Briggs & Stratton Enters My Shit List

[ka8ncr]

I was given a Husqvarna z46 mower a couple years ago as a gift, purchased from a big box store. Wonderful apparatus, except the engine. We had a couple summers of unusually hot dry weather, so the mower had about 15 hours on it when it started running like crap. I suspected a common ailment with motors of that vintage, blown head gasket. I contact the store, they say "bring it in", I say "no way, I'll never see it again".

There is a dealer and authorized service center (probably the same one that the big box store uses) on the other side of the county, I pay them $100 to pick it up and a couple weeks later, they say "yup, sure enough, blown head gasket". Great, fix it.

Except B&S won't honor the repair with a tick of a dent on the intake manifold, which my oldest managed to do backing it into a tree. I have to shell out almost $200 in parts and another hour and a half of labor in order for B&S to honor their warranty for a problem that should have never happened at 15 hours. I checked with another service center and they did confirm that B&S won't honor warranty repairs with that type of damage. Crappy American product.

Of course a year later, Husqvarna switched to Kohler engines.

[KG4CGC]

Ayep ...
Honda and TroyBuilt mowers are identical and built in the same factory. They are made to run for 4 or 5 years before going into failure mode when the command is sent from the orbiting satellite. LOL!
Anything from Lowes or Home Depot will not be fixable by any of the parts you buy at Lowes or Home Depot except air filters. Have the associate look up the part you're looking and I guarantee the part on the shelf is not the right part. Even the spark plug that their computer tells the associate is correct is even visually wrong unless you're literally blind. It's a scam.

[WZ7U]

Jeez, maybe I should go into the certificate I earned 36 years ago - small engine and sport vehicle repair. I originally used that as a jumping off point to a career in auto mechanics (ex ASE Master tech) because it seemed too seasonal back then. Maybe I should re-think my priorities a little.

Of course, the shipping for you guys would be the deal breaker in my case, even with the island discount.

[KG4CGC]

Jeez, maybe I should go into the certificate I earned 36 years ago - small engine and sport vehicle repair. I originally used that as a jumping off point to a career in auto mechanics (ex ASE Master tech) because it seemed too seasonal back then. Maybe I should re-think my priorities a little.

Of course, the shipping for you guys would be the deal breaker in my case, even with the island discount.

A lot of gentlemen around here retire and enter that field working from home.

[WZ7U]

Me thinks that's a FB idea too. Not the first time I've had that roll around my noggin the last couple years. I better listen to that small, still voice within telling me to get it going. It usually is right.

[PA5COR]

Kept the old Flymo working for 10 years after given to me busted and all.
The new Wolff 1000 watt electric mower i bought last year crapped out the last week, 2 year warranty but since i had the spare part in the junk box ( condenser) the repair was quick and the mowing could commence.
I only have a small grass plot, 6 x 5 meters, so it's peanuts, it takes more time to get the mower from the shed, setting it up and bringing it back after a quick clean as the mowing takes.
After mowing season is over a good clean, some grease on the blade ( steel) after sharpening, and put it away dry.
Still worrying the condenser failed after what? 12 hours running... the old/new one is at least 5 years old, lets see how things go this year.
The new wire cutter for the grass is new as well, Wolff brand, still does it well, just used to trim the edges, 500 watts.
As with the car i regularly check things, tends to keep them running longer ;)

[n2ize]

B&S engines used to be very reliable and would keep on running forever. It was next to impossible to kill a B&S engine unless you deliberately ran it avec no oil or poured sand in the crankcase. My snow thrower uses a Tecumseh motor and it's been going strong for well over a decade avec no problems. My smaller tools like leaf blowers and weed whackers use generic 2 cycle engines. They are temperamental. 99.9% of the time any trouble is related to the carburetor. Fortunately replacement carburettors are pretty cheap so when one is giving me trouble I just replace the carb. Other than that I need to replace the fuel lines once in a while. The alcohol in today's gas really deteriorates fuel lines fast, BTW I have a brand new 6 or 7 HP Chinese engine that I bought a few years ago for a prooject that never materialized. I have the engine still in the box never opened. I might think of selling it one of these days,

[HUGH]

Qualcast, a long-established UK mower company, now has all small mowers made in China, including the engines, which are badged Briggs and Stratton but a series that's not traceable on the internet. Another firm, Mountfield, has ride-on mowers assembled in Italy but many of the parts have Chinese labels on. I think the engine comes from Taiwan, likewise that on a large, wheeled strimmer I run. These latter two run well but the ride-on mower is quite fragile, I've had a brush with a few of our fruit trees and had to do some serious metal panel straightening.
Never had trouble with the old Murray, it didn't cut the grass too well but seemed at home over rough ground, I missed the opportunity to get an updated model some time ago.

[ka8ncr]

Qualcast, a long-established UK mower company, now has all small mowers made in China, including the engines, which are badged Briggs and Stratton but a series that's not traceable on the internet. Another firm, Mountfield, has ride-on mowers assembled in Italy but many of the parts have Chinese labels on. I think the engine comes from Taiwan, likewise that on a large, wheeled strimmer I run. These latter two run well but the ride-on mower is quite fragile, I've had a brush with a few of our fruit trees and had to do some serious metal panel straightening.
Never had trouble with the old Murray, it didn't cut the grass too well but seemed at home over rough ground, I missed the opportunity to get an updated model some time ago.

Having paid for my first modern transceiver with lawn cutting money, I became familiar with all brands of yard implement, and I recall Murray being a real pain in the ass to push. Cast mowing deck, heavy as hell but with a Tecumseh engine that often seemed to want to rip off your arm. Lots of people where I grew up worked for the company that built those engines, including my grandfather. The company has long departed Tecumseh, MI. So has my grandfather...