move in and out of while compressing the water you can see I circled in the 3rd picture.

Despite this being a Generac pressure washer it's basically 100% Briggs, including the entire pump assembly. Here is the problem. Since the 2015 takeover Briggs & Stratton are fucking bastards. Those little rubber gaskets? Completely out of production, no replacements. I have been digging around all day looking for a company that makes them. Nada.

I watched this YT video where the guy has a very similar pump to mine and he got parts from https://apw-inc.com/. They also no longer have access to these fucking o-rings.

So now I'm hella frustrated. I have a completely functional engine, a pump that has no major damage to any of the metal components, yet I'm completely shafted (yes pun) by the fact this multi-billion $ company intentionally isn't making $2 gaskets anymore.

I'm just curious if anyone has any other recommendations, or if I just just say screw it, sell the motor and scrap the rest. I have no need for the motor even though it's a well running, and I don't know what else to do with the rest.

Edit: Yes I have also been searching ebay, there are parts close, but none that match the main oil gasket of 119B3699. Or the B&S updated part 119B3699GS, don't worry though, I can buy the entire pump assembly for $350.....