Hello everyone, this is my first post so I will give a little extra detail about my project before jumping into my issue. I have an old 2 seat mini bike with an old 5 hp briggs engine. I believe the entire bike is very old because it was a friend of the families bike back in the 70's (I think), then it was my uncles bike, then it was my bike. The last time the bike was rode was probably 15 or 20 years ago but I just got it back and started working on it cause I want to pass it down to my nephew this summer. It has an old 5hp briggs motor. When I got it back I drained the gas tank, changed the oil, and checked compression. It only had about 50psi of compression which seems low to me but im used to larger motors so im really not sure. The spark plug looked pretty good so I just checked it and it had spark. I put new gas in it, sprayed a little starter fluid down the carb and it started after a few pulls. Ran at idol just fine but when I went to take it for a ride around the back yard, it stalled out on me. It would start right back up after that but as soon as I got it moving again it would stall again. I was thinking it was probably a dirty carb. I let it sit for a little while then, after a few beers, I tried to start it again but I couldn't get it to start. I checked the spark plug and it was a little wet. I dried it off and tried again but still no luck. I put it away for the night. I got up today and decided to clean the carb. I pulled the carb off, took it all apart, cleaned it all with carb cleaner then blew it out with my air compressor and put it back together. But I still can't get the bike to start. It has spark, sounds like it is sucking air, and fuel shouldn't be an issue because im spraying starting fluid down the carb. I'm stumped on why it started yesterday but won't start today, any one got any ideas?
Old 5 HP Briggs help
- Thread starter MichMan84
- Start date
If it doesnt start with starting fluid its a spark problem. Probably dirty points. You have to pull off the flywheel to get to them. Or you can bypass the points by getting a newer coil that doesnt use them. These are much more reliable ofcourse! Then you can just cut the wire and bolt the new coil on without even pulling the flywheel. Its also a good idea to check the valve lash to get the compression up but you have to pull the tank again to it.