Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

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Doc
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Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Doc »

So I buy this snowblower. Comes with this cute little 1/2 litre container of synthetic oil. I dump half of the container in the engine (dip stick was bone dry to start). It say's don't over fill. Well, it's over full! Me not smart. Do I drain it, or just run it? It's 1/4 of a litre of oil....how small is the crank case on these things? The engine is 208 cc's.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by North Shore »

Well, living on the west coast as I do, I'm probably the last person you should listen to about snowblowers; however, I did have my lawnmower going last week! I'd drain it, and refill to the correct level. Sure, you could get away with the excess in a larger capacity engine, but probably not that great an idea n something smaller.

C'mon man, you always preach the correct way of dong things in the air - what's the difference here? :wink:
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by . ._ »

I'll head off the next smart-ass that has never made a mistake in his life-



DO NOT OVERFILL! YORE CRAZY IF YOU THINK A MOTER CAN TAKE MORE OIL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you run you're planez that way!?!?!??!






But seriously, I'd just drain it to be safe because I know SFA about little engines and had a bad experience WAAAY overfilling a Kawasaki 550.

Good luck!

-istp :)
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azimuthaviation
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by azimuthaviation »

get a syringe with a tube on the end of it, youll be surprised how often that comes in handy. in the meantime run the engine with the oil filler cap off.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by albertdesalvo »

Doc wrote:It say's don't over fill. Well, it's over full! Me not smart. Do I drain it, or just run it?
I did exactly the same thing, and I elected to run it. After a few days, I started seeing drops of oil in the snow under the machine when it was parked with the engine idling. Needless to say, I began to watch it like a hawk, and sure enough it was dripping oil as I worked. It snowed nonstop for 11 days and it continued to drip from the bottom of the gearcase. I was freaking, thinking I'd blown the crank seal.

Well, around here you use your snowblower every day, and there's no chance whatsoever of getting small engine repairs during the season. I kept running it, resigned to buying a new machine if it failed. But it didn't; in fact as time went by it stopped dripping. I checked the stick many times every day, and the level remained constant. I finished the winter without any problem. To this day I have no idea how the oil was getting out of the engine, all I know is it works fine.

Obviously my advice is to remove the excess oil before you run it. You don't need the anxiety I went through. Never again!
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Colonel Sanders »

Slightly overfilling the oil in an engine is generally no problem,
IF there is a simple crankcase vent. This is just a hole
in the crankcase that one end of a hose is generally connected
to. The other end of the hose is usually run out the bottom of
the engine.

Excess oil is whipped up by the spinning crankshaft (this is called
windage) and is blown out the vent by the combustion gasses
that get by the piston rings, which pressurizes the crankcase.

There has to be some mechanism to let the pressurized gasses
out of the crankcase. Unfortunately if the engine has some
eco-nazi filter on the crankcase vent instead of a simple hose,
or even worse if it has some sort of PCV valve to drain the oil
back into the crankcase, they won't get rid of the excess oil as
well as a simple vent.

You have to make sure that the vent is working, to allow the
pressurized gas to escape. You don't want to plug up some
complicated David Suzuki oil vent, because the pressurized
gasses will find the next weakest link in your engine to flow.
This is worse, the older the engine is, and the more wear on
the piston rings and cylinder. A little light reading on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crankcase_ ... ion_system

Sooner or later, working on 4-stroke engines, you're going to
overfill the oil. You can either ignore it, if you know it can easily
blow the excess off, or pop open the oil drain valve and let some
out. I have done both plenty of times, over the decades.

I hope it has an oil drain valve, to allow you to change the oil
in the engine! I don't know much about snowblowers - I hate
them, all they do is blow snow into your face. I owned one,
decades ago (12hp, electric start is all I remember about it)
and gave it away, it was such a piece of crap. I really prefer
larger equipment for moving snow (tractors, trucks, etc). That
and a shovel.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Driving Rain »

Geez Doc I lived in Kenora for 25 years and only used my snow blower 10 times ...in all those years.
I moved to Owen Sound and started using it Remembrance Day and never stopped until March
Seriously, get the oil level correct. If you blow the crank seal it's so expensive to replace it you're better off buying a new engine.
I've found with the Briggs engines the best level is the lowest level.
Too bad they don't make the Tecumseh "Snow King" engine anymore. One pull and away she goes. Just like a Honda.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by niss »

Colonel Sanders wrote: There has to be some mechanism to let the pressurized gasses
out of the crankcase. Unfortunately if the engine has some
eco-nazi filter on the crankcase vent instead of a simple hose,
or even worse if it has some sort of PCV valve to drain the oil
back into the crankcase, they won't get rid of the excess oil as
well as a simple vent.

You have to make sure that the vent is working, to allow the
pressurized gas to escape. You don't want to plug up some
complicated David Suzuki oil vent, because the pressurized
gasses will find the next weakest link in your engine to flow.
This is worse, the older the engine is, and the more wear on
the piston rings and cylinder.
All good advice but how can you snow blow a driveway in such straight lines when your snowblower leans so far to the right?
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Shiny Side Up »

Doc wrote:So I buy this snowblower. Comes with this cute little 1/2 litre container of synthetic oil. I dump half of the container in the engine (dip stick was bone dry to start). It say's don't over fill. Well, it's over full! Me not smart. Do I drain it, or just run it? It's 1/4 of a litre of oil....how small is the crank case on these things? The engine is 208 cc's.
Out of curiosity, did you fill the oil through the little oil filler or through the dipstick? If you fill the newer B&S engines through the little oil filler, its near impossible to overfill them since its on the side of the case at such a position to make any overfilling of it from here run out. Older B&S engines will have a combo fill/ dipstick port that also usually makes this difficult - notable usually by a very short dipstick, or absense of one entirely.

Either way, the PCV on the engine will take care of it reasonably, the engines are reasonably tough to put up with such abuse. Should the PCV be blocked, it will release through the filler cap first - you might end up buying a new cap, they're plastic in all but the oldest engines and split or pop.

The snow blower has been a godsend here since the global warming as predicted hasn't really come true and in the last bunch of years winter has been worse. Since winter consumes a lot of my time with the puzzle of snow removal, the blower sees the most use around the hangar door where large drifts are prone to form. Said drifts overnight can sometimes take on the consistency of concrete and resist the plow's attempts to remove them, or require a lot of back breaking shovel work, the blower chews right through. The best part is how cleanly it will clean down to the concrete and even chew away any ice that has formed to get rid of any of those slip hazards which can be treacherous when manhandling aircraft in and out of the door.

edit: incidentally B&S engines don't have a separate drain for the oil, if you want to drain oil from it, you usually just tip it on its side, the filler hole usually in a position to facilitate this in most blower or mower installations. Usually changing oil in one isn't a consideration since most of them use oil at a rate that one simply continues to add it.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Beefitarian »

niss wrote:
Colonel Sanders wrote: There has to be some mechanism to let the pressurized gasses
out of the crankcase. Unfortunately if the engine has some
eco-nazi filter on the crankcase vent instead of a simple hose,
or even worse if it has some sort of PCV valve to drain the oil
back into the crankcase, they won't get rid of the excess oil as
well as a simple vent.

You have to make sure that the vent is working, to allow the
pressurized gas to escape. You don't want to plug up some
complicated David Suzuki oil vent, because the pressurized
gasses will find the next weakest link in your engine to flow.
This is worse, the older the engine is, and the more wear on
the piston rings and cylinder.
All good advice but how can you snow blow a driveway in such straight lines when your snowblower leans so far to the right?
He couldn't. You just didn't read the whole thing.
Colonel Sanders wrote: I hate
them, all they do is blow snow into your face. I owned one,
decades ago (12hp, electric start is all I remember about it)
and gave it away, it was such a piece of crap.
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Doc
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Doc »

Tomorrow, I find the drain plug and drain the puppy. I can just reuse the oil, so no waste there. Hasn't been started yet. It's a virgin! No big deal really, I was just curious. No harm in draining it and doing it correctly. Just kind of surprised the specs didn't list the oil capacity.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by Rockie »

niss wrote:All good advice but how can you snow blow a driveway in such straight lines when your snowblower leans so far to the right?
Buy a house with a circular driveway and go clockwise. But remember to start from the outside and work in otherwise you'll have to LEAN TO THE LEFT.

Oh, one more thing...stop before you get to the middle or else you'll disappear up your own ass.
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Re: Briggs and Stratton Oil Level

Post by North Shore »

Looks like this one has run its course, too.
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