Well after the last two threads, knew it would happen my old Simplicity with a 12 hp Briggs started acting up.
I am not much of a small engine person, pretty good mechanic, great weekend warrior and extremely handy.
Now this is a 18 year old lawn tractor that really has seen better days, I measure time in quarts (as in oil) more than gas.
But it generally runs great, I have a fair amount of spare parts, plus a snowblower and thatcher that will basically only attached to this tractor.
The other day it started acting up, sputtering and stuttering.
Initial diag the fuel filter, replaced it ran fine for a short time, then sputtering.
Took the carb apart, ran fine then stuttering.
Got it running again, after a few minutes it stuttered, and stalled.
Would not restart, diag No Spark.
I had replaced the magneto a year ot two ago so this didn't seem rught.
Pulled the cover off, the magneto didn't look like it was positioned right.
So I removed it, cleaned it and cleaned the magnet (???) on the flywheel, replaced it positioned correctly (I think).
Runs fine.
This is where either I got lucky or maybe don't run w/o the cover.
While giving it a test run, I left the one engine cover off, I get a HUGE thing of BLACK smoke from under the hood then normal.
A few minutes later I look under the hood and there is something smoldering between the cylinder cooling fins YIKES.
Cleaned it out with a screwdriver and my compressor.
So was this caused by running w/o the cover, or have I been lucky up to now. There was a lot of crud in there.
Here's the real question, did my cleaning/adjustment fix the magneto, or should I assume it's going bad after it warms up and at least have a spare on hand ?
I did run it for a lot longer the final time than either of the earlier times w/o and issue's. The earleir times I ran it it generally acted up after 3 to 5 minutes.
The final test run was 20 +.
And generally, I adjust the carb by turning the needle valve in until it sputters, then back out a bit correct ??
This would mean I am running lean ( as lean as possible).
Or should I back it out until it stutters, then bring it back in ??
Again, not a great small engine guy.
Thanks