Sm. Engine question.. and venting on another issue…. LOL!
How tough of a job is it to change a bearing and rod set in a Briggs Intek OHV 18 horse engine? single cylinder, 4 years old.
Is it pretty much a swap out, reassemble, retorque, etc.? Or is there more to it than that? I will have to have the valves readjusted I am sure, so I likely will not try to run it until that has been done, and that I have no idea how to do on this exact engine.
Any good books on the subject? I have looked on the internet and it seems several are out of date for newer engines like this one.
Mine has a bad rod bearing per advice I got and to fix it in a shop.
It clatters when under a medium to heavy load and smokes like hell when that happens, otherwise it seems to run ok and it is not smoking under no load.
I got a quote of about $500 to fix it, most of that I am sure is shop time. A new motor is around $1200 ( same engine, fulll pressure lube, Intek 18HP single OHV,) per online checks I have done. Splash lube motors are quite a bit cheaper than that. I can get a new mower for just a bit more than that too…
I am fairly mechanical, if i can get it apart, I can get it back together again. I have a lot of tools, probably enough to do the job, and can get any I need. (which is where these all came from… LOL!)
Don’t have the funds for the shop option right now and even the push mower needs to be checked out. 👿 👿 I also recently had to buy a new car as the motor on my Taurus has a big issue now too. Not sure if I will try to get it fixed, may try that myself first as it is a slippage in the timing chain for the right bank. It is off a tooth or two, valves clatter, runs like shit of course, may have already caused enough damage (bent valves??) to make it not worth while, but if I can get the chain cover off (no room, motor needs to come out to do it), I know I can adjust it back again. The hydraulic tensioner for the chain evidently didn’t tension when it should have on startup and it jumped a few teeth while I was out of town working and my wife had to drive to work. I wasn’t there to hear it, thought it was just a plug issue and assured her to just drive it for 2 days until I got home. I had just put new plugs and wires on it and thought maybe a plug wire had just came loose since she said it ran rough. When it rains it pours…. but pales compared to what some are going through right now.
Any advice on the small engine issue?
Thanks
Revwarnut
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Thanks for all the input!
I looked at a new mower with a Kawasaki engine, seriously thinking that may be my next mower.
I think it was in a Cub, it was at Lowes anyhow… will have to think about this. Worth taking the motor apart to check anyhow.
Thanks again guys!
I just got a new Briggs and Stratton 18 HP Vanguard v-twin OHV full pressure lube complete replacement engine for my lawn mower. The engine was complete including the fuel pump and filter, carb and air cleaner housing with filter and oil pump filter. It was not the exact same engine but, Briggs’s website said that it was the replacement for my engine. My engine had been discontinued
It dropped right in and hooked up no problem. I did have to remove one lead from the regulator harness and hook that wire up to my harness. The new engine had a 3 pin connector regulator lead and my old engine had only one. Everything else fit perfectly and it took me about 2 1/2 hours to do the complete install and have it running. That 2 1/2 hours included putting the mower deck back on and having it ready to mow. Engine spun for around 3 seconds and was running. It has ran like a top since.
I got it from Pats Small Engine parts in Isanti MN. I cost me $682 delivered to my door. I would think that a single cylinder engine would be less that a twin. Your motor will have the engine model number and a code. My engine’s model # was 350777 and the code 0031 I used Google to search for Briggs and Stratton 350777-0031 and found a couple of places that had it and wanted $1200-$1400 for it.
I then found the Briggs cross reference site and got 350777-1159. I Googled that and Pats had the cheapest price. I ordered it, by phone, on a Fri morning and had it the next Tuesday.
I couldn’t be happier with the engine or with the service I got from Pat’s although the unexpexted $682 bill put a hell of a dent in my never ending (it seems) Edgun fund.
That tube coming from the crank case is most likely the pulse tube that pulses the fp. It really sounds like blow-by from toasted rings or a scored cylinder. When you have excessive blow-by, the pressure from the combustion chamber created by the compression stroke will “blow-by” the worn or stuck rings and actually pressurize the crankcase causing oil and vapor to exit where ever it can. A compression test or cylinder leakdown test will confirm. You can burn up a brand new set of rings fairly quickly if you are constantly straining the motor. The knock is normal for toasted rings. It’s called piston slap, detonation or spark knock. Small end bearing is prolly wasted but I always replace piston, rings wrist pin and wrist pin bearing (small end bearing) as a set. Pull the cylinder off, grab hold of the connecting rod. Check for side to side and up and down play. No big deal. If the big end has excessive play, scrap the motor and keep it for parts. Not worth puting a crank kit in it. Iv’e worked for Kawasaki for 13 years. I’ll be happy to walk you through it.
My question would be, if it were just the rings, why would it clatter (not all the time) when under a load and not when under a light load or none?
It also does it more when hot, than when cold and first started up and run for a short bit, till it gets heated up, then it clatters more and louder.
When it clatters (and quite loud too), it makes a huge cloud of smoke.
Otherwise, none is readily visible.
If I back off on the load by stopping, the clatter stops and so does the smoke cloud.
If the rod and the bearings are messed up chances are so is the wrist pin and possibly the piston…
Sounds like bad rings or a stuck ring… Rings can get stuck over the winter if it was dry when stored…
It’s not all that hard to swap any of these items out with good instructions. The timing chain if it has one will be the crucial element (mark everything well)… If the wrist pin (connecting rod to piston-little end) is tight you may have to have it pressed out…
Torque wrench, new gaskets and some oil… 😯
Not sure which end it would be, nobody actually looked at it, just asking people who “know someone”, they all concur that it is “bad rod bearings” and some said the rod itself may have to be replaced.
I am pretty sure it is not the rings, not many hours on it.
I have determined that much of the oil use is from backpressure into the case blowing it into the carburator through an emmissions hose that runs from the case to the fuel pump. (forgot to mention this one….oil is even weeping from the fuel pump too which is a small plastic module on the side of the engine.)
It was all my fault too, I failed to notice how worn the blades were, and that caused the extra strain on the engine per advice I got. (extremely dull from rocks, hard use etc…)
Gues these newer engines are not as tough as the old ones, my old/ancient mower ran and ran even with dull blades, with not so much as a hicup. It was way to small so I gave it away to son-in-law, engine is still running on that one last I knew, but it no longer moves…
Are these OHV engines not as tough?
I will be sure to check blades better from now on.
Sounds to me like you just burned up the rings. Did they tell you which rod bearing? (big end or little end)
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Looks like OG has the line on your problem! 😉
Mike