I have a 22hp briggs v twin engine in my mower. My wife was mowing with it and it was running fine. She shut it down and then got back on it 20 min later and it had no power and was blower back through the carburator. I pulled the valve cover on the cylinder that was having problems and found two bent lifter rods. Does anybody know what would cause this. I ordered new rods and will be putting them in and reseting them, but I am troubled by something else being the cause of this. Any info would be greatly appreciated

Did you see that it was running fine when she shut it down or were you tolld this? Push rods do not bend while the engine sits idle/off. How is your oil level?

Good point. Anyway the oil level is right were it is should be.

Sounds like your valves stuck ,check your valves guides and make sure they didn't pull out and cause this problem.

If the valve guides have moved can you repair them, or do you need to replace the entire head

You can take the head off and take it to a machine,Most people don't have the tools laying around to fix them.

I have the same engine with the same problem. 3 times now. Dealer says cam is "probably" warped, also says that 5 years is about as good as it gets before these engines have major problems. Hard to believe since the first one I owned lasted 17 years, this one is in fact only 5 years old.

Have replaced the rods twice now and need to do it a third time!