The Valve Job

Spent all day Saturday outdoors . . . That is not a bad thing, except for the fact that it was in the 90s for most of the day. As I usually do every other Saturday, I went out after breakfast to cut the grass. Unusually, the lawn mower (not even one year old yet) would not crank!

I went through the entire checklist . . . New gas . . . new spark plug . . . cleaned the air filter . . . sacrificed a whole chicken . . . NOTHING WORKED. I noticed the compression seemed weak as I pulled the chord, so I took the starter-assembly off and found that I could turn the flywheel, with NO resistance, in either direction as much as I wanted.

HELP GOOGLE!! Google put me into a troubleshooting app on the Briggs & Stratton website. I started following it step by step and found the intake valve stuck open.

To make a long story short, I spent half the day looking for a small engine valve spring compressor. THERE IS NOT ONE FOR SALE IN FLORENCE, SC! I talked to my dad and he told me to use a block of wood and hammer to tap it back in. SO, Drew and I hosed it down with WD-40 and worked it back and forth until it started working again. We reassembled it and cut the grass! Our neighbors cheered (for the grass being cut)!

Dad, along with several others, have advised me to get some valve treatment and that should help, along with keeping the air filter clean. Did Drew and I enjoy this?? YES, but I don’t want to do it every time I cut the grass . . .