Remember: Check oil on a clean wiped dip-stick! If you just pull it out to check it and don't wipe it and dip it again and pull it out, you'll be seeing the oil that was splashed on it during the previous operation of the engine! Especially if an engine that gets run a lot. As for the plastic gears--i don't worry about that kind of stuff--i figger the engineers that designed the plastic gears were much better educated than me, so they did sell a lot of those engines! An, with proper care, Tecumseh engines will last as long as B&S! A guy gave me a used Tecumseh, 10 h.p. engine, Industrial model, for my older Snapper rider. I put it on and it runs great. Been on it 4 years now, and no problems. I bought a Sears tractor, $25, with a cracked frame, put the B&S engine on my big Snapper Hi-vac rider, and it seems very happy there! Neighbor gave me his tractor--blew the engine on it, i installed a used engine-runs and drives! Do i worry about plastic cam gears?? No--no worry!

Hopefully the engine failure analysis will come out in your favor. This is a definite science. Yet the rep has the ability to make their decision towards your side if you prove a good earnest case if the physical evidence says- yes, there is dirt ingestion, yes, the guys a filter isn't new- but was a BS part and should have been doing the job and so on. The reps mission is NOT to deny your claim. If dirt ingestion is due to the inability for the housing to seal, that would be good news with this engine. You wouldn't be the only one who has had that issue if that what it comes back as. I must say that blowing through a paper element is not acceptable as the pressure can tear the media and compromise the filter. Be sure to post how things come out. Bring records of any kind to support your claim of maintenance. Marks on the calender, scribbles on the back of the manual- it all backs your claims.

Ok , I have I believe to be a 2011 Craftsman riding mower with a 48 inch cutting deck and a 24hp Intek V-twin Briggs & Stratton engine that was given to me 3/25/18 of this year. Engine model #446677 0463 E1. Previous owner said engine started backfiring while mowing then died. Since I had done auto mechanic work for several years and the mower still looked almost new I accepted it. Got it home and charged up the battery and give it a whirl. The engine completed about 4 or 5 revolution’s and it backfired. So did a little research on this issue. Found out it could be several things. So I removed the flywheel and checked for a bent flywheel keyway. It was fine. Next I pulled the valve covers and what do you know. Sitting on the mower on the left side it had dropped the pushrod out of the lower exhaust tapper and sucked it into the engine. The valve guide and spring looked fine and were not stuck as I could compress the spring and valve without any hard spots. On the intake valve it had about .0012 clearance and the pushrod was barely hanging on. The right side of the engine was almost as bad finding both pushrods barely hanging on and not dropping out of the tappers. I have tried to use a telescoping magnet and run it inside the engine just to the right of where the pushrod sets on the lobe. I’m not sure if the pushrod is steel or aluminum? Anyway no luck from that point of entry. Next I removed the oil filler tube and went from that angle but the magnet only grabbed the crankshaft and wouldn’t allow me to move the magnet all around in the crankcase to retrieve the stray pushrod. It got dark on me so I had to stop for the night. Tomorrow I’m going to drain the oil and remove the drain valve and give it a try that way and after the oil is drained I had thought about jacking up the opposite side of the mower so that the pushrod might be loose in the crankcase and slide or roll to the side of the crankcase where the filler tube and oil drain valve are and maybe get lucky and be able to retrieve it. What I would like to know is the exhaust pushrod steel or aluminum and do you have any suggestions that wouldn’t require the engine to have to be torn down ! I sure could use a engine repair manual showing how to separate the engine case if needed to extract the rougue pushrod. Anything you can suggest or can me to download would be awesome. Thanks Tim F.

IF the cylinder block is not wallowed out too much, you can stake the valve seat back in as above. You should then lap the valve in and check the valve stem clearance. Also IF a valve seat did come out it is likely due to heat as your friend says and I would remove the cooling shroud from around the cylinder and be sure that the cooling fins are clear. There is a very good chance they are not and failure to clear them will result in the same thing happening only worse this time. I don't think a new seat is going to help unless it is an over size seat in which case the block needs reaming to accept the over size seat. Walt Conner