Briggs & Stratton 16 HP engine-points actuating rod not moving enough ?

[trippingtoo8track]

Without having to take apart this engine- can someone please refresh my memory, as to what cam or eccentric actuates the points rod on a Briggs

16 HP engine, vertical cylinder ?

It's in a ' 72 Mont. Ward lawn tractor- it had intermittent then no spark- and the points are not opening/closing enough to run the engine. I've had a 9HP apart before, but that was a LONG time ago-

whatever makes the points actuating rod move in/out appears to be worn to the point the rod barely moves back and forth

also, do they make an electronic conversion to do away with points on this engine ?

thanks

[Greg O]

There is a extra cam on the camshaft for the breaker points. I do believe that B&S has a Magnetron conversion for this engine. The age may be a problem though. Greg

[UNIVERSAL MIND]

thanks

so it's either the Magnetron, or a new cam, or regrind the cam

lots of work just to get the points to operate...

[mm]

The cam is usually made of a harder material than anything that follows it. I doubht the cam needs to be reground...or replaced.

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[UNIVERSAL MIND]

well I got it running- turned out the locking nut on the points adjustment screw, needs to be snug against the block while adjusting- or it won't set the gap properly- once I snugged up the nut a bit, then set gap, it got spark back, started, and ran

other problems surfaced- the cylinder head was leaking compression from one bolt head- I removed the head, cleaned the surfaces, and reinstalled with sealer on the old gasket- fixed that.

now intermittently, the spark just goes away and the engine stalls- I believe this is a prime candidate for an electronic conversion- by what I'm hearning now, it requires the flywheel to be sent to Briggs and repolarized ? They do that for free, but shipping cost and time involved.

for how much I use this machine, maybe new points/condenser would do the trick

[mm]

??? Bad spark plug wire? I've never heard of anyone replacing such a wire on a small engine, but...

Run it in the dark and make sure the spark isn't leaking out of the wire, at least in places you can see.

A friend had a car like that once. It was daytime, but not bright, and after I looked for a while, I saw a teeny spark between two adjacent sparkplug wires, or a wire and a bracket or the block. I forget.. Each time I saw the spark, the engine missed. But it didn't happen every cycle.

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[UNIVERSAL MIND]

The spark plug wire and coil are one unit on a Briggs- if you change the coil, the wire gets changed too.

[mm]

I know they're one unit, but if the wire was leaking the spark and I didn't want to pay for the whole unit, I'd splice in a new wire to the stub of the old wire. I got the impression that money was a concern. Or maybe you could put a thick coating of silicone cenent.

I've used GE silicone cement, the thick clear, white, or black stuff, (I used clear or black) on the high voltage of a television to stop leakage, and it worked fine.

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