Problems with Huskey Splitter (fixed)

[hiker88]

Hey,

Hoping someone can help me identify what's in the pictures below. Here's some background.

I had been splitting for about 3 or 4 hours on Thursday when my Husky 22 Ton splitter sputtered and died. I won't kill you with all the details but I ran through all the regular stuff, spark, fuel etc. The only thing I could determined after 20 mins or so was that for all the pulling on the starter cord I was doing, the plug didn't seem very wet. I also noticed that the plug was super clean like it was running very lean\hot.

I took the carb off, cleaned it out, tried things again and still no luck.

So, then I went in deeper, removed the top shroud, cover, gas tank, carb etc.

On the unit, there is a pipe than goes from the "back" side of the carburetor, to the intake area on the cylinder head. I noticed that this pipe was kind of loose and rattling around. I tried to tighten it, but I noticed the bolts were bottomed out and that it still rattled around, so I decided to remove the two bolts on the cylinder that attached the pipe. When I removed the bolts and took this pipe off, I noticed there was no gasket which I though was odd since fuel\air and inducted through here and to the intake valve.

Spinning the flywheel I noticed that the intake valve was not moving, The valves\piston on this configuration move horizontally with the intake valve above the exhaust valve. Earlier, I could see the exhaust valve was opening and closing when I had the spark plug out and pulled the starter cord.

Looking closer, I saw there was something under the valve stem. Using a clothes hanger I was able to fish the below pictured items out. As soon as I got the first piece out, the valve snapped shut so I figured I was onto something.

I used some high temp rtv to make a gasket between the pipe and the intake port on the cylinder head, put things back together and the splitter started up on the first pull and I put two tanks of gas through it last night splitting. It is running very nice and even with no loss in power. If anything, it is running more even than I seem to remember it running lately.

The only thing I can think of is that these bits are whats left of a gasket between the cylinder head and intake pipe that somehow melted and was sucked in? The bits are too big to fit through the venturi in the carb, so I am sure they did not come from outside. I'm very curious about what these could be so if you have an idea, I would appreciate it.

 

[Butcher]

They sure aint no intake manifold gasket pieces. Almost look like rocks!

 

[dougand3]

Rocks or some kind of pig iron?

 

[Fifelaker]

Oil slinger??

 

[hiker88]

I find it very difficult to find the exact parts diagrams for these engines, but I found this picture of an intake tube kit and it looks real close. I would say what I found must either be the gasket, or that wedge shaped deal with it. Not sure what it is.

(broken link removed to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Briggs-Stratton-794305-Intake-Manifold-Replaces-497465-492717-281085-/400477868316?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3e57511c)

I have put about 6 hours on the engine since I did the work and finished splitting all my wood. Engine is running great with no oil consumption.

One of the reasons I decided to get into this is because I talked to my local authorized Briggs shop and he said that getting Briggs to admit that anything is a manufacturer defect is near impossible, and for the time and effort, I'd probably be better off just replacing the engine, so I figured I had nothing to lose. We'll see how it goes.

 

[1kzwoman]

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/briggs_stratton_engine_parts.cfm
I have found a site I like for B&S you might check here

 

[hiker88]

Hey thanks - that is a well laid out web site.

 

[1kzwoman]

Hey thanks - that is a well laid out web site.

Welcome! Glad you agree.

 

[Jags]

Is it possible that it is casting slag? I don't see how it would be possible to be after the machining process, but that is kinda what it looks like.

 

[Fifelaker]

The newer Brigs motors have some plastic internals. I don't know if they still do but some of the lawnmowers had plastic cams. That is why I was wondering about the oil slinger. It looks like a piece fell off this.

 

[bmblank]

But the oil slinger is on the wrong side of the piston, no?

 

[hiker88]

Yea, this stuff I found was around the valve stem. It was too big to fit through the valve opening and into\out of the piston area. I really think this is gasket material that has been saturated with fuel and super heated causing it to morph like that, or it left over pieces from that pie shaped wedge that's a part of the induction kit I found a link to (a few posts up).

 

[Darby Wing]

These may be plastic parts from the above mentioned pipe, but look more to me like the burnishing media used in the production/polishing of the castings. Manufacturers really rush these parts to save money, and leave this stuff jammed in the nooks and crannies regularly. Hopefully your valve is not burned/warped. Good Luck.