Deano
Veteran Member
I'm on the edge of my seat!!
Groundsmaster 52 runs 10 minutes, then dies
- Thread starter Volvoman
- Start date
jaxs
Elite Member
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 60,216
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Sorry for not getting back sooner. By now, I had hoped to have this thing all figured out! Unexpected delays have prevented me from finishing this mystery off. First, the OEM carb kit purchased from an online seller never arrived. No response to my email requests for a status report. Nothing! Very odd, as the seller had positive feedback relative to speed of shipping his stuff. Very strange, like something happened to him that he wasn’t able to reply to my status requests. So, that wasted an extra week plus. So, I purchased a second OEM Briggs carb kit via ebay. It arrived after another week, but was incomplete due to being an “open box” sale. No mention that “open box” actually meant missing parts. The listing photo showed a complete kit, but that’s not what I got. Another week wasted. So, went back for a third try and purchased another OEM Briggs kit via ebay again. It’s not here yet, but I am hoping to have enough parts between the two kits to make a full set. All said, these snafus have eaten up more than two weeks where I had hoped to have had the GM 52 back running again! The next kit is supposed to be here by end of this week, in which case I will have the weekend to disassemble and reassemble the carb. Will report back here once that happens. I’m on the edge of my seat, too!
Thanks for asking hanie. See my above reply for the latest update. Time hasn’t been on my side the past couple of weeks, especially when reliant on others to follow though as expected. Not to mention, my lawn grass is getting doggone long, too!
Tntcwg3
Member
I ran into a similar issue once, engine would run several minutes then suddenly run out of fuel, it turned out that the vented fuel cap was bad, causing the tank's fuel flow to stall as it drew down into a vacuum. Customer had removed the plastic cap and partially melted it by setting it inverted on an exhaust shield.
Here’s the latest: The latest carb kit arrived yesterday, so today was the day to put it in. As mentioned earlier, I had pulled the carb off already and cleaned it up as best I could, but still no change in the engine stalling out after a few minutes. Today, when pulling the carb off, I took extra care to check everything that could be disassembled for any plugging. None could be found except the high speed jet had some debris stuck at the end of the long removable tube. As I was replacing it with a new one, any potential issue with that should be eliminated. Otherwise, all replaceable components were replaced, the carb reassembled, the pulse line double checked for vacuum and everything put back together properly.
After reassembly, the adjustable valves were pre-set to start the engine. It started up after a minute of cranking. I then adjusted the slow and high speed valves. I noticed that when I flicked the throttle, some bluish smoke came from the exhaust, but this mostly disappeared once the high speed jet/valve was adjusted to it’s best setting. But, one strange thing…..every few seconds, a single misfire would occur while the engine was running at normal high operating rpm. Same at low rpm. This was abnormal for this engine, as it typically ran smoothly with no misfires of any kind.
Thus far, the tractor was sitting outside the garage while I was adjusting theh carb while the engine was running at high rpm to adjust the high speed valve/jet, which the manual refers to as the “needle valve”. Since forever, I have used the term “needle valve” to refer to the float operated valve with the neoprene tip. Apparently, I have been using the incorrect term forever, but I will continue referring to it as the high speed valve/jet here to avoid any further confusion to what I am describing.
So….after letting it run for a few minutes, I was about to head back inside the garage to get a shorter screwdriver for making final carb adjustments. Suddenly, the engine stopped. Huh? Hopped back on the tractor and cranked the engine over for another minute, but absolutely dead and wouldn’t fire at all.
Ok, now time to use the newly acquired spark tester, an Oregon model that is shown in the photo. Not having used this type before, I wasn’t certain how to hook it up, but I hooked the clip onto the spark plug and inserted the bare road into the spark plug wire. Not sure what that third rod is for, but it sticks into the spark chamber of the tester with it’s point less than one millimeter from the bare rod. Anybody have one of these and know what that third rod is for? Anyway, I cranked the engine and not one sign of spark in the tester viewing window. Okay, let’s wait a half hour, then see if any spark. After a half hour, I cranked the engine over again, and saw a super faint spark shoot across the window. Continued cranking for another thirty seconds but only saw one or two of the same barely visible sparks shoot across the viewing window. Otherwise, nothing.
So, this mystery has evolved yet again, kind of. Why I had been able to restart the engine the last time it ran, but only by choking, is strange, since now it won’t start at all. Now, I am back to thinking about the coil, as this was one of the initial suspects that I chose to not pursue (this would classify as ”denial” since I really didn’t want to think about having to pull the engine from the tractor to replace the magnetron behind the flywheel. I’ve had this engine out twice before when the welch plugs fell out and caused the engine to suck in dirt and ruining the cylinder wall, and didn’t want to think about going thru that again. But, since I have already replaced the condenser with no improvement from doing it, the coil remains the final suspect. Unless a scuffed or broken wire has shorted the ignition out. I can’t see any externally, so likely will be removing the engine for the third time. If so, it won’t be going back in until it’s been to the rebuild shop to have a leakdown and compression test, then most likely an overhaul that may include a rebore. Not looking forward to the next chapter…
After reassembly, the adjustable valves were pre-set to start the engine. It started up after a minute of cranking. I then adjusted the slow and high speed valves. I noticed that when I flicked the throttle, some bluish smoke came from the exhaust, but this mostly disappeared once the high speed jet/valve was adjusted to it’s best setting. But, one strange thing…..every few seconds, a single misfire would occur while the engine was running at normal high operating rpm. Same at low rpm. This was abnormal for this engine, as it typically ran smoothly with no misfires of any kind.
Thus far, the tractor was sitting outside the garage while I was adjusting theh carb while the engine was running at high rpm to adjust the high speed valve/jet, which the manual refers to as the “needle valve”. Since forever, I have used the term “needle valve” to refer to the float operated valve with the neoprene tip. Apparently, I have been using the incorrect term forever, but I will continue referring to it as the high speed valve/jet here to avoid any further confusion to what I am describing.
So….after letting it run for a few minutes, I was about to head back inside the garage to get a shorter screwdriver for making final carb adjustments. Suddenly, the engine stopped. Huh? Hopped back on the tractor and cranked the engine over for another minute, but absolutely dead and wouldn’t fire at all.
Ok, now time to use the newly acquired spark tester, an Oregon model that is shown in the photo. Not having used this type before, I wasn’t certain how to hook it up, but I hooked the clip onto the spark plug and inserted the bare road into the spark plug wire. Not sure what that third rod is for, but it sticks into the spark chamber of the tester with it’s point less than one millimeter from the bare rod. Anybody have one of these and know what that third rod is for? Anyway, I cranked the engine and not one sign of spark in the tester viewing window. Okay, let’s wait a half hour, then see if any spark. After a half hour, I cranked the engine over again, and saw a super faint spark shoot across the window. Continued cranking for another thirty seconds but only saw one or two of the same barely visible sparks shoot across the viewing window. Otherwise, nothing.
So, this mystery has evolved yet again, kind of. Why I had been able to restart the engine the last time it ran, but only by choking, is strange, since now it won’t start at all. Now, I am back to thinking about the coil, as this was one of the initial suspects that I chose to not pursue (this would classify as ”denial” since I really didn’t want to think about having to pull the engine from the tractor to replace the magnetron behind the flywheel. I’ve had this engine out twice before when the welch plugs fell out and caused the engine to suck in dirt and ruining the cylinder wall, and didn’t want to think about going thru that again. But, since I have already replaced the condenser with no improvement from doing it, the coil remains the final suspect. Unless a scuffed or broken wire has shorted the ignition out. I can’t see any externally, so likely will be removing the engine for the third time. If so, it won’t be going back in until it’s been to the rebuild shop to have a leakdown and compression test, then most likely an overhaul that may include a rebore. Not looking forward to the next chapter…