Can't find model number on B&S engine

[crazyal]

I have POS Briggs engine on a leaf vacuum that got water in the cylinder so I had to pull the head off. It's a small CR750 horizontal engine (looks like a Honda clone). I've looked every place Briggs says it should be but can't find it. There's a sticker with the S/N on it that Briggs says should also have the model number but it's not there. Briggs says it could be on the valve cover yet it's not. Tomorrow I'll pull the pull starter and see if it's on the cover in a place that can't be seen.

I don't know if the company will survive but I can say I will NEVER buy anything with a B&S on it again. This is the second engine (both less than 5 years old) that has had this happen. The first I assumed it was left outside under an eve and somehow water ran off the roof and on to it. But this engine has spent almost all of it's short life inside a garage. It has less than 2 hours on it and while it's running again I had to use high temp RTV on the head gasket. But without a model number trying to order the correct head gasket is almost impossible. What happened to them? When I was a kid their engines were everywhere. Unless you ran them without oil they ran forever. I even had one that smoked like crazy so I put 85 weight gear oil in it and it ran for years like that until the lawn mower rusted out.

In the lower left is what the head gasket should look like. I found this on ebay but there's no part numbers.

 

[crazyal]

Here's what the sludge inside the engine looked like.

 

[RandyT]

I have seen it stamped into the valve cover on either the muffler side or in some cases on the carb side which is hard to read. Some of the older ones had it stamped into the metal shielding around the cylinder. If you could post the full serial number I have the capability to look up the engine by serial number on some of there newer engines. On some of the engine manufactured since 2015 the model number could be stamped into the side of the block and then somewhat painted over.

And ten to one the water is getting in the engine from the muffler. Setting outside and the rain is running in the exhaust hole and down past the valve into the cylinder.

Further research shows that the model number should either be stamped into the side of the block, or on the lower mounting flange of the engine next to the drain plug on the fuel tank side

 

[DJ54]

i have a similar unit I bought at an auction, and the model number was stamped in the valve cover. Ran fine when I bought it, but I didn't take the blower housing off. A mouse nest, I'm assuming caused a hot spot in the cylinder, causing a ring to break. I replaced that engine with a low hour older model L-head (flat head) engine. off a chipper/shredder with the same MTD tapered shaft. Someone gave i to a buddy of mine, thinking it may be a straight shaft, to re-power agarden tractor. When he saw the tapered shaft, he had no use for it, so gave it to me. Took less than an hour to change it out. This is the second summer for it, and runs great.

Might want to check FB Marketplace, or Craigslist for such units, just make sure it has the L-head. Everything bolted right up, from the base, to the blower mounting on the shaft, and blower housing. I picked up another chipper/shredder for $40 off Marketplace for a spare engine, just in case. I use mine a lot to pick up leaves, for mulch for the garden, off 3 of the neighbors lawns.

 

[WranglerX]

Umm... The parts may be more than repairing engine is worth..... This is why B&S is failing.... I bought a log splitter with dead B&S and the cost for parts to repair was more than I could buy a "disposable chinesium" engine....

Was not my greatest move as I am not a fan of a lot of Chinese stuff, but over $200 for just a bag full of carburetor parts (carb body, fuel tank, air cleaner and miscellaneous do dads for linkages) for a 30 year old engine was just a bit more than a new $130 engine (and 1.5 more fresh hp - from 5hp to 6.5hp).......

And was direct bolt up to B&S or Honda specs...Only negative is placement of run/stop switch as it sits on my log splitter, may not be issue in other applications...

Please forgive me for going over to the dark side....

Dale

 

[crazyal]

There's some numbers etched onto the mounting flange next to the oil drain but one is the serial number and the other doesn't seam to be anything google or Brigg's sites can find. I've had the valve cover and head off and the only part number is the one you can see in the second picture is on top of the block. It doesn't appear to be a part number so I can't find the model number from it.

I agree that the water got in through the muffler but Agri-Fab put a muffler extension down spout on it so it shouldn't be possible for water to just run into the muffler. What I really believe is that Briggs has a decompression device that opens the exhaust valve when the engine RPM gets below idle to help starting it. But Briggs should have thought about water. Every other brand did. I could see if it was on a trailer being towed in a rainstorm and water getting in. But even then what business would want an engine that they have to worry about bring it to a jobsite if there's a possibility of rain.

 

[RandyT]

There's some numbers etched onto the mounting flange next to the oil drain but one is the serial number and the other doesn't seam to be anything google or Brigg's sites can find. I've had the valve cover and head off and the only part number is the one you can see in the second picture is on top of the block. It doesn't appear to be a part number so I can't find the model number from it.

I agree that the water got in through the muffler but Agri-Fab put a muffler extension down spout on it so it shouldn't be possible for water to just run into the muffler. What I really believe is that Briggs has a decompression device that opens the exhaust valve when the engine RPM gets below idle to help starting it. But Briggs should have thought about water. Every other brand did. I could see if it was on a trailer being towed in a rainstorm and water getting in. But even then what business would want an engine that they have to worry about bring it to a jobsite if there's a possibility of rain.

Post the serial number and I can get all the engine information on most of the newer engines.

 

[flyerdan]

I've got a folder with every B&S manual I could find, does it look like one of these?

 

[crazyal]

Here's the serial number.

Here's the muffler extension.

Dan, none of those are right. If you look at the picture of the gaskets the valve cover gasket is the one that's on the lower right and the head gasket is lower left.

 

[Peter 315]

My guess is the water is getting in through the bolts on top of the muffler......