Unkillable briggs

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Originally Posted By: Oldwolf
I hear of guys that run their used motor oil in their B&S's.


thats kind of silly isnt it?/ I mean it only takes a 1/2 of a quart.
 
....My god...... Briggs and stratton sure know how to build an engine. I come before you today, humbled and awed. This is no exaggeration either. So, I went out, and it started. Knocked. Over the course of the next half hour I added 4 more handfuls of dirt to crankcase, and 2 to the intake. Kept going. And going. and going. Finally ran out of gas, I took to garage, drained the oil (Bar and chain lube, and it was essentially water by this point. So I add some more gas, and it fires up after struggling to start. IT RAN FOR 25 MORE MINUTES BEFORE IT RAN OUT OF GAS AND DIED AGAIN. By this time the knock was almost deafening, it was smoking a ton from the CBT and exhaust, it was shaking and it just... I am amazed. Later today or tomorrow after its cooled down I am going to take it apart and survey the damage. I took some video too, I'll try to upload it shortly. Simply astounding. Props, briggs and stratton, you guys are truly the masters of engine building. At the end I lost cont of the times I thought it was going to die.. and it just kept going.
 
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I just went back out gave it some prime... And it fired up. Knocks very heavily and loudly, but it runs. Dang. EDIT> Nothing. It was just an old worn out, broken, rusty mower, and I wanted to see just how durable briggs are, and I think I've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are incredibly sturdy. No car engine would have taken that kind of abuse and lived.
 
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Bulletproof!

Love the experiment, can't wait to see the video.

Send this to B&S!
 
VIDEO TIME!
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Here you go! I almost said a few bad words but I remembered this was going to be posted on BITOG so I had to substitute =) Enjoy! Sorry for the poor quality of the 1st I shot it on my cell phone.

Part 1- Bar & Chain lube, with lots of dirt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmyz2oJeTtg

Part 2- No oil, still dirt inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc7oRAyUYf4
 
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Very cool. If you can, take it down and remove the bearing from the crank and the piston from the cylinder. I'd like to see the state of the bearing surface, the cylinder wall and the piston. I'd appreciate it. I felt bad at first, but I see that it had been doing poorly for some time to have such a black spot around the muffler. It's death has convinced a lot of people about just what one of these things can take.
 
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: Oldwolf
I hear of guys that run their used motor oil in their B&S's.


thats kind of silly isnt it?/ I mean it only takes a 1/2 of a quart.


I think so too.
 
This is awesome! I have officially subscribed to this thread. Can't wait for pics of the inside.

I personally fill my mower with 15w-40 Rotella once a year when I put it to bed in the fall.
 
Probably 6 oz of oil left in the engine when drained. I like to look at longevity with thousands of hours of usage. And there will parts to be replaced but that's basic maintenance.

I don't think that engine had that many hours to begin with(video).

No engine is bullet proof to that extreme..humor back yard????
 
I think the demonstration proves, however, that mowing a ditch with a flathead briggs isn't cause for concern that it will become 'oil starved' before reaching level ground once more.
 
Awesome thread! Love the video. My 3HP Jacobsen mower from the 70's should be getting very nervous right about now...

Just kidding! "The Jake" still does a good job on the lawn, though it suffers from mild hemorrhaging.
 
Can you try flushing the case then adding some 20w-50? I kind of just want to see if it can be brought back from the brink of death to where it runs nice considering, where the knock goes away somewhat.
 
Well, yesterday I got a friend and took it out again, this time to a "sand pit". It started right up with gas. Within 7 feet or so of it the knock and noise is so loud to hurt your ears. But, it ran, and ran. We added a LOT of sand down the intake, and dumped 2 bottles of water and a couple handfulls of sand down into the crankcase. IT STILL KEPT GOING. Occasionally stalled out, but it always started right back up again. Finally ran out of gas again. I think I'm done, I've run out of ideas. I'm probably going to go home later and dissassemble the thing.
 
Originally Posted By: FusilliJerry82
Can you try flushing the case then adding some 20w-50? I kind of just want to see if it can be brought back from the brink of death to where it runs nice considering, where the knock goes away somewhat.


Yes! That thing deserves a second chance at life. Clean it up, run it a bit, then drain and refill with good oil. Run a bit of injector cleaner in the gas, too. Then post a new video of it humming along!
 
-Go to your local hobby store...get some nitro-methane.. it has a mix of oil in it too...dump out the gas...fill 'er up...should be shooting flames...for posterity sake...get that muffler off too
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Make sure the governor spring keeps it running redline too!!

-In the old days if the engine burned oil...to clean up the cylinders without taking it apart...an old friend mixed some Ajax with gasoline and ran it through the carb slowly..not a slurry but like perhaps..a couple table spoons of Ajax scouring powder..to 5 oz gasoline. A little scrub couldn't hurt at this point...might even help!
 
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