Briggs and Stratton Engine Hard to Turn Over – How To Troubleshoot

Have you ever undergone a situation where your lawn mower suddenly stopped, and your Briggs & Stratton engine won’t turn over again? If yes, you must be keen to know whether it is possible to troubleshoot this issue, and if possible, then how?

Firstly, gather up all the necessary tools and materials. Now, take the mower Hood off and inspect further. Next, adjust the Choke Cable accordingly and test the engine to verify. Then, put the Hood back on properly.

Keep reading the following article and learn how to troubleshoot a Briggs and Stratton engine that hard to turn over or struggles to start.

What Causes the Problem?

Your lawn mower Briggs and Stratton engine might experience a hard-to-turn-over issue due to improper or wrong choke adjustment. That’s the most common reason behind most Briggs and Stratton engines’ hard turning over trouble.

But besides that, other faulty elements such as a worn out or damaged spark plug, cracked porcelain insulator, blocked carburetor, and clogged gas or fuel Cap can also cause similar trouble to Briggs and Stratton small engines.

Remember, all of the earlier mentioned reasons are listed based on most users’ and experts’ experiences. In your case, it can be either one or multiple of them, and you can only confirm the main reason by doing a comprehensive inspection.

3 Steps to troubleshoot a Briggs and Stratton engine hard to turn over: 

Engine starting failure, cranking trouble, or hard turning over is nothing new for the automotive vehicle or equipment users.

Just like any other top mid-range brands engines, Briggs & Stratton engine users have also mentioned encountering issues like starting failure or engines being hard to turn over.

But fortunately, there’s a simple way of fixing this problem without even spending a single penny.

In today’s article, I have enlisted that easy do quick DIY method of troubleshooting a Briggs and Stratton engine hard to turn over.

Things needed to troubleshoot a Briggs and Stratton engine hard to turn over:

Before moving towards the detailed troubleshooting procedures, have a proper glance at the checklist of the required tools and materials:

Step 1- Take the mower Hood off and inspect further:

First, you need to take your lawn mower hood off for better access.

Then, if you have headlights on your lawn mower, unplug the wiring harness plug.

Now, grab the hood, tilted back a little bit, and lift the hood out of the way.

Next, you can see the throttle cable in a bracket there. That cable is hooked to this plate which controls the throttle.

You will also find the Cam on the back of that bracket here. The Cam controls the choke.

Now see, there’s still some choke left. Because of that, the carburetor and the choke plates are not closed.

Therefore, what you have to do is adjust this to make it work.

Step 2- Adjust the Choke Cable & Test the engine:

You have to adjust that cable so that it can help to engage the choke completely by getting pulled further back.

First, take the lever and push it up to choke.

Use a Torx driver or wrench whatever you can find to loosen that up and pull the cable quarter an inch or so.

Then, pull the cable back and tighten that keeper up securely. Remember, it should not be too tight or too loose.

Next, check whether the engine is starting or cranking up or not.

Step 3- Put the Hood back on properly:

Once you have ensured that your Brigg and Stratton engine is no longer having a hard time turning over, it’s time to put everything back together that you have taken apart during the troubleshooting process.

See, these two pins will go in these two slots of the engine front shown in the below picture.

Now, line them up and hold the hood in a way to keep it leaned back halfway so that the ears can directly go into those slots.

Then, close it so that other slots can drop onto the rod and open it back to plug up the wiring harness plug of the headlights.

If your Briggs and Stratton engine is still having the same turning over failure, I highly suggest and recommend another detailed troubleshooting DIY video.

If you still cannot fix your engine problem, I highly recommend contacting your nearest servicing center for expert help.

Warning:

Undertaking such servicing or repairing tasks can be hazardous. Therefore, make sure you have enough mechanical expertise to perform them. Remember to first read your mower’s instructions manual before operating, servicing, or troubleshooting it.

Watch this video.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict

If you ever experience similar issues while operating your Briggs and Stratton engine, you can try those above-mentioned DIY techniques.  

Initially, you might feel that those techniques are a bit complicated to perform, but if you have the minimum technical expertise and follow every step thoroughly, you can easily fix the engine problem.  

Always remember you can only get the best result by following all the instructions mentioned in today’s article. So, read and follow the way of troubleshooting a Briggs and Stratton engine hard to turn over.

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