I had one that had a field magnet come loose. No damage, I just glued it back in place w/ JB and it's been fine.
I imagine there's been a lot of good starters thrown in the trash due to ignorance.
Mike

I would guess that more starters, solenoids, and key switches have been bought by some Briggs owners due to the need for a valve adjustment rather than the actual part being faulty.
Batteries, on the other hand.......are akin to popcorn :^)

Yes, what makes him think it is starter trouble? What are his symptoms and don't forget to post the engine model number.

Walt Conner

Thanks Mownie, pretty much what I suspected.

Ev

Happy Ending. Just heard back from my buddy, my repeated comments about "compression release" and valve adjustment finally registered. He works for a ....Janitorial Sales and Service" outfit and they sell and repair all kinds of big floor machines. He was only familiar with the propane fuel, buffers, etc. and those have a mechanical compression release, the kind that as the engine speeds up centrifigual force overcomes a spring and the valves fully close. So, now that he actually understands what I've been telling him, all is well.

Communication is a funny thing, you can say the words, but.... :-)

Ev

"So, have we been lucky, or do small engine starters last a long time? "

Thanks to the hot rod I always assumed the larger your engine and the higher compression you had the harder life was on a starter.

My high compression Mustang needs a heck of a starter to roll over. My MarkVIII has 9.85 to 1 compression. it requires premium fuel to avoid ping or the computer retarding the timing. My 89 Toronado was NOT a hot rod car, not much of a starter needed.

Now that Toronado ended up putting some poor starter through 280k miles before I traded it in.

The MarkVIII, which has the performance (for its day) V8, coincidentally had a starter which began sounding silly around 160,000 so I changed it.

Let's think about the average week for a car also... trip to and from work five days a week. Gas station, hardware store, pizza shop, gas station again, getting parts for before mentioned Mustang, we are working our way to what, 20 times a week the starter is used? I'm a fairly efficient driver.

My Simplicity mower starter averages two a week I guess over the summer. If I have to turn it off in the middle of mowing it puts a frown on my face but it happens and sometimes I do drive it to the driveway to change belts or clean it or sharpen blades or something.

It would be interesting to hear what folks in the lawncare industry have to say. They use their equipment as much as I use my car!

A man asked me to look at his ancient Craftsman lawn tractor--said the starter would spin, but it didn't contact the flywheel-didn't spin up to contact the flywheel gear.
He allowed that he had replaced the starter twice with used ones, but nothing worked, and he was about to go buy a new starter! (which would of been a waste of cash, because he had the battery connected backwards!
Once i turned the battery end for end, everything worked ok!

The Rule of Thumb that I have always heeded was to ensure that the starter was not used for more than a few seconds at a time . The longer it is engaged the more current drawn through the winding which shall heat up and break down over the life of the unit . The best approach is to ensure that the proper rated battery is installed and fully charged along with tight and clean connections. I have not had any serious issues within starters within any of my applications . This includes various Diesel Applications which are obviously very harsh on starters .

One thing that isn't too good - particularly for vertical shaft engines - is inadvertantly getting the starter doused down with water from a hose or power washer... The starter hsg acts like a bucket and bad things begin to happen inside...