Lawn Mower stopped running, no spark

[F.H.]

6 hp Briggs & Stratton

Was working fine until this week. Started up and then died and wouldn't restart. No spark at all. Any suggestions? TIA

[Don Phillipson]

The engine will not run without spark. Take off the shroud and look at the induction timer. On mine, a nesting mouse prevented spark ignition.

[Meat Plow]

How did you test for spark?

[F.H.]

Did that. All I found was a dried up snail.

[F.H.]

Pulled the plug, opened the throttle to open the kill switch, held the plug against the engine (as it was getting dark) and pulled the starter cord a few times. No visible spark. Maybe I should get someone to hold it while I pull? Just to make double sure?

[jacko]

[Meat Plow]

That's a good idea but :) ,,,,that someone could get a jolt without enough juice to jump the gap. I suppose you of course tried a new plug. Other culprit ( take it also that you don't hit big rocks, stumps etc) could be the kill switch mechanism and the mag itself. If you have hit things large enough to stop the engine then there could be an issue with the flywheel sheer key being bent and the flywheel being just enough out of position. I've seen this once and the engine did run prior but would not start after cooling down.

[F.H.]

Of course I wouldn't do that.

Just the gap test like the original. Been a long time since I encountered a bad spark plug.

Just a basic lawn. No big rocks. I can see the kill switch open and close but I'm gonna check it closer.

[Meat Plow]

I know, it was a bit of sarcasm on my part.

I would go ahead and replace it regardless just to rule it out 100%

If you can, remove the wire from it, that would rule out a bad switch. Put the plug back in and see if it starts. I don't trust 100% touching the cylinder head with the plug body. I've been fooled by it on smaller tool engines. Back in 1983 I roomed with a buddy who work on small engines for a living. He did lots of repairs on the weekends in our garage and he taught me to work on this stuff so I'm not just making wild guesses here.

[mm]

Why don't you tell us *everything* you've done, so that we don't have to go through lots of useless work on our part, like Don just did.

When you posted only 2 1/2 lines, I thought you knew nothing, but maybe you don't understand how things work.

[F.H.]

LOL, what I know about Briggs & Stratton is darn close to "nothing" but I see (now) that its fairly simple. My bad, I suspected there might be a common problem. Just removed the coil, (after using myself as the Guinea Pig and getting nothing) and I'm off to the local LM shop to see if I can get it tested.

[F.H.]

Problem solved. Turned out to be the linkage to the kill switch was sticking. It was moving but not *quite* enough.

[Meat Plow]

Very good :) Now I have to work on my Honda Harmony mower I sometimes use. Not enough choke, single lever throttle/choke. It will run "almost" normal with full choke. Won't start when cold so by those obvious conditions the choke is not closing fully. Easy fix, probably and adjustment. Then it's off to my Coleman generator of which the bowl needle valve is stuck (gas pours out a tube on the intake.) Another easy fix, unstick the needle valve :) We get some severe weather here in Tornado Alley and I've used that generator a couple times too many since 2002 when it was purchased.