Ran my briggs without oil!

What a great idea huh?
But seriously, the previous owner must have drained the oil before giving me the engine, and silly me, I assumed that it had oil. I ran it for a few minutes until white smoke started coming out of the muffler and a slight squeaking noise started. I let it cool down and I can still turn it by hand, but it is a bit tough to do so. You think I can get away with a light hone and new rings? I know it is hard to answer if you can't physically see the damage. By the way, it is a 15 horse I/C Gold. Thanks

Took her apart today and there was no deep scoring and very minimal metal, if any, in the oil pan. So I cleaned her real good with some brake cleaner. Pre-oiled everything and put her back together. The motor now spins like normal( no more breaker bar needed) and still has good compression. Briggs has me sold on their I/C motors!

I've had seized engines I had to soak in ATF to get free, and they ran afterwords. Briggs singles can take some abuse, no doubt!

AcreFarm wrote:

I've had seized engines I had to soak in ATF to get free, and they ran afterwords. Briggs singles can take some abuse, no doubt!

Yea man. I learned a lot from my mistake.
Got some new gaskets on the way and hopefully she'll be back in commission.

Sears didn't tighten the plug on my FIL's LT1000 with the Briggs 15 in the fall of 09. Spring of 10 he started it up and all the oil had leaked out. Basically same situation. He let it sit outside for a year.

He gave it to me for parts after he discovered how expensive a replacement would be. I pulled the plug and sprayed it with PB blast weekly for a month and a half. I then got the motor to turn over with a 3/4 breaker bar. At that point I changed the oil, drained the gas tank and replaced the fuel line, and charged the battery. It seems no worse for wear.