i would run mobil 1 15-50 in it if you want max life. i have 4 of these snappers with this engine in my commercial lawn service. i got the first one back in 89 and it was used. its still running! this is commercial servive we are talking about. only repair has been to replace the throttle shaft in the carb. oil changed only once per season too. its indistructable! no 2 i got used in 91 -runs like new still. no 3 i got last year on ebay-nos still in box! date on box was 1995! this one may out live me as i am 51. no 4 just got last week. 6.5 hp and is the best running one i have ever seen. these were sold on mostly comm. models but some 4 hp models were put on premium home models. if yours has bbc -its one of these models. no bbc on the comm models. theese engines also made in 2 cycle too. every bit as good as the 4 cycle. best lawn mower engine ever made bar none. i have a honda bought new in 91 that has had mobil 1 since new and still runs perfect. recommend this in your wis/robin 15w -50. 10-w 30 is too light for a lawn mower. 10w 40 would be acceptable if not in a hot climate

That is an older flathead Robin engine. The "85" is just part of the model #, not the year. That may be about right, though. You can look on the deck behind the engine and find a silver tag with the model and serial number of the Snapper deck (as opposed to just the engine) and then look that up the Snapper site to find exactly what you have. You will also find the owner and parts manuals there. Go to www.snapper.com and click "literature." If you have the bag on and the chute is not plugged, the mower should always bag the grass. Your chute just got plugged. This can happen, especially with wet grass. If bagging is your - ahem - bag, then you might want to see what kind of blade you have under there and get the one with the "winglets" that bolt on to provide extra lift. That seems to prevent a lot of clogs by increasing the force through the chute. As for the drive speed lever: no, it should stay in the speed you select. The little bumps on the lever's panel are there to hold in gear, but there should be a spring behing that panel to hold it - maybe that's missing? Or else the adjustment slider down near the driven pulley's bracket is loose, allowing the driven pully to wander on the drive wheel (turntable). The tubing protruding from the side - do you mean from the side of the engine? Maybe that's the oil dipstick tube. I hope you actually have a dipstick in it! Otherwise, I'm having trouble thinking of what it would be. These are good machines that are very serviceable and still are produced new today with few changes (the engines have changed, of course). Especially if you are bagging, there is no reason it won't be productive for you.

A young friend who mows for school money picked up a Snapper with the EH18V engine- I think. LOL. I looks like the EH18V anyway- the exposed metal shroud version- OHV. I handle his repairs as needed. He runs Snappers as I believe they are the toughest, least expensive decks to keep going over the long haul. The engine ran fine when I inspected it, then again when he fired up a couple of times to show off to some motorhead buddies, then after owning it for a day, it would not start. I cannot find that it has any spark. I have removed the kill wire when cranking. Used a cheap Harbor Freight tester (the kind with a light bulb) and the bulb does not light up at all. I sanded off the magnet on the flywheel and the coil face (fairly rusty)- still nothing. I found a SB indicating some had hard restarts when hot due to coil being too far away- I drilled out the mounting holes and moved it closer- I use a Stihl service tag (business card thickness) as my spacer and it works every time- but not this time. Tired a new plug- nothing. So, I am assuming the coil is bad. Finding this thread, I see coils are expensive! If I go by the number provided, I cant even find one for sale using google to search. I have tried all my usual online sources for parts- nothing. In addition, I simply cannot justify spending $100 on a coil for a $300 mower. I have seen many brand new coils with different part numbers on places like eBay that look identical to this coil, but hesitate to start throwing good money after bad. Any chance some of these might fit and work on this motor? Or am I missing something with the existing coil, or does anyone know where I can get one for less than $50, or did he just invest in a boat anchor? I feel bad for him as I advised him I have always heard these were great engines- "The Honda Killer" as I have heard some dealers say about them.

I'll try to answer some of this, but I am "supposing" on the differences between the T-K module for Tecumseh engines and the B module for Briggs and Wisconsin engines. My "guesses" of why there are 2 different modules could be listed as follows. (1) Possibly a significant difference in the potential voltages in the primary circuit of the different brands magnetos. (2) Possibly a difference in the "cranking RPM value", or the low idle RPM value, between the brands. For the module to be effective for Snapper's intents, it must be able to distinguish "cranking RPM" from "running RPM" or it is useless. Tecumseh and Briggs both seem to fail in offering any kind of "low idle RPM value" and instead refer you to "check with the equipment manufacturer", but Snapper fails to give it as well. Snapper is "evasive" about the reason and only states that "if the wrong module is used, it will DEFEAT the purpose of the interlock system. They state only that the engines will start with the wrong module in place, not how/why that happens. Why just 17 HP? pjb found the engine at a yard sale for short money.