I just bought a mulcher off Craigslist last weekend. 6 hp Briggs Intek 190. I ran 2 tanks of gas through it with no trouble. Stalled it a few times feeding wet leaves, but it started fine. Then I stalled it some time later, now it won't start. Pulled plug, have good spark. Put a little starting fluid in cylinder, but still wouldn't run, not even a sputter. Ideas?

Hi,
If it stalled "hard" enough it may have sheared the key, or merely finished shearing the key. Modern ignitions will run with a partially sheared key, but when they get enough out-of-line, it still has good fire at the wrong time.
Peace,
Clarke

Hi,
If it stalled "hard" enough it may have sheared the key, or merely finished shearing the key. Modern ignitions will run with a partially sheared key, but when they get enough out-of-line, it still has good fire at the wrong time.
Peace,
Clarke

Clarke - Thanksfor answering. The machine didn't stall hard. Just over-fed with wet leaves, slowed down and fnally stalled.

Now I think I'm having a spark problem. Yesterday before posting, I checked the spark and it looked fine. Then after posting, I was tinkering some more and it looked like there was no spark. So I put in a new plug, still no spark. This morning, sometimes the old plug looks like it has spark, sometimes not. And this 6 hp is pretty hard to pull on the starter! Wimpy arm getting tired!

Is this a real problem, or am I crazy. I thought you either have spark or not. But on again, off again?

Hi,
Yes, it is possible to have intermittent ignition. Years ago they were nothing but transformers to increase the voltage to produce a spark to jump a gap in a compressed space. Now they contain a trigger to tell it when to produce the initial voltage, an advance system to determine when the event is triggered and the transformer part.
That makes more things to fail. It also makes for a larger variety of failure modes, often indicative of the brand of ignition.
Years ago the engine manufaturers had to go to these ignitions to survive and pass the EPA 2.0 tests.
Peace,
Clarke

Is this something an amateur can fix or is it best left for the professional to fix.