Walt I drained the oil last night and it was clean with no signs of any fragments. I also did try and set the governor shaft at the farthest most clockwise setting and setting the governor arm at full throttle. By doing so the engine would not start, it always starts on the 1st or second pull. I then moved the governor shaft and arm to the farthest counter clockwise position and it started on the first pull, however, still racing. In desperation, I tried moving the governor shaft to the counter clockwise position and adjusted the governor arm so that it was mid throttle, same result, races. Then tried setting it at it's slowest throttle speed, still races. One thing is for sure, the governor shaft must be in the counter clockwise position, otherwise it would race even faster. The spring and linkage all work freely so I'm at my wits end of what is causing this. I suspect it's internal governor issues. Fisher40037 Thanks for your suggestion regarding the throttle plate screw, pulled the carb and everything is fine.

Old thread, let us fast forward to update it: Briggs now intentionally makes plastic carb throwaway small engines called Briggs EXi or "Just check and add oil" engines... No small Briggs for push/self propelled mowers have an iron sleeve now, not even Pro model engines have it anymore.. According to Briggs site there is none being built today, what iron sleeved engines left on the shelves is all there is left!! Pro 850 was the last to have it. All Kohler engines are made China. Briggs Vanguards are made in China. Kohler's head gaskets still fail (fixing my sons 3 yr old cub now) & also suffer oil seal leaks from poor machining today, all are made from cheap grade materials in China and won't last long anymore! Very soft aluminum & plastic abounds them. Regardless where anything is built it's made by people who never even knew nor do they care about our American pride or our history of quality or about the products longevity! Anyone 30yrs old and under today simply grew up replacing products not repairing them unless they were dirt poor like I was and always tried repairing first but hey it was the 60's and everything had nuts/bolts/screws then and was steel. So why would today's engines have so many problems only after a few yrs running when they once ran for many decades without majors? Well' it's called "Planned Obsolescence" and its a fact most corps have now adopted this. Google it to really understand it well if you never heard of it, you'll be so thrilled. So everytime I read about engines online I'm really glad I'm a pack rat and keep everything. Well' I keep stuff until problems show up so I still have my 76 B-100 8 speed Wheel Horse tractor with the cast iron Kohler K series engine. It's engine/trans has never been apart once and not reached its first ring job yet & if it ever does I'll never worry about it again in another 30+ yrs or in my lifetime at least. It still burns no oil and cuts just as good as anything today without any of the mechanical problems. Why people keep buying these junk newer mowers again & again instead of buying the old brutes for a fraction of the cost that have outlasted them all by several decades idk? Restoring these if needed, is a lot cheaper than new mowers now days and it's an all new cast iron brute again ready for decades of service! I see some very nice cast iron garden tractors on craigslist all the time. Real garden tractors because GT used to actually stand for Garden Tractor but now it's just a sticker slapped on them and they can't even run anything, example: My Wheel Horse runs 23 different implements including Generator, side sickle, snowblower, tiller etc... Visiting websites about old Wheel Horses, old JD's & old Cubs (non MTD) tractors etc..and everyone is bragging & very proud of their mowers longevity and still use them regularly, sold or scrapped their newer ones they bought just after a few yrs usage. Been there done that with a Husqvarna myself! Visit any site like this one about newer mowers and what you'll always find is its junk, its in the shop, motors bad after 3 yrs, hydro rear ends out second time around. I'll sue them all! Lemon Laws anyone??..ect.....lol Even the expensive Zero turns have very costly engine/hydro repairs I read about them and have friends who own them too. In fact I'm good friends with people who care for football fields and cemeteries here so I hear first hand but they are very fast cutters while they are problem free, rarely make a complete season without a shop visit though. Expensive upkeep no doubt. Sorry but its just ignorant to me to pizz away money for landfill delight. Simply amazing and very sad for the old crying indian too. Now that really shows my age huh? *Peace

Before you replace any additional parts, you need to do a test of the output terminals on the back of the key switch. As tomplum hinted above, the tractor seems to be running solely off the output of the alternator. The fact that your battery voltage remains about 12.3 VDC is also an indicator that the battery is not connected to the alternator and vice versa. Terminal # A1 on the key switch is the "Main" buss connector point for this electrical system......ALL power from the alternator must pass through terminal # A1 in order to reach the battery to recharge it. Power to engage the solenoid (and thus the starter) does not depend on terminal # A1 for its power. Power to operate the solenoid for cranking comes directly from Terminal B to Terminal S in the cranking mode. If Terminal # A1 is not getting continuity to the Main buss circuit like it is supposed to, the alternator must be picking up the duties of opening the fuel solenoid at cranking speed. The symptoms you have observed already (die when alternator is separated, battery at a stagnant 12.3 VDC) pretty well indicate the battery is not part of the team. Test for 12 VDC at Terminal # A1 with the key in the run position, best to test with something that will draw some amps, a simple volt meter might read 12 VDC when the circuit is "not loaded" but the circuit still not be able to do any useful work. Try this if you don't have something to draw a few amps. Engine must not be running for this test. Test Terminal # A1 with a volt meter or a small test light. If you get a reading, or the test light burns, pull the PTO switch to the ON position (remember, seat occupied and brake on). With the PTO engaged, do you still have a volt reading or a burning test light??

"and is in the flowering/fruiting stage, then switch to a pure HPS lamp, which is unbeatable for flux of photons:" (L) Thanks for the good words about ceramic metal halide. I guess the truth will eventually gain over ignorance. Permit me to say, CMH will outperform HPS even in the flowering stage. The blooms will take one or two weeks longer to finish, but the yield and potency will be greater. That is, provided the plant is less than 2.5 feet tall. For tall plants, HPS is better because the spectrum penetrates better (it bounces easier). By the time the plants do not need blue spectrum for growth hormones, they will still need UV-B for potency enhancement. However if you want to customize your spectrum to the exact stage, the best way to do this is with the Pulse-Start Metal Halide. The GE Ultra-Max runs both the CMH and the PSMH; it is the only electronic ballast (I'm aware of) that can run the CMH. Because CMH requires low frequency output from the ballast, whereas almost all electronic ballasts are high frequency. PSMH comes in four different spectrums: 4K for seedling/cutting stage 6.5K for most of the veg stage 4K for the last week of veg 3K for most of the bloom stage 10K for the last week of bloom stage (for potency). Also the last week you can run the light 20 hours/day. That way you get an extra 8 hours/day and one week isn't long enough to revert the plants to veg. There are at least two good brands of 400w CMH: Philips at about $60, and GE at about $100 each. The GE is higher output and almost the same CRI.