Judie decided to cut the grass Sunday, fired up the lawn tractor and went after it. I had an errand to run and she always wants me to move my car so she can get at the grass on the edge of the dive way, so it was time to move the Mountaineer.
I returned to see the mower parked up next to the garage and one upset wife. It seems as she was cutting, the lawn mower lost power and eventually quit. I quickly figured it was the fuel filter so turned around charged off to Home Depot for a new one. Got and returned.
The old filter had been on since the thing had been manufactured so you can image it was not going to come off easy. I had to take the side of the engine housing off - more tedious work. Got it off and gained access to the fuel line and filter. Got the fuel line off the carburettor and drained the fuel into a catch basin. The fuel flowed easily so that ruled out the blocked filter idea. I replace the filter anyway.
Then I notice the left front tire was flat, it has been giving us problems for awhile. As I was unscrewing the schrader valve out of the valve stem, the valve assembly popped out (and that solved the leak source). So we cleaned up and went to eat. We also visited the Autozone and got new valve stems and valve stem tool.
We got the side panel back on the engine housing, a little fussing but it is properly installed again.
Got home and fixed the flat. Aired up the tire and it is still holding air. So that is fixed for sure. Tried starting the engine after adjusting the throttle set up. Needed that for a long time but it was one of those things that was okay just not super. The engine started up but ran with out authority or power. I was able to drive around the driveway but not engage the lawn mower - not enough power.
This AM got up, ate breakfast, sacrificed my flying and went to work on the tractor. I removed the over head valve cover. That thing was caked with oil soaked dirt and it took me 20 minutes of washing to get the grime off. Tip - use Dawn Pot Power Dissolver, good stuff. Cleaned up the tooth brush I was using along with the dregs of the grime.
When I got the valve cover off, something fell out. I clean up the valve cover first then when back and recovered the piece. The photo above shows it was about an inch of the push rod for the exhaust valve. Sheared off at the swege point where the stainless steel push rod was necked down. I am sure that was done so that the end caps could be pressed in to the end of the rod. The end caps are hardened steel that either ride on the cam or push the rocker arm to move the valve.
I had removed the valve cover because it sounded like it need adjustment of the valves. Turns out the only adjustment is to grind down the ends of the valve stems. But the problem was evident with the piece of push rod. Amazing that it ran but it did just not opening the exhaust valve enough to develop any power.
I was able to track down the part number from a Briggs & Stratton web page. No parts places open today - Labor Day. And I bet the new part has an improved design. It will take me about 15 minutes to fix the engine but . . .
Oh, well, that's why I am retired, right?
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