Dr Power Wagon has a Briggs 4 stroke motor on it. I have found the weak link on these to be the electric starter but fortunately they usually fire right up with a pull or two on the rope. The one I was going to use is pretty cold blooded but a couple of cranks with the choke closed usually will get it running on a cold start. The exception seems to be cold weather near freezing temperature as I had one issue before where it didn’t want to start. This morning it was just above freezing and when I went to start it it would just backfire. I tried several times without success and then parked it in the sun for about an hour. When I tried it after it started first pull. There is no primer bulb on this. What would likely cause it to backfire and not start?
You have a picture of the motor and more specifically the carb? I recently cleaned the carb and gas tank on my dad's splitter. I thinking it was a briggs.
When the engine is idle is the engine trying to turn anything like a hydro pump ? If the engine isn’t turning anything and it’s stiff to pull over when it’s cold you might want to try thinner oil like 0-30 or 5-30 synthetic Have you changed the spark plug? It may have backfired because it was starting to flood Just some ideas
Is it an overhead valve motor or a flathead? Some of the overhead valve motors have a compression relief . If the valves go out of adjustment it can cause the valve to stay open slightly until it is warmer and the motor actually grows. Being off by only a couple thousandths is all it takes. What weight oil are you running? Seeing that it is cold and warm you probably want 10w-30 in these conditions. Straight 30w is like molasses when it is cold making it harder to spin the motor over. Just a couple thoughts.
Sounds to me like maybe a combo of cold/thick oil, maybe poor fuel quality, a partially fouled plug...the list of possibilities is long...
