Small engine, no spark

I dunno...I'm not so sure a copy of a Honda isn't better than a B&S right off the bat...

 

All made in China and I’m not so sure the Briggs isn’t made by lifan like the predator. Cub and toro have their own branded engines made by lct which is the company that bought out the left over techemseh stuff. Briggs is owned by a large holding firm right now but i wouldn’t doubt Stihl purchases them along with the Ferris zero turns. For a cheap engine the Briggs as good as anything. Put a new Briggs just like this in place of a lyfan on a log splitter, thing had some hours on it and it just quit. Everything matched up perfectly with the old engine stuff.

 

I think you’re right but this motor is 2021. Not very old. But the top yellow wire does go to a ground screw. The black one ran inside the engine shroud to where the coil probably is.
So as I see it that black wire is everything. The low oil is connected in some fashion to it also,,,,,must be, only wire going anywhere.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to cut all the wires and see if that works before I replace it.

I’ve been second guessing myself today. I was thinking maybe it’s the low oil because I had lowered it down which changed the angle of the engine.
But then I’m thinking hey the only wire that runs inside the engine is off and it ran like that. How could the low oil sensor be working with no wire running to the engine?
So I went and bought the dang predator engine.

im wondering if that black wire that tore loose left a few strands behind and they’re shorting out inside somewhere.

I also noticed when I took the new plug out there was some strange black residue inside already. Like wood dust. Wasn’t hard carbon but it’s black from carbon but softish. Air cleaner doesn’t seem to be leaking. I only ran it a few minutes but did rev it up.
It was running rich/black but not too bad on the old plug. This motor has been run at just above idle for its short life. It’s all you need to run a conveyor. Maybe that’s not too good for em.

 

unless crud is getting in the engine you’re right. It’s something simple. The pain is the time it would take to figure it out and the engine needs to be removed to work on it anyway. It’s tucked under the conveyor where I can’t get to it too well. Someone who works on them often may be able to do it but I’m dumb on little 4 strokes.
And finding a small engine repair around here is not easy and they’re usually booked for months. Plus the money they charge. And the few that are left are in more urban areas where they have no room for 25’ of conveyor LOL
For 149 bucks I have a predator in the box. I think it will be easier and faster to swap than fix. Maybe I’ll give the other one to some kid that wants it.

 

Another question. Before I pound the snot out of this clutch is there an Allen set screw behind it? I see a tiny hole. Can’t imagine a set screw that small,,,,,,much more getting it loose.

 

Got a pic?

 

BFH is always the answer!

 

Many years of BFH will fix it. In this case a spot light told me this was a tiny set screw behind the clutch. Luckily I bought a set of super long Allen wrenches 30 years ago. Unfortunately I haven’t seen them in 25 LOL
A friend is a machinist from a long line of machinists. Doesn’t mean they know much about centrifugal clutches but they do have every tool known to man in an antique velvet lined box.
We got it off. Tomorrow I put it back together.

 

Right? Then again b&s has some engines made in China. So a Chinese clone of a Honda, is better than a Chinese clone of a Chinese made US branded engine. Yeah, probably.

 

I’d save that 950 and bring to the nearest Briggs dealer, has a 2 year consumer warranty. They have a cast iron sleeve in them and forged crank not cast like the 212 predator. While china built it is built to better specs metal wise and has 9.5 ft lbs torque vs 8 to go with the. 6.5 hp. Been quite awhile now that they have torque rated small engines in the USA. Gives you a better idea how much work they can do and a better way to compare brands. Test the torque it makes at 2800rpm on them all, the hp rating wasn’t accurate a lot of times because they would over rev to get it ect. Not say hp couldn’t be rated at the same rpm like the torque is now but it wasn’t and some 12 hp engines out did 14hp. All new Briggs series numbers are the tq rating I believe 950 is 9.5, 1150 is 11.5 and so on.

 

Now that the motors out of the frame I was able to shine a light down the plug hole. Engine seems to have accumulated black carbon on the piston. I imagine that’s from running at just above idle all the time. I’m wondering if when I revved it up a bit and some of that carbon broke free if it didn’t kill the new spark plug? Noticed this new plug is somewhat defective right out of the box. Insulator is skewed to one side, not centered. Weird, thought it was broken, it’s not. Maybe it’s just me but I think spark plugs are more susceptible to failure these days compared to years ago.
Well except for the 2 stroke dirt bikes,,,those failed often too.

I’ll have to test that plug in another engine, see it it sparks.

 

is it too fast at higher rpm? If not it probably would be better to run at 1/2 throttle or so, also giving it a sea foam treatment through the carb once and awhile would help also.

 

yeah it’s too fast IMO. There’s no need to put all the rest of the machine through that much extra stress. The conveyor belt alone probably costs as much as three or four engines LOL
Sea foams a good idea. I may even tinker with the carb adjustments, not something I like to do but wouldn’t hurt to learn.

 

The carb adjustments won’t do much if it’s to fast depending on style of drive you could add a jack shaft and do a double reduction to get rpm up and keep belt speed down all while adding torque to keep load moving. I’m surprised the company would sell it not geared properly because idling any little 4 stroke extended periods isn’t good.

 

I was thinking adjust to run it leaner. I also think you’re right. Running it slow all its life isn’t that good for the engine. Maybe the rings never got to seat properly? I was using synthetic in it also thinking I was doing it a favor by springing for the good stuff LOL
It does have a jack shaft reduction. Could always try to find a larger pulley for one side to gear it even lower.
These are made by a one man outfit in his barn. Usually comes with a 3.5 Honda but they were unavailable during Covid. I wonder if the clutch for a 3.5 Honda comes with a slightly smaller pulley on it? That may have messed up the normal gearing.

predator is on and running. Started first pull, that’s a good sign. I’ll have to check the plug after awhile and see what it looks like. I’m using standard oil for this one

 

My kohler command pro 14 on my sawmill is made overseas too. Runs nice and I’d like to think a little better built than the average Chinese engine but maybe not.