OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines Brand New Briggs Seized

Pretty much as the title says.

I thought I'd treat myself this Christmas and buy a brand new sloper style Briggs and Stratton 3.5 Hp engine to fit on my daily 20 inch Scotty as they are much smoother than the older L style Head engines.

Anyway fitted it and they come complete with engine oil installed from the factory and even has a tag on the pull starter with an oil symbol and a big tick implying that it's full of oil. I checked anyway and it got oil. So I ran it and then took it for a test drive and did my front lawns and it performed flawlessly. Much smoother than my previous Briggs did that's for sure. I was about to shut it down when it suddenly started to lose it's idle spped and then it stalled. I first checked the reel but that was fine and spinning as it should. I then disengaged the primary clutch and attempted to turn the clutch body only to find that the crank was locked tight and wouldn't turn until I applied a fair larger amount of force with my hands. I then opened up the oil filler cap and it smoked like a train, confirming to me that it's run hot and cooked itself.

Not quite sure what's happened but I do know that with these mass produced engines that every now and again you'll get a dud and I've just scored the booby prize for Christmas I guess.

So what would all you guys do now ? I have my own ideas and that is throw it straight back to Briggs and demand another as a replacement also this time drain their crap oil out put my own Penrite Full Synthetic in prior to starting it.

What do you all think ?

Cheers,
BB.

Considering it came fully setup I would be claiming warranty replacement. But here we never receive engines with oil from the factory except some left oil from assembly.If Briggs is now sending out engine this way it is something new they are trying.

I just installed two Briggs' last month and neither had oil supplied. They came straight from the Briggs warehouse.

I would be curious as to why the engine failed though but you shouldn't be going inside unless you are an authorized warranty repair centre. Briggs would use that as an excuse not to honour the warranty.

Well a Merry Merry Christmas BB what rotten luck. I haven't come across a new motor filled with oil, but I guess Briggs must have had a few that people have bought and not put oil in them. It certainly wouldn't have mown your lawn if it didn't have oil in it.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your responses so far.

I've removed the engine from the mower and decided to tip the oil out into a glass beaker. A whole 100 ml was inside. The engine has a tag on the recoil starter that shows a oil symbol and it has a tick showing thus meaning that it has oil inside. Normally engines that have no oil in them have a warning label somewhere attached saying "Requires Oil prior to starting".

BTW the previous engine I purchased from the same supplier a week earlier had a full crankcase of oil in it, thus why I just tipped the mower backwards and saw oil come up the filler neck quickly.

I'm really starting to wonder who's to blame here as I'm sure had I put extra oil in it this engine would still be running sweetly now.

Now with Christmas on our door step I'm wondering how long this is going to take as most mower shops have already shut for the long break and the one I bought this engine from won't re-open until mid January. I'm going to contact Briggs' Head Office tomorrow and see how they would like to approach this situation and if I can get an engine direct from them without going through a dealership outlet.

Cheers,
BB.

That is about all you can do BB, always a difficult time of the year to do anything. Good luck with it, but it shouldn't require good luck

Hi BB,

I've fitted a few of the B&S slopers (3.5HP / 550 series and 5HP 750 series) to my own machines, and each of them were supplied with below the bare minimum amount of engine oil (new, straight out of the box).

With risk, there is no cautionary or warning indicators that the oil is not supplied in the engine at a ready to run level.

Off the top of my head, the motor will take something around the 600ml mark when topped up, new out of the box.

The 750 (with the increased HP and price tag), has an oil pressure switch that prevents the engine running if it senses the oil level is too low. This could have been the life saver if you went for this model (bugger!).

Ideally, dealers could give us a friendly reminder... And peddle a little more profit selling a 1L bottle of Briggs SAE30 to go with the purchase. They don't though! I have had to ask for it every time...

On the note of duds out of the factory, it definitely happens. I had one of the 550's supplied with a clogged air passage in the fuel delivery areas (within the carb assembly). This resulted in the old 'engine refuses to run unless being choked' situation. I'm no expert, but assume it was probably a result sitting on a shelf somewhere for an extended period of time before I got my hands on it and put it to work.

I'm keen to hear how you go dealing with Briggs on this though.

Hi GTX,

Firstly I take responsibility for the fact of what was the end result.

I certainly take all your comments of what should happen via selling dealers as a positive.

The part that irks me is that the first engine I bought (first ever new engine purchased) was full of oil and the tag on the recoil starter shows an oil symbol and a big tick pictured. To me that means oil GOOD. Now on that engine I checked the oil and confirmed that it was full of oil. That engine is still running today and thus set the precedence of how I treated any subsequent purchases. Now when I bought the second engine for myself I pretty much "assumed" that it was in the same state as the first one purchased and that is it was full of oil. I did a rough check but obviously not good enough on my behalf and that's me making that statement about myself and that's where the responsibility falls back on me.

The word "assumption" is what's gotten me into strife.

I just feel that a sticker stating "Crankcase requires Oil prior to Starting" placed on the top opening of the carton would be a far more definitive bit of information rather than a book that's in 35 different languages talking about not using the engine on go-karts etc etc etc. would be far more informative.

The other thing that really irks me is that "I should've known better".

I will keep this thread up to date and post up the findings of this case.

BTW....... A Briggs agent / seller now has to strip the engine down and write a report on what's gone wrong and we all know how that's going to end. The engine doesn't have any contact whatsoever with anyone employed by Briggs Australia and it's the agency that has all the arguments with Briggs. This shouldn't be like this, but that's how their system works at the moment.

Cheers,
BB.

Result............................................

Now as far as this seized engine goes, Briggs have organised me a replacement motor as they can see the issue of what's happened.

All they really need to do now is actually clearly label either the packing carton or the engine itself that it requires oil as they've had a few issues as of late with some engines having a full crankcase while others only have around 150ml of assembly oil inside. They admit that a standard of some sort should be sorted out, thus why I got caught out like I did.

I will say that most manufacturers that sell new engines place predominant labels on their product stating "REQUIRES OIL". They do this so as to avoid having to ship engines as DG cargo (Dangerous Goods), so isn't a truckfull of engines all with 150ml of oil inside each one considered DG ??? and if that's the case then just fill the things with oil in the first instance and we'll have no issues. Then it's the extra weight I hear you all saying ? agh !

Anyway I should have my replacement donk some time next week and thus I'll be able to refit it to my Scotty and continue the happy mowing.

Cheers,
BB.

So BB did you find out if these are being shipped from China with oil in them or is the oil being added here in Aus? anyway glad it has been sorted out for you.

Pleasing to hear BB. And reassuring to know there is fair support from B&S Australia.

Would love to see a shot the 45 with its new power plant once the transplant is complete.

Cheers

Hi Norm,

This is of-course being done in the great land we call China. They come first time sealed and not re-taped from there as did both the units that I purchased a couple of weeks apart. Just shows how they operate over there. Wonder what else gets such special attention ?

and for GTX, ............I shall do that for you once I've taken delivery of it next week as I'm lead to believe.

Cheers,
BB.

This situation is absurd. Is it rocket science to develop a process to fill a sump properly from factory? This is crazy. Briggs are going to attract plenty of claims this way.

MF, this is what absurd is I just went and picked up an old sidepull full crank I won on ebay for $6, I knew if it had a good coil or pull start I would be miles infront.Put a new float needle in it and it fired up and runs well. This is where the absurd bit is, it is probably 35 years old and it is sitting here beside an as new Gardenline that doesn't run. People just don't get it

Here so far none of the engines I get out the Briggs warehouse have oil in them other a small amount of assembly oil. It is intentional as the EPA regs require these to shipped without oil in case of an accident during shipping. It is the dealer or end purchaser duty to ensure the engine is properly filled with oil.

I just got in a brand new Briggs engine and I can bet my ears and I like them a lot on it not having oil in other than assembly oil.

Now this not having oil makes sense to me as I know shippers like UPS will toss around these engines as they end up upside down at times. If engine was full of oil it would end filling the cylinder or be running out the crankcase vent system.

As it should be. Just make the labels bold enough!

NormK, good job. Last one I "won" on gamblebay I paid $13.00 because I wanted the thumblatch high arch base, even though there was no catcher. Thank goodness it fired right up -without even needing another needle! I had to travel an awful long way to get it but the trip was scenic at least (South coast jus outside Sydney).

A good result, thanks for the update and look forward to seeing the video👍

Hi All,

Well I finally received my replacement engine on Saturday and was also given back the seized one complete under sufferance as I originally packaged it up for return.

There are some huge positives out of all this and firstly I was given an "XR Professional" variant to replace my standard I/C unit. The XR has the Dura bore cast iron sleeve in it and thus should last a few years longer.

The other plus in all this is that I've gotten back my original engine which I now want to repair and get back up and going as I strongly feel this will be a piston issue rather than the crank. Anyway I'll find out how it goes once I get the time to open it up.

Now the negative.................................... Briggs still won't put a "Requires Oil" sticker or label on either the box or the engine.

The new replacement unit had all of 60ml of oil in it which is purely assembly oil and nothing more. I still feel that the original customer engine I purchased prior to the one for myself was an aberration on the production line by having a crankcase full of oil and as such gave me the false sense of security along with that Engine Oil tag on the recoil starter that all these engines were good to go straight out of the box.

Now one has to ask the question, is there any service documentation available for these new generation Briggs sloper engines ?


Cheers,
BB.

Good outcome BB, I just hope they are fitted with a better carby setup than those problematic 550EX ones.

BB, Briggs has only release one service manual in the recent years and it is for the new 12V engine. Most just specs for the slants. Which model did you get and I double check for info on it.

Here are some current photos of my daily driver fitted with it's new Briggs XR Professional replacement engine.

There's nothing pretty about this machine, rather it is an original survivor that's in A1 mechanical condition and now has a new power plant fitted in place of the old HK30 Kirby that was leaking oil from the governor shaft seal and blew smoke like there was no tomorrow.

I still have the Kirby sitting on the shelf but honestly can't ever see it being returned into service on this machine. These newer designed Briggs engines are simply far smoother and quieter. Just imagine if the engines of back then were as smooth as these units, then there would never have been the issue of stress fractured rails on the later series II machines that mostly are all buggered nowadays and require major surgery to become reliably serviceable once more.

Cheers,
BB.