Air Filter Change on a Briggs & Stratton E-Series Engine

Air filters are the lungs of your small engine. A clogged or dirty air filter means you engine will have trouble breathing. Air, and more appropriately the right amount of air is one of the holy trinity of combustion: spark, fuel, and air. It's quick and easy to check, and just as simple to replace if it's too dirty. Here's how I change the air filter on those smaller Briggs & Stratton E-Series engines found on many Craftsman, Bolens, and MTD lawn mowers:

While mowing in very dusty or sandy soils, your air filter will pick up lots of debris. Often it's enough to dust it off, but if it's clogged up with dirt and grass clippings, it might just be easier to replace. Here's the filters shown in the video: https://amzn.to/3cpDe0q

You can clean foam filters like the one in the video. Tap or blow off all the big chunks of dirt, and clean it with mild soap and water. It might take a few rinses to get the water to run clear, but after that, squeeze out as much water from the filter as you can and allow it to throughly dry out. Re-oiling the filter is necessary as you saw in the video. If you don't have time to wait for the filter to dry, you can always have a spare filter oiled and ready if you keep the extra one oiled up in a plastic sandwich bag.  You can't clean an air filter with a paper element with soap and water. If tapping or blowing off the dust and dirt is not sufficient, replacement is the best answer.

Another thing to look out for is if your filter is dripping or covered in heavy oil. This is a sign of your engine being overfilled with oil. Or perhaps the mower was turned over on the wrong side while it was still hot. There is a breather tube to the crank case that is necessary for the engine to operate at atmospheric pressure. If there was not this breather, the engine would build up too much internal pressure with each revolution of the crankshaft. These breather tubes are typically routed back through the airbox to allow excess combustion gases to be burned up, rather than just escape into the atmosphere.

Don't be tempted to run your mower with no air filter. It's really necessary to keep out dirt and particles that can score or scratch up your cylinder walls, pistons, piston rings, and valve seats. These small scratches will not allow your engine to generate enough compression to ignite the fuel and air mixture that is needed. Your mower will run weaker and be unable to operate efficiently in taller grass without stumbling or having trouble staying running.

I hope these tips and tutorials can empower you with oracle like skills to make your small engines run smoothly and consistently.

Please subscribe to my Youtube channel: The Lawnmower Lady and get notifications of new videos. Or follow along on Instagram at thelawnmowerlady and Twitter at the Lawnmower Lady 

Mow Happy!

Standard Disclaimer: Any links to products are likely affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (Thank You!), with no additional costs to you.

Wear your safety glasses, or you'll put your eye out. Try on some gloves. Take off that spark plug boot. Clean your room. Open the windows, those fumes are nasty. Just 'cause I do it, don't think it's the end all, be all solution. There's plenty more ideas out there, I can't take responsibility if you slice off a few fingers after watching my videos. And don't just pour that toxic stuff down the sewer or in the ditch, dispose of waste responsibly. Just be safe, OK?

Remove , Clean and Re-install Those Plastic Carbs on Briggs & Stratton Lawn Mowers

Is your Bolens or other smaller mower hard to start? Does it have problems staying running? It just might need a good cleaning. My latest YouTube video will guide you on how to remove, disassemble, clean and re-install that plastic carburettor on your Briggs & Stratton E-series engine. 

 

You can find a new air filter here: https://amzn.to/3cpDe0q or if you happen to damage or lose any o-rings or gaskets, get replacements here: https://amzn.to/3gcTz9R Get some tip cleaners like in the video: https://amzn.to/3uXuiWG

This is sort of a long video, so I've included some timestamp references if you want to skip ahead of review any particular parts of the video:

1:15 carburettor removal 5:45 clean carb exterior 8:10 clean internal jets and parts 12:37 carburettor re-assembly 15:12 re-attach carb to engine intake 17:16 carb air box and filter re-assembly

Several years ago, when Briggs & Stratton started to manufacturer their smaller engines overseas, their E-series engine was developed. One of the fascinating innovations was to include a carburetor made almost entirely of a nylon-like plastic material. There's some good reasoning behind this. It weighs less. It is less prone to corrosion and deterioration common with certain metal parts. And I suspect the biggest reason was cost.  

Since it is made of mostly plastic, some of the older caustic chemicals commonly used in the past to clean carburettor parts, are too harsh and can damage or deform some of the plastic parts. Care must be taken to minimize the use of aerosol carburettor spray. These chemicals will cause gaskets and o-rings to swell up, and deform. I typically use old/bad gasoline that I have drained from other equipment repairs to clean the biggest dirt and grime from all parts. I use only the smallest amount of aerosol to clean the smallest orifices, and blow out any excess immediately.  Eventually I take this dirty fuel to my local hazardous waste center. I figure I'm saving the planet by reusing and recycling old gasoline, and I'm not releasing to much aerosol into the atmosphere.

Despite the advantages, these carbs still suffer from the same points of failure as good old fashioned metal carburetors. They can get gummed up from old gasoline. Ethanol gasoline can deteriorate quickly, leaving water. And since these small engines carburettors are gravity fed, mean ol' Mr. Gravity won't allow enough fuel to get sucked into the intake since water is heavier than gasoline. 

I hope these tips and tricks can empower you with oracle like skills to make your small engines run smoothly and consistently.

Please subscribe to my Youtube channel: The Lawnmower Lady and get notifications of new videos. Or follow along on Instagram at thelawnmowerlady and Twitter at the Lawnmower Lady 

Mow Happy!

Standard Disclaimer: Any links to products are likely affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (Thank You!), with no additional costs to you.

Wear your safety glasses, or you'll put your eye out. Try on some gloves. Take off that spark plug boot. Clean your room. Open the windows, those fumes are nasty. Just 'cause I do it, don't think it's the end all, be all solution. There's plenty more ideas out there, I can't take responsibility if you slice off a few fingers after watching my videos. And don't just pour that toxic stuff down the sewer or in the ditch, dispose of waste responsibly. Just be safe, OK?

Air Filter Change on Briggs & Stratton L-Head Engine with Pulsa Jet Carburetor

Replace that dirty air filter, and keep an extra on hand for your Briggs & Stratton L-head engine with a Pulsa-Jet carburettor.

Foam air filter only 2-pack (part# 698369): https://amzn.to/3vXAPln Complete air box and filter (part# 5099K): https://amzn.to/3ppSfog

The holy trinity of combustion is spark, fuel, and air. All three of these factors play a necessary role in your engine starting and running efficiently. If any one of these three factors get out of whack, the snowball effect on the other two deteriorate the efficient operation of your small engine. 

The air filter on your lawn mower small engine is like the lungs of your body. When they get dirty and clogged up, it can be impossible for your engine to get enough air to run properly. It might run even clogged up, but your spark plug will foul with too much soot and oil deposits from incomplete combustion inside your engine. In the worst case extreme, your cylinder, valves, and piston will accumulate unburnt deposits of sticky and often crunchy fuel and oil. Chunks of that crud can and often break off and can break a piston ring, or score the inside of a cylinder so much that the engine can't run due to a lack of compression.

Often it's enough to just blow off the dust from a paper filter, but these types of engines utilize a foam air filter that usually needs to have a fine mist of engine oil to trap particles of dust and dirt. Foam filters too can eventually deteriorate and crumble into your carburettor intake. As long as the filter is not falling apart, you can clean the filter with warm water and any dish soap. These washed filters need to be completely dry, and re-oiled before replacement. You might find it easier to keep an extra one on hand in a sandwich baggy, already oiled up to replace quickly and keep on mowing. Clean the dirty one later, dry and oil it, and be ready for the next change. 

When removing the air-box to get to the filter, don't lose the air-box gasket that seals out dirt and dirt from entering your carburettor intake. Sometimes the gasket sticks to the underside of the air-box, and might fall off into the dirt or your garage floor never to be found again. The gasket is extremely thin and I've not found it to be purchased as separate item, only in complete kits: https://amzn.to/3ckIfr8

When re-assembling the air box, be mindful of placing the long screw that mounts the air box. It actually goes through the carburetor butterfly valve. If that valve get broken or jammed up, the entire carburetor can be replaced with the kit in the prior paragraph. 

Take note the air-box is five sided and the pointed end needs to point towards the back of the engine. The air-box can be crammed in backwards, but this places tension on the screw, possible obstructing the operation of the butterfly air valve. And the gasket will not seal the intake, and allow dust and dirt to bypass the air filer altogether and enter the engine.

I hope these tips and tricks can empower you with oracle like skills to make your small engines run smoothly and consistently.

Please subscribe to my Youtube channel: The Lawnmower Lady and get notifications of new videos. Or follow along on Instagram at thelawnmowerlady and Twitter at the Lawnmower Lady 

Mow Happy!

Standard Disclaimer: Any links to products are likely affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (Thank You!), with no additional costs to you.

Wear your safety glasses, or you'll put your eye out. Try on some gloves. Take off that spark plug boot. Clean your room. Open the windows, those fumes are nasty. Just 'cause I do it, don't think it's the end all, be all solution. There's plenty more ideas out there, I can't take responsibility if you slice off a few fingers after watching my videos. And don't just pour that toxic stuff down the sewer or in the ditch, dispose of waste responsibly. Just be safe, OK?