Briggs & Stratton Intek

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My first Ariens EZ Rider zero-turn mower had this engine on it. IMHO it's a piece of ****. Blew a head gasket with less than 100 hours on it, and never had the power I'd consider normal for an engine rated at this HP. The smog-friendly too-lean carb was borderline unacceptable. You'd engage the blade at full governed speed, and it'd nearly stall the engine. Once the blade was spinning, it still seemed like the engine was laboring to just keep it turning, say nothing of cutting any grass.

All in all, it was a fun rider with a horrible engine. When it blew the head gasket, that was the final straw to dump it and get the new model, the Zoom 1740 which has a 17 HP Kohler Courage single cylinder engine on it. Light years better than the B&S was. Gobs of torque, and mowing 6" tall grass with the mulcher doesn't even phase it.

That engine, as well as the 5 HP B&S on our generator for the race car trailer have totally soured me on B&S engines. The new design Pulsa-Jet carburetors on these engines have a fixed jet, and again, they're borderline unacceptable lean. This generator surges and sags so badly that it kicks out the circuit breaker on the battery charger. I'm going to be drilling out the jet a touch larger to fix what should have been done from the factory. They only have one other jet, and that's a "high altitude" one that's even leaner than the original.

I'm hoping that generator kicks the bucket soon so I have a reason to replace it with a Tecumseh or Kohler powered unit.
 
My three year old Bolens rider has the 15 HP Intek. The engine has been trouble free with good power and fair economy. I mow about an acre a week so I guess it has at least 250 hours on it. It did seem to take a long time for mine to break in as in metallic glitter in the drained oil for most of the first year.This doesn't seem to have created any problems though as the oil consumpton is nil. Good luck. Rickey.
 
What's everyones opinion of these engines. I got a new to me mower with the 17 horse on it. Seems nice, plenty of power, oil filtration, Starts without the choke every time. I just wondering if I can expect a long life from this engine.
 
I had a 17hp single cyl intek on my 2003 yard machines rider. It had "AVS" (anti-vib system?!?) but no oil filter. The engine was the only good thing about that lawn tractor IMO. AFAIK, the intek line is considered the 'consumer grade' engines with a typical lifespan of ~750hrs.

Joel
 
I've got one (2005) 18.5 hp intek, oil filter... actually great, cuts wet tall grass and barely bogs..., engage the blades (craftsman ayp mower) and it bogs a little, but thats to be expected when you engage it in high grass.

The carb, now in the cold I have had it to surge EVER SO SLIGHTLY till it warmed up some. Hardly noticeable surge. Using 10w-30 mobil one, consumption has been nil.... even in this hot weather recently.
6hp briggs ohv generator.... has run a big freezer, 27 inch tv, and the tv box with it, a 60 watt light and coffee maker..... sure it bogged!!! and ran it perfectly.
I've hit various stuff with briggs powered pushmower that would kill a crappy tecumseh... I'll never buy a pos tecumseh again....

I would consider the powerbuilt consumer grade..... intek almost commercial..... I've seen many a mower with a briggs intek on them being used commercially..... expect a long life.... if my old 12hp briggs I/C (industrial commercial) got 17 years out of it (and still runs!) using 30 weight ALL year round, even in the winter....., no oil filtration..... I should get alot more then that outta the intek.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 80caprice:
I would consider the powerbuilt consumer grade..... intek almost commercial.....

The Intek does have the cast iron sleeve bore over the Powerbuilt aluminum bore. But my experience has been other things breaking long before the cylinder bore wears out.

YMMV.
 
Yes, and the powerbuilt also has plain bearings, no pressure lube or oil filter (if equipped).
 
I like my 18.5 HP in my Craftsman, but probably have only about 100 hours in six-plus years due to the heat-wave/drought/grass-won't-grow conditions. Runs fine, doesn't burn any oil, and seems to run a long time on not much gas.
Slightly off subject:Do a search on substitute oil filters-I'm using a Motorcraft fl400s. Less than four bucks at wallyworld, vs ten at Sears.
 
Well, as somewhat of a sucess story with our race generator, I pulled the jet out, and with the smallest wire on a torch tip cleaner, reamed it out just ever so slightly, blasted it with carb cleaner, and reinstalled it. It bogged and sagged when I first pulled the choke off, but then ran smooth. Judging by the smell of the exhaust, I'd say it's still a tad lean, but at least now it stays at a steady governed speed rather than surging all over the place like it did before. It also seems to be running much cooler. Before the muffler would get so hot that you could light a cigarette off it, but now it doesn't even glow red like it did before. The air blowing across the head also seems much cooler.

I'm surprised that such a small difference in the jet size was enough to make it run that much better.

Oh yeah...I changed the oil on it and from what I gathered, it had never been changed from brand new! Oops! There was probably 50 or more hours on the factory fill oil, and it looked like metallic silver paint when I drained it! Flushed out the crankcase with some Sea-Foam that was laying around at the shop, and blew it out with compressed air, then gave it a drink of Schaeffer's Micron Moly 30W. Gotta have green oil! My buddy thought I was nuts putting Schaeffer's in a small air-cooled engine, but I insisted. Maybe that'll make up for whatever garbage was in there for the last 50+ hours!
 
Don't pay any attention to your buddy, BobZoil dino-moly 30 is *great* stuff for air-cooled small engines! The last of mine is in the old Briggs 14 HP I/C lawn tractor right now.
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