It sounds like another to build in the replacement period so you can sell more tractors. ie Planned Obsolescence.

How can they "seal" the air intake system?

According to online price guides oil is still a lot cheaper than pistons, cranks, and valves.

Like the FRAM guy said in the 60's... "you can pay me now or you can pay me later<.i>".

agreed that oil is an economical maint item.. but if B&S could also solve the dried up fuel in carb from last season, they could have a very popular item to hawk to the use and toss crowd.....

Is really what they are saying here , oh who the heck knows. I think rcbe's comments are where this thing is going next. Briggs has been engaging in chemical warfare on fuel since the Fresh Start came on the market and they really push the current advanced fuel and stabilizer via their distributors. I'll have to sell them my copyrighted fuel circulation and stabilization system. Though I keep killing the laptops that run it from all the vibration though...

Yep, I here ya. In our new world, more and more cars don't have transmission or engine dipsticks to even check the oil.

Speaking of cars, wife and I took her 2008 Mariner to do some shopping. Halfway into town the power steering went out. Ok, muscled it back home, investigated, factory recall which Ford hadn't bothered to tell us about. Long story short, a sensor on the steering column needed a software update so it could communicate with the black box on the yoke. I'm sure that Ford had lots of market research that indicated customers didn't want to check power steering fluid. Wonder how much was saved eliminating traditional PS components? Also sure the savings were passed along to the consumer.

Glad I'm an old geezer, this new world is getting complexicated.

Ev

If anybody wants to check for recalls on their vehicle, there's a government website that looks up recalls by VIN. Here's a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Recalls Look-up by VIN

Would be interesting to read the warranty section of the mower.
Amsoil sells an oil bypass system that filter 10% of the motor oil that is fed through an additional filter that is larger and with a finer mesh. Once installed you change filters and top off the oil. Oil analysis is a service that they have to check if the oil is still ok.
Usually during the oil change I always do other things that require maintenance. If I didn't change the oil I might not do the other maintenance as regular.

The Amsoil thing sounds interesting. Oil itself does its job for a long time if it can be kept clean and isn't thermally destroyed. I suppose they would need enough abuse to die in the warranty period though.
I see txtom's friend released another video. Funny stuff. Soon everyone will be walking around with WWTD bracelets. Remember that fad w/ with all the different colors?

I posed the same question to our senior tech rep this week. His answer was to the effect that Briggs is trying to reach out to the consumer who never changes his oil anyway LOL. Have to wonder about warranty coverage in the event of a rod failure due to lack of maintenance.

There's a lot of people who never changed their oil.
Cheap mowers fell apart long before the engine did.

A missive came out from Briggs on this. They are saying the end user need not change the oil, just check and add, but regular maintenance is still necessary. The recommended interval has been extended to 50 hours from 25 because of improvements in engine and oil technology. I will still change mine at 25 thank you very much. BTW, this only applies to one line of engines on box store mowers that never see service anyway.

Tomplum: what is wwtd?

Does anyone remember when maintenance free ball joints first hit the market? I forget, how many miles before self destruction? The dealer said you don't need to grease the joints.

It sounds like Briggs is doing a beta test, just like the auto industry.

What Would Taryl Do.... In response to the OP's first statement.

The last push mower engine with iron sleeve briggs made was the Pro 850. According to briggs website looking at the repower list there are no iron sleeve engines being built for push/self propelled mowers today. All that is left is what's on the shelf now either installed or in a box that all there is.

Regardless what engine oil one buys today the oil bottle states to change it after 1 year regardless of miles/hours. All full synthetic long interval oil states this including Mobil and Amsoil. So does this mean Briggs engines should simply be scrapped each year or did Briggs come out with some super duper oil that lasts much longer than a year???...lol

Fact is Briggs joined the "Planned Obsolescence" club and screwed all it's customers.

Roflmao !