# B&S Mower kills after 3-4 seconds



## 1989gta (Sep 13, 2009)

I have a Briggs and stratton on my self propelled. It ran fine until the other day. Now it will only run if i prime it. Once it runs out it kills. I checked flow from the fuel line cleaned out the carb. Made sure the tube was sealed to the block and no cracks were in it. the carb is also seated properly to the tube. After all that i tried manually opening the throttle on the carb and it runs mint, however once i let go it returns to the closed position and dies. 

My question is did some parts rattle loose from the linkage or do i have a faulty governor? Below are some images the throttle cable does not move blades on the carb it seems to rely solely on the governor unless i'm missing parts. 
the engine info is 12J802-1960-E1


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## indypower (Apr 8, 2009)

Governor is not the problem. The low idle portion of the carb is still dirty. The only way to clean it is by soaking the carb in a carb cleaning solution.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

If the throttle is staying closed, then you do not have enough tension on the governor spring. It's possible that the arm the spring attaches to is bent and not applying any tension to pull the throttle open. It would be helpful if you use a tachometer when adjusting the spring tension, you don't want the engine running too fast.


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## 1989gta (Sep 13, 2009)

I don't see any adjustments in that area how would i do that?

Also the motor didn't slowly start to have issues over time. It ran great for 6 years then half way through the second cut this season it died.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

You simply bend the tab to make the adjustment. 

It's not unusual for this to happen, particularly if you were mowing near any bushes or something that may have been hanging low enough to catch the tab and push it in. I run across this on 4 or 5 units a year.


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## 1989gta (Sep 13, 2009)

forgive my ignorance but which tab do i bend the one the spring is connected to?


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Look at the image I posted. It's one of your pictures with a line indicating the tab where the spring attaches, this it the one that needs to be adjusted. Looking straight down from the top, bend it in a clockwise direction to increase the spring tension on the governor. It might be easier to do if you reinstall the throttle cable and set it to the fast position.


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## 1989gta (Sep 13, 2009)

30 year you hit the nail on the head. What a goofy design not sure what the point of the throttle cable as it doesn't appear to be hooked up to anything.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Glad to hear that you got it going again.


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## luckyclover4u2 (Apr 15, 2010)

Funny ......Ran into this same problem today!!!! Thanks 30year!!!


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