Dang it if this didn't work for mine too! I'm glad...don't get me wrong, but to say that it makes sense would be a stretch. It doesn't really change how the thermo coil operates, just how that plastic lever moves with the coil arm. I noticed the opening for coil arm, where the plastic choke arm goes into can be tightened or expanded... which I'm sure impacts the when and how much that choke opens/closes. I fooled with it... didn't make much difference. But to simply remove the plastic choke arm altogether and it works perfect... just silly. I'll take it... but silly that it works! Thanks for sharing this video!
It is a "heat stove" . As the exhaust warms up it allows the choke lever to advance forward. There is a thermostatic coil below there that is attached to th muffler. They apparently have NOT been adjusted to operate in sync very well. If the choke stays on too long, then yes, disengaging it is one field expedient way to free it up. As long as it starts again when cold.
Actually at 5:53 you fixed it. That is how it's supposed to be. You must have gotten 3 mowers that some dum dum's worked on. AND I ain't talking about the candy. When the engine is cold the choke is closed. When you start it the air vane moves with the air flow from the flywheel and opens the choke. The arm from the muffler moves back when the engine is cooled to reset the choke. You DID NOT disconnect it you put it like it should be.....
The position you placed it in is the correct placement, the way it should go. Just need to center the arm in the middle of both front and side marks...
There are 2 marks on the air vane hook surrounding the thermostat arm. Both on the front and the side. The bendable front tab of the thermostat arm is to be set so that it is in the middle of both sets of marks and centered up as a result.
Sorry to be so offtopic but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account? I stupidly lost the account password. I would love any tips you can offer me
@Kenzo Nikolai Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
the arm to the muffler is thermo choke called the engine Air vane lever, if you live in a warm country or your mower starts to run to hot and starv for fuel it opens and as Mr Tincutter says about the marks to set is correct. you might get away with disconnecting it but your mower once it is running hot will starv for fuel ,making your mower ping lessing the life of the mower , if all your springs to the carbi and that lever are set right it will run fine
The air vane also pulls the choke mostly OFF when it starts, before the thermostat gets hot and pulls the choke OFF. You were right to unhook the thermostat arm from the air vane, the thermostat arm is supposed to be between the two lines on the air vane arm (see Briggs service manual).
That metal lever assembly adjacent to the muffler is a thermostat. It positions the choke lever at optimum position for the outside temperature the mower is operating in.
So far the auto chokes haven't bothered me too bad, I did have one that was troublesome a few years ago though. Don't know why that choke arm is connected to the exhaust but it doesn't seem like the best design. Hopefully you'll get the one you have fixed soon too!
There have been several briggs&stratton engines that either escaped the factory this way or ignorant people have done this. The arm coming up from the muffler is not supposed to be hooked through the air vane! The arm goes AGAINST it. The curved part is a minimum cold adjustment,if it is bent too open it will defeat the choke so err on the more closed setting. This arm allows for less or no choke when the engine is warm/hot.
You have a stuck auto choke! The spring that is supposed to open it after choking is weak and will not open it! If you pull it open with your finger, it will run like a new mower, until you choke it again and it sticks again!
Yep. The dufas who “worked” on it put it back together wrong. He probably cleaned the carb and then hooked the vane through the thermostat and couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t run right.
Awesome video, great tips. One question, you mentioned that you had just gotten the dust blocker/ clippings bag. Where did you buy it? I have been searching for one but cant seem to find it
I had it in my stash of items, but if you have your model number you can look up a parts or accessories manual online and it will give you the part number for the bag. Don't know if they are available new anymore. Some Husqvarna bags fit too.
I'm a little confused. The metal choke arm is to move freely when it warms up, and pushes the plastic arm coming from the carb side. Was it that both metal and plastic arms got stuck to eachother? I've never known that to happen. Is the connection to each that sensitive that they should touch but not get stuck together? By the way... THUMBS UP!!!
I'm gonna reply to my own query, and further down "the Old Guy Phil" has pointed to a Briggs and Stratton help video explaining the adjustment of that all important thermostat arm and how it relates to the plastic airvane hook. There are tolerance marks on the plastic airvane hook that the metal thermostat arm must be bent with a pliers to fit. Move the arm left or right to fit the markings, and bend the metal gooseneck to fit the side of the markings. See this video specifically, click >> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z3XP5mz59mA.html
I have the same Briggs auto choke except on a toro...i am having a problem with it stalling under load...i haven't gotten a chance to really dig too much into it but I'm thinking could be something as simple as dull blades...i was looking at the governor and wasn't really sure how it worked or if it was missing anything
There's one spring for the governor that also controls the speed. If it's running at the appropriate speed and the throttle/governor spring is on it then it should be okay unless the engine is down on power or you're trying to cut through really thick grass.
I did this to mine and it runs fine then starts idling really funny. I have adjusted it to the way you have it and the way people say it to be and unless i wire tie the throttle to the correct idle, it revs up and down, up and down and dies and will never stay running unless i tie a wire tie to the correct idle position. Any way to show a link to someone adjusting this correctly would really, really help. I've had two people look at that tried to adjust it and same thing.
Is it throwing out black smoke when it does? You could have an unrelated problem with a coil or plug breaking down, or a partially clogged jet in the carb.
@@EllisMowersandmore No, I finally found a dealer video last night that shows the exact position of the choke thermostat. Between the two lines and bent back between the two lines and now it works perfect. It's one of my extra mowers, backup to my work mowers. I actually use it for high grass mainly because it just cuts better and is super strong at doing it. I really appreciate you commenting back.
@@brianpage7569 yes sir thanks for watching! This was one of my very early videos so learning as I go. Sometimes I don't always get it right. Glad you were able to get it fixed!
You may have tipped the mower with the carb and air filter down. If so there's a good chance oil got into the carb as well as soaked the air filter causing it not to start. I'd check to see if that happened. If so you will need to clean out the carb of the oil and it should run again as long as it's not clogged up.
Ive picked one of these mowers up for about $50 and its actually in better condition than this one. Its a 7 hp but starts and runs great until you stop to empty the bag. It wont start back up when its hot. Ive been using starting fluid to start it and havent had much time to tear it apart. I did however try closing the choke plate and it fires right up when hot if you close the choke plate. Any suggestions?
Very nice, since it starts on starter fluid when hot it doesn't sound like a spark issue. You might have a tiny blockage in the carb that doesn't rear its head until restarting when hot. Id try taking some compressed air and blowing it into the carb ports that you can access by taking off the air filter. I doubt it is a choke linkage issue like this one according to your description.
@@EllisMowersandmore thanks for the reply. I will pull the carb off when i get a chance. As good a shape as the mower is in i would bet it sat unused with fuel in it most of its life. On another note, i bought a 1989 MTD 5/24 snowblower for dirt cheap. It ran great but poured oil out the breather. Tried changing oil and replacing the breather with no change. It had an old tecumseh engine on it that i just replaced with a harbor freight predator engine but would like to try and fix the old engine. Any suggestions?
@@63jeepj20 You're very welcome. Yeah the carb is where I'd start. As for the snowblower, I don't work on them as I'm in NC but for the 5hp Tecumseh if it is blowing oil out the breather I would look at worn piston rings especially with the age. Does it smoke at all? You could possibly try an oil additive like no smoke or another oil thickening device to see if that reduces blow by. Also, check to make sure it isn't running too fast, had a 10hp Tecumseh with lots of blow by that had a bad governor on it and ran too fast. Just throwing some ideas around from previous experiences. Those old Tecumsehs are tough and would make for a good project to tear into if you had the time.
@@EllisMowersandmore it has great compression which doesnt necessarily mean the rings arent worn. It pukes oil even at an idle. There was only 1 time that i was able to run it and it didn't have a single drop of oil come out. Then i shut it off thinking i may have fixed it but when i started it back up it was puking oil again. Its a 2 stage snowblower with a throttle control. I thought about rebuilding it but being in Utah and already having a snowstorm i decided it would be easier and the same amount of money to just throw a predator engine on it.
Now that the snow has melted and im not distracted by the Jeep J10 Honcho that i bought over the winter ive had a chance to look at this. Pulled the carb off and cleaned it out, there was some junk in the bowl. I blew out the passages and put it back together. Started right up and after running for a few minutes i shut it off and tried to restart with no luck.
Interesting, I have a Troy-Bilt that I did this to and it doesn't even have a spring and runs great. It runs off the air turbulence from the flywheel. Good luck getting it fixed though!
I own a lawnmower with that same engine. I cleaned the carburetor but the engine is hard to start and hard to re-start. I tightened the cylinder head bolts too. What do you think the problem is?
I've had one with this engine where the coil was dirty which caused a hard start condition. Check for good spark if you find that the carb checks out good. If you spray carb cleaner in it and it fires right up then you still have a fuel issue.
repair clinic has an excellent video on the adjustment of t he thermstat. my experience is that it you adjust the thermostat wrong you can/will have the rich running problem.. anything that fixes the thermostat arm to the air vein will create problems.. repairclinic.com oh, the surging is usually caused by restricted fuel flow in the carb...
You have a stuck auto choke! The spring that is supposed to open it after choking is weak and will not open it! If you pull it open with your finger, it will run like a new mower, until you choke it again and it sticks again!