OK. Normally, I would continue to tinker if it was one of my cars, but I have temporarily been outmatched. (HA) I have a YardMachine mower that has finally decided to stop and not start or run. It started three days ago and ran for 5 minutes. This was the first start of the year. It seemed to take a couple of extra cranks of the key to start. It ran for 5 minutes and died. It will turn over great. I have recharged the battery in case of low cell. The plug is getting fire and I replaced the old plug. I have emptied the tank and replaced all the gas. I have pulled the carb off and pulled the float bowl. I did spray it all out with carb cleaner. (NO Overnight soak or anything, though) I do see a breather tube that is torn and needs replaced. It just does not seem to be getting gas. I replaced the fuel filter as well. All the kill switches have been disabled. I know there is a LOT of knowledge out here and hope someone has a little input. If it helps, it is a 14.5HP B&S OHV model 287707 series 1224. The YM mower is a model 13AM675G000. One more thing... I have never really noticed it before, but there is a wire, two prong with a ground and a hot just laying under the carb on the engine deck. I do not see anything it would attach to. The ground wire is rinning to the block under the carb on the left side of the motore. The main (hot) wire is coming from the opposite side (attaches into a wire cluster near the oil filler tube) and it runs under the engine to the carb side. Since I have never had to work much on the mower I have never noticed the wire before. I bought the mower used a year or so ago. I know that was a mouthful, but better too much info than not enough.

Thanks
Chris

I believe this is a fuel solenoid. If you check out B&S site they have a parts list Briggs & Stratton - Engine IPLs (Wednesday, April 04, 2007 9:16:43 PM) That if you enter the information you have will give a parts blow up, showing the harness you described.


Good Luck,
Morrowrj

I see the fuel solenoid on the IPL . It appears that is for an engine type 1275. Mine is a type 1224. I have pulled the carb off and there is no solenoid that I can locate on the carb/air assembly. I was curious if the wire is there by default from the factory or the motor has been changed at some point in time. I would have thought that if the carb had a fuel solenoid, it would have been located near the float bowl. There is nothing that I can find. Oh well, I do appreciate you pointing me to that doc. At least now I can get part numbers for the other pieces I will need in the future.

It is a anti- backfire solenoid and stops fuel from being drawn in when the engine is shut down. It would normaly go where the bolt holding the float chamber on goes.

It is possible it is part of the harness and is not used on your model, but the problem you are describing sounds just like it is not working.
Don

I would agree about how the problem could imitate the wire not being connected. I just wish there was something to hook it up to. If only it was that simple. (Ha) Oh well, back to the drawing board. I did notice that both of the times I have taken the carb off and removed the float bowl that there was gas in it. At least gas it getting that far.

I believe that wire is just part of the harness and not used. I have replaced the breather tube and still no go. It will turn over and has fire. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Did you completely disassemble the carb. I just had a B&S on a pressure washer that had gas in the bowl, but a port was plugged on the nozzle and wouldn't move the fuel. This was a near micro-scopic particle, might be worth checking again. If everything you say is true, I can't think of much else.


Good Luck,
Morrowrj

I just found a major issue! I wanted to check the valve clearance so I was doing a step by step on the B&S site. When I pulled the cover, I noticed one of the rocker arms was no resting on the spring. I then noticed that part of the push rod has snapped off. Ok, here is the?? Of the day. I can do car repair, although I have never broken an engine down. I consider myself to be pretty crafty and able minded. How hard is the push rod replacement on this thing. Any thing to watch out for?

A couple of other questions. Should I clean the carbon buildup off the piston? It is pretty heavy. Is there a "right" way to put the rocker arms back on? What is the easiest way to tighten the bolts and adjust the setscrews for clearance. I just want to make sure I get it right and don't kill anything.

As it turn out.. While adjusting the valve clearance, I located a broken push rod. LONG LONG story short. I replaced the aluminum push rod and adjusted the valves. (.03 and .05) It is now running great. In the process, I cleaned the carbon off the cylinder head (Sean Foam and steel wool), replaced the valves (The old ones were in bad shape), put a helicoil in place for a bad set of threads on the ricker arm stud hole. I installed new rocker arm nuts. (Broke the old ones trying to figure out how to adjust) New spark plug (I have never broken two before) and cleaned the carb (Just in case). Amazing how well it starts and runs now. I did some research to the original question about the wire. It appears that the unit did have a harness in place that included the solenoid wire. Oh well, it's always fun chasing ghosts.