Trouble starting a 17 Briggs.

I've been fighting with this for way too long. My starter is having trouble turning my 17hp Briggs over. This engine seems to have an un-godly amount of compression. It's even hard for me to turn over by hand. The battery is trash, so I usually jump it, but even then, it sometimes can't turn it over. It takes my ford diesel with two batteries and cocked throttle to be able to turn it over enough to start. That don't sound right. I've gone through the starter and greased the bushings. Everything looked good inside. Any help?

hook three batteries to it

I had a Kohler do that, turned out to be the rod. It was galled and got so tight on the crank it wouldn't turn.

The thing is, it turns freely, until it gets to the compression stroke. Is there a difference in compression in the flat head engines and OHV engines? I even try attaching the jumper cables directly to the starter and it still won't turn over, unless I use my truck.

I had the same trouble with my 15.6 briggs I changed batteries, starter cleaned all the connections etc. Turned out to be a weak solenoid

How do I tell if it's the solenoid or the starter? I tried putting the jumper cables directly to the starter contacts and it still wouldn't turn it over unless I use the truck.

I would check all the grounding for the unit, Including engine grounding, battery grounding, look for rusty crap at your engine mount bolts , starter bolts, etc. If you are worried about engine grounding, run a 8 or 10 gauge wire from a clean bolt on the block to a clean bolt on the frame.


If you have a good battery, a good starter, a good ground circuit, then jumping the battery direct to the starter will spin the engine if the solenoid is bad. Simply jumping the posts on the solenoid with a screwdriver will tell you the same thing. Make sure you have a good solid connection at the positive post on the starter.

I cleaned all contacts on the thing. The battery is no good, hence why I have to jump it.

The OHV motors have a compression release to help when starting. It may not be working.

I don't think mine has that. I know the chain saw has one. Where would it be?

Usually on the camshaft.

Here is a link which may give you an idea what to look for.

https://youtu.be/tceKAAViC1c

H'm, obviously mine doesn't have that as it's hard to turn over the compression stroke by hand. I found this video. Looks like the same engine. Should I try that? Would that decrease HP? What would cause it to be that tight?

This here will explain what mine's doing. Looks like I'm not the only one.Very similar to mine, just less HP. Notice how hard it is for this guy to turn it over by hand. Mine's the same way. My starter doesn't do near as well as his.

I would check the valves , if thats not it i would just start at the beattery and go to the starter checking everything . Do you have another mower you can swap ,borrow parts from to see if it works on yours.

Nope. Wish I did. Wonder whats out there for aftermarket starter?

What's the model of your motor? It should be stamped in the tins. I have all the service manuals for the briggs motors, I could check to see if yours has the compression release inside... You could try one of the heavy duty nippon-denso starters, but they are expensive. also heard of some people using the stock starter with two 12v batteries in series making 24v. (Note you would not be able to use normal accessories or charge them in the tractor) Me, I would start with a new battery because there will be loss using the jumper cables. Make sure your battery terminals and cables are good, and the solenoid is good. You stated you needed a new battery anyway, so personally I would start there.

Here it is. See what you can dig up.

Well, from what I can see, looks like both versions of your motor being INTEK or non, have a compression release on the cam.

Well, Mine's an Intek. I guess, if I have it, It ain't working. Is it a faulty design? I even had trouble starting it today with my truck. My starter just kinda climbs up to speed. It don't have even near as much punch as the fella in the above video.

Thats excactly what mine was doing vuntil I changed out the solenoid

Hopefully they're not to pricy. I'll grab one next time I'm in town.

Do yourself a favour, any old solenoid will work. Old Ford truck solenoids will last forever and cost about 10 bucks

There is no need to be out buying expensive parts.

I had a lot of trouble with this kind of stuff on my cousin's murray. Before you go buying parts, i would check to see if the starter gear is getting stuck when it comes up. That happened on my dynamark once. Maybe try the starter without it attached to the engine? If its not that, it sounds to me like bad connections or a bad solenoid.

I have the exact same motor, that did the same dang thing, new battery, new solenoid and a valve job set at .003 it works great now.

Like I said, I went and cleaned all contacts. I also took the starter apart, greased the bushings. It isn't getting stuck. My dad said if I adjust the valves, I'll burn them up. Plus, I'll loose some power.