Question, what am I missing

hamman

hamman

Tractorologist
Member
Trying to help a elderly neighbor. She has a 2014 Troybilt Pony lawn tractor with a 15.5 briggs engine. They were running it the other day and it was running rough. Shut it off and now it will not start. Has spark, fuel and air. All safety switches work because we have spark. Now the spark is yellow at my tester and at the plug when grounded. Cleaned and dried plug it was wet and crusty. Engine turn over fast and steady. Can't put fuel in plug due to the way it is made. I do not have spray so that is out. She is going to get a new plug today and I will put that in and see what that will do. What am I missing. Thanks in advance,
Roger
 
I’d install the new plug because it’s easy, cheap and see what happens.

It’s only four things: fuel, spark and compression in the right order(timing).

The next thing is compression. Did they run it hot and seize the rings?

My bet is it is something simple like the plug.
 
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My first thought is give it a shot of starting fluid and see if it kicks. Or even a squirt of gas down the carburetor. That will kinda tell you how good your spark is..
Could very well be the plug. Some are coming from China I've seen.
 
Sound like plug like the others have said. Champion plugs are terrible to say the least. Foul easy and once fouled they are junk. Will show decent spark out but will not fire in the hole. NGK will work a lot better.
 
Well ...... she couldn't wait for me to get back , LOL so she has another neighbor looking at it. Her son told me they will let me know what they find. I really think it is the plug. Thanks for the quick help guys, I knew I wasn't to far off.
Roger
 
I only have a 7 hp Kohler. Last Kohler k17 I had blew up so replaced it with a L head B&S, rebuilt. Going to try an get a 1862 Cub in a couple weeks & unfortunately it too has a Konker in it.
 
A late update. After looking at the mower and putting a new plug in , they had to start it on spray and it will not stay running. I actually believe there is a chance like JBRamsey said they ran it hot and the rings seized. They are going to borrow my trailer in a few days to take it down to the Amish repair. It will be interesting to see the outcome. Thanks guys.
 
If it has the round float bowl with the retaining nut on the bottom, on removal you'll find a very small opening it a wire from a shipping tag or bread bag tie with the plastic stripped off will clear that and blow some air thru it on the side you used the wire on.
 
Well she took it to the local Amish SE guy and he can't touch it for two months. ( ya he is good and fairly reasonable and in demand) When I get a chance I am going down with the Kubota and going to bring it back to work on in the garage. As I said I am puzzled by the amount of oil on the old plug. When I had the plug out and had her turn it over it appeared to have good compression. That will be the first thing I check when I get it here. Still a few days away , it time to get the hunting blinds ready for October and see if we can get some meat in the freezer this year. Been two years since we had some venison.
Roger
 
jabelman said:
Every engine I own or work on, even if it's running fine gets replaced with an ngk plug. Champion plugs are junk
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there needs to be a thumbs down, red x, some other "disagree" symbol that we can click on. theres good + bad in every brand but I'm one that runs Champions in everything I have..... and always have. for what they cost, they have done well by me. on some cars and trucks, changing plugs can be a pain.. (pull intake to access the back 3? Really?) but on 98% of small engines, you get a dud for a plug, is it really that much work to swap it out? I havent had very good service from NGK or Bosch plugs (Bosch are some of the worst)
 
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