satisfaction of making another one run

[rokon2813]

Saturday my wife smoked the 11hp briggs in her A/C 811 I've got a couple 11's around but I had one 12.5 hp I/C with no home. When I got it, it was on an MTD. It wouldnt turn over fast enough to start so I set it aside and got rid of the tractor and kept the motor. Couple times when I was tinkering, tried it again and it wouldnt turn very fast even on the truck battery. So I changed the starter. Same thing. Set it aside again. Now I want it so I start to tear it down and find the problem. First thing is change the oil. Earlier when I checked it out, it had dirty oil but it was full so I didnt pay much attention. This time since I'm gonna tear it down I'll drain the oil first. So I pulled the plug. It was thick as maple syrup and sticky ????? Drained the oil, put in a quart of gas and turned it over by hand a few times and drained it again. Hit the starter and it turned fine. So next is the carb. Pulled the bowl off and it looked like tar. It wouldnt even pour out. Any idea what caused this???? Anyway changed the carb, installed it on the tractor and started right up. Amazing the difference between a worn out 11 hp and a good 12.5 hp. Best of all was the satisfaction of having the tractor back up and running better than ever before.

[HubbardRA]

Good job Dan. Nothing like having spare engines. Done that myself a time or two. Just picked up two 11 and one 12 vertical shaft engines this weekend.

[Ryan]

Good job. More power is always nice. Old fuel will turn into tar after time when decomposes. It tries to go back to its natural state of crude oil.

[Hoss]

You would be amazed at how many people do not do any PM on their machines. I just replaced a 15 Hp briggs in a Craftsman machine for a guy. He said it smoked real bad and was a big gas hog. I checked out the engine before replacement. I could see why the rings were worn. I don't think the air filter had ever been cleaned during its 10 years of life. He knew enough that the rings were bad but not enough to clean the filter. It always seems to happen with the Big Box brands, but once in a while you will see a Simplicity or a JD.