Anyone with a B&S engine that has a plastic carb?

[CharBaby]

I just picked up(for $100), a 3 year old BLACK MAX EMi 725(POLY DECK) self-propelled(PERFECT PACE) lawnmower with a 163cc B&S engine that is equipped with a plastic carb. Starts 1 pull and runs great!

Blackmax | 21-inch Perfect Pace Mower

Anyone have one with a plastic carb?
What is your maintenance regime, fuel type(E0/E10), fuel stabilizer, carb issues, ease of maintenance, how easy does the JET plug up?
This lawnmower is real nice but, I still consider it new.
The engine is one of those B&S engines that require NO oil changes but the guy said the oil was changed regularly anyway and I will too. He sold it for his brother who passed(RIP).

 

[skyactiv]

Look at the fuel line coming from the tank and place the mower at a very slight slope in relation to flow of fuel. Run the mower until it runs out of fuel. Use a rubber twist tie on the "operator presence bar" so you don't need be at the mower when it's running but be safe.

 

[cptbarkey]

Mine plugged up after 6 years. It’s not difficult to remove the plastic cartridge, spray the jets and various passages carb cleaner. It’s high quality plastic similar to car intakes so it will last. I buggered mine trying to enlarge the jet. A new OEM is about 60 bucks and I am running again with one pull. The cartridge itself is around $20. I will probably make it a habit to clean annually. There are several YT videos I studied cover the process, including Teryl and others.

 

[CharBaby]

Look at the fuel line coming from the tank and place the mower at a very slight slope in relation to flow of fuel. Run the mower until it runs out of fuel. Use a rubber twist tie on the "operator presence bar" so you don't need be at the mower when it's running but be safe.

^^^Thank you SKY

I have (for ~50 years), left my OPE's full of fuel w/STA*BIL & MMO during storage without any starting issues during the next season.

Is this plastic carb different, meaning does it need to be stored with NO fuel?
I know that they're at two schools of thought on this(w/fuel...w/o fuel).
I even have STA*BIL 360 MARINE(blue) on hand along with a good amount of regular STA*BIL STORAGE(red) & STA*BIL 360 PROTECTION(amber).

Also, I realize that non-ethanol is best but this engine & carburetor allows for up to E10 while non-ethanol is a bit difficult to find. Also, I've been using E10 in everything since it was available in my area of NYState...IDK, some 25+ years with No issues!

Also, on the BLACK MAX website, the bad reviews are bad while the good reviews are good. It's a crap shoot I suppose but a $400 mower for $100, I'll take my chances. Build date was 1/30/2021

 

[SHOZ]

I had one on a old Sears power washer. It was the type that mounted on top of the fuel tank. It would never run all the gas out leaving some in the tank below the pickup. You could not drain the tank manually either. So even when taking it all apart you still could not get all the water out of the tank. Had to blow it out and let it sit and dry. Over time water builds up from the ethanol sucking it out of the air.

 

[mk378]

My friend has one of those engines. The plastic carb is no more problematic than conventional metal ones. Probably less since it can't rust. The only real fuel system failure was a clogged fuel line as Briggs used multi-layer hose that eventually swells up on the inner layer and clogs. This was on all models of engines made in the 2010s. They probably don't use the same hose in later production.

Learn to drop the bowl and pull the module to clean the jet. You're likely to need to do this sometime after winter storage. There is also a bowl drain plug which could potentially be used to completely empty the carb during storage (Running until it stops doesn't get all the gas out, there will be enough left to gum up). The drain plug requires a stubby 10mm hex key wrench to remove, and it is kind of easy to damage the plastic while attempting to do it.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Seems to me that less gunk will form with E10 than with a metal carb.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here is the B & S 725 Exi. It came out at a time when B & S was putting forward the Just Check and Add concept which turned off a lot of Bitoggers.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I just picked up(for $100), a 3 year old BLACK MAX EMi 725(POLY DECK) self-propelled(PERFECT PACE) lawnmower with a 163cc B&S engine that is equipped with a plastic carb. Starts 1 pull and runs great!

Blackmax | 21-inch Perfect Pace Mower

Anyone have one with a plastic carb?
What is your maintenance regime, fuel type(E0/E10), fuel stabilizer, carb issues, ease of maintenance, how easy does the JET plug up?
This lawnmower is real nice but, I still consider it new.
The engine is one of those B&S engines that require NO oil changes but the guy said the oil was changed regularly anyway and I will too. He sold it for his brother who passed(RIP).

Did you mean Exi or EMI ?

 

[CharBaby]

Did you mean Exi or EMI ?

^^^ SORRY yes, I meant EXi. You got me! I had to go out to the shed and look. It's just like the one pictured in the link.
It also says to just add oil.. Yeah right, I'll do that. I've already changed the oil and the guy had also recently changed the oil as it was clean but I don't care.

My BIL has a pressure washer with the NO OIL CHANGE. I changed it for him as he believed B&S which means, BS!

 

[repairman54]

4 yrs ago my BF widow's BS powered just add oil push mower was in 3 feet of water. I got to it a few days afterwards. Drained everything out, was the first plastic carb I ever saw BTW. Cleaned it out, added fresh fluids and it cranked right up. Still running today.

 

[jeepman3071]

I haven't found the plastic carbs to be any worse. In fact maybe even cheaper/easier to replace and clean when fuel sits in them, since it will just clog up the jet instead of corroding the entire carburetor body.

 

[ripcord]

I haven't owned anything with one of these plastic carbs but there's no way on GGE that they are worse than the Nikki carbs on other Briggs engines.

 

[CharBaby]

I just watched a YouTube video from "Chickanic", where she explained how easy it is to replace the carb or just replace the main jet on one of these plastic carbs(if necessary). Easy Peasy Japanesey...or Chinaesey!

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here is the current 2024 run of Briggs and Stratton push mower engines. I could not find out if they all have plastic carbs. Anyone know?

 

[CharBaby]

^^^Mine has the air cleaner cover of the EX series shown above, even though mine is an EXi(3+ yrs old).
Mine is also a Mow N' Stow but there are some slight differences in my EXi(gas cap, air cleaner cover & carb/float bowl) compared to the one shown.
You can see in the pictures that the EXi & PXi are showing metal float bowls so, I am assuming that they're metal/alum carbs.