This is Raleigh's second snow event in two weeks. We lost power at 3AM during the snowfall. It was out all day, so I went outside to play. I can't believe how tough that tractor really is. Six inches of heavy snow...no problem with her four wheel drive.
As I am setting up this post, I'm wondering why in the world I'm showing snow plowing pictures to folks in Northeast Ohio. Oh well, things have been slow on Tiresmoke.
Notice the cap I'm wearing. It came from Eaton in Cleveland! I have a scarf to match. Goes back to the seventies! I have many good memories of my time in Cleveland!
While plowing our cul-de-sac, a neighbor came out with a cup of hot chocolate!
This is our owl rain gauge peeking out of the snow.
I'm glad you're having some fun with the snow! Around here it's pretty much become work at this time of the year. On the flip side, my dog LOVES it, and I use shoveling for exercise. If it gets over about 4-5" though, I'll break out the snowblower.
It was more necessity than having fun although I didn't mind it at all. Since we live at the bottom of a long hill in a somewhat remote part of Raleigh, our street is the last to get plowed, if at all. We get stuck down here for days if we get significant snow while the rest of Raleigh gets plowed and goes on with their business. We have several neighbors with tractors who try to make a path up to the main road.
As for the fluid/filter, I didn't do it yet. Other priorities seem to get in the way and the container of fluid and the filter sits in the garage staring at me. For instance, our power was out all day Thursday, so I brought out the generator and it started up just fine and went to work. After a couple of hours, I shut it off and refilled the tank. Then I started it up again and went about my business.
Ten minutes later I noticed that we had no power and the generator was not running. Now it won't start. I pulled the plug and it was dry. I checked for gas at the carb and it was there. I checked for spark and I couldn't see any. I metered out the on/off switch and it is OK. I think it's time to pull the flywheel to check out the points etc. Any other thoughts would be welcome. This is a Briggs engine.
You could use some starter fluid as an easy test of the ignition. That should tell you if the problem is spark or fuel. If it starts using starting fluid, but stalls, see if it will run with the choke on some.
Maverick wrote:You could use some starter fluid as an easy test of the ignition. That should tell you if the problem is spark or fuel. If it starts using starting fluid, but stalls, see if it will run with the choke on some.
I agree. I'm planning to squirt some gas into the cylinder before I do any major surgery. I don't have starting fluid because I've never used it. It's difficult to see the spark in the gap during the day, but I did put a screw driver in the spark plug lead and turned it over. I had my finger on the screwdriver and didn't feel anything. I'm still not 100% sure, so I'll try the gas trick. It usually works. I'm just not in the mood to go out there at the moment.
Something out of the ordinary must have occurred here because this thing always starts and runs problem free. In fact is was running just before I topped off the gas. Then it started again easily. Finally it stopped and now is dead. Go figure!
Good stuff to have around. Costs a buck or two for a can and lasts forever. I use it on my now difficult to start generator and power washer. Won't flood the spark plugs. Gives a definitive test for fuel vs ignition problems.
IMO, If there was spark, you'd see it, day or night. And you certainly would feel it through a screwdriver.... I'm guessing it's an electronic ignition of some sort. That being the case there's only a few things that could have happened. All of them requiring you to pull the flywheel cover off. Mice like to move into there and chew wires, or the pick-up area on the flywheel is rusty and just needs a quick clean with some scotchbrite, or the coil is just junk. Most times though, the coil will die when it gets hot, but restart once it cools down. The ignition pickup also has a gap setting where it comes close to the flywheel of about .013, but a matchbook works perfectly there too.
Before you tear the motor apart, check the oil. On most Briggs motors, there
is a low oil shut down that will cut the spark if the motor is a pint low on oil.
On a Briggs, you will still see the oil in the fill neck, but it will be 3 or 4 threads
down, enough to be a pint low and cause the low oil sensor to kill spark. We
CONSTANTLY run into this issue at the rental store, and, with current motors
having high energy ignitions that never fail, I'd put $20 down that says that
is the problem with the generator. Briggs motors burn oil, and especially on a
generator that runs high rpm's constantly.
As a side note, sometimes the low oil sensors fail. When they fail,
they almost always act like the motor is out of oil. Disconnecting
the wire to the sensor will de-activate the sensor and not allow it
to kill spark. When a motor has no spark, we always disconnect the
sensor to eliminate it as a potential reason for no spark.
Since I was anxious to check out GM's advice, I went out early this morning before church and added some oil to the generator. It seemed to take just a little at a time but never get to the top. I tried to start it but it was still dead. Then I pulled the wire from the low oil sensor and, bingo! It fired right up! I'll go back later and try to top off the oil and put the lead back on the sensor to see what happens.
Thanks GM. You da Man!
Nice!!! I'm glad I could help!!
Now, make sure to reconnect the low oil sensor and add oil.
We don't want to see a post about how you and Maverick had
to do a frame off & complete overhaul of your generator!
After the fact, curiosity got the best of me so I dug through my pile of owners documents and found an 81/2 x 11 sheet colored red describing what to do if the unit doesn't start. Yep! It says to check the oil and mentions the shutoff. It also talks about rocking the unit to get enough oil to the sender after it stops. Good lesson learned!
I'll top off the oil and hook up the sensor before I put it back into storage.
OK, just to put a bow on this package, yesterday was 55 degrees so I went out to finish up the generator. I changed the oil, (Mobil1 5w30) and hooked up the low oil sensor and she is now running like new again. The oil was really dirty. I couldn't see the condition of it in the filler hole, so it was good that I changed it. I even went so far as to clean up all the mold and mildew on her. Since my storage room is outside and quite damp, I decided to store the unit in my basement. I don't like the power outages and the resulting inconveniences, but it's good to be able to run the well pump for the toilets and make some coffee. I plan to rewire the distribution box soon to give me internet access (by powering the cable modem and phone modem). I also need to wire in the microwave circuit to make things better still. Too bad this thing won't power my heat pump.
