# 20hp Briggs Intek bent pushrod. Valve guide? Pics



## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

Just acquired a 2006 Husqvarna riding mower. Owner thought it wasn’t charging the battery because it was having trouble starting. And it would make an odd whining noise instead of turning over sometimes. 

All electrical turns out fine. I go to adjust the valves and find both pushrods had fallen out and the steel exhaust valve made the classic move of partially falling into the oil passage. I pulled it out and straightened it out. I’m trying to figure out if it overheated and pushed the valve guide out like I’ve read about. 

If you look at the pics, it’s flush on the underside and the height is dead even with the intake valve guide. So I’m thinking that the valve guide didn’t move. But I can’t find any good pictures online to compare it to so here I am. 

Last the intake valve seemed a tiny bit sticky when the spring was removed and just sliding it in and out. I’m wondering if maybe crappy old oil and crappy gas were to blame for this.


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## sierrasam93614 (Oct 19, 2016)

if the push rod is bent your going to need a new one both the intake and exhaust are same size so you can use it as a gauge to see if valve guide is loose. Most likely just got out of adjustment and jammed, valves need to be adjusted on these engines on a regular basis. I have failed to do this and paid the price of broken or bent pushrods on my 10 HP intek on a wood splitter. Should have known better I grew up around small engines as my Dad was a small engine mechanic. Tolerance on the valves is pretty tight I believe .003 for the intake and .005 for the exhaust. with wear and heat they get loose and then get jammed causing them to bend or break. I would see if you can get specs for your engine as the gap can be a few thousands different on different models, also the intake is aluminum and the exhaust is steel.


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

Thanks for the reply. I also am leaning toward it just being out of adjustment and falling out as the guide doesn’t seem to be loose. The spec is between .004-.006 so I was going to set them at .005. I will order the new rod and change the oil as it looks nasty. And I’m SURE the rich guy I bought it off of never adjusted the valves.


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## sierrasam93614 (Oct 19, 2016)

that seems to be their only weakness mine has split a lot of wood.


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

Put the new rods in today and adjusted clearances. Still seems to load up when starting and takes a few tries to get going. Maybe I’ll take the carb off and give that a cleaning. It actually has back fired a few times. I put a different fuel filter on it but that didn’t seem to make a difference.


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## sierrasam93614 (Oct 19, 2016)

Might check the key between the crank and flywheel might have partly sheared when the push rod got bent. That would throw it slightly out of time 



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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

did you take the flywheel past TDC when you adjusted the valves, these engines have a valve lifter for easy starting and you have to go past TDC to adjust, if the engine kicks back on the starter (seeming to stall the starter) then the clearances are not correct,


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## mrfred (Jul 5, 2011)

Ended up replacing the heads on mine. The guides would not stay in place. The first time it bent the pushrod i pressed the guide back in place and it ran fine for about 3 months and did it again. The guides did not stay and bent the pushrod again. Did not want to do this a 3rd time, so I replaced the heads


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

I’ll check these things this afternoon thank you. After TDC the valves don’t move at all so I’m not sure what difference it would make if it’s TDC or slightly after but I’ll double check. The valve guides haven’t moved if you look at the picture I posted. 

The machine has 500 hours on it. After getting it running yesterday it’s newest thing is the hydrostatic transmission either barely crawls forward or backward or doesn’t move at all. Occasionally it’ll get going at an ok speed but definitely not what’s its supposed to do. These are sealed units. I’m unsure if mine has the refill cap on top. If so I guess I’ll check the level and add some. Or possibly remove it and flip it over to drain it. If there’s no refill I’m dreading cracking the case. Anyone familiar with this? Seems to be common once these get up there in age.


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## mrfred (Jul 5, 2011)

The hydrostatic release levers aren't engaged are they????


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

The lever in the back to push it? No. Also sometimes it will go slowly forward and backward. Other times not at all. Definitely doesn’t have the power it’s supposed to when it is moving.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

The camshaft has a centrifugally operated valve lifter that initially microscopically lifts the valve off of the seat when starting and when the engine starts, centrifugal force then moves the lifter away from the cam follower, if the valves are not adjusted correctly, the engine will get a stall effect on the starter when cranking.


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

Good to know. I’ll put a screwdriver in the plug hole to feel for TDC and let it go at least 1/4” past and I’ll check it. Thank you for that info!


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

Well the flywheel key isn’t sheared off


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## mrfred (Jul 5, 2011)

Hosedraggah said:


> The lever in the back to push it? No. Also sometimes it will go slowly forward and backward. Other times not at all. Definitely doesn’t have the power it’s supposed to when it is moving.


Bad belt??? Does it have an oil leak, low on fluid???? Those hydrostatic very rarely go bad


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## Hosedraggah (May 1, 2019)

I have no idea how these work. How would I know if the belt is bad? No leak but how do I check for fluid? I’ll get under it and try and see if there’s a fill hole I guess. But I think the back cover plate and stuff will need to be removed just to look for the fill


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## sierrasam93614 (Oct 19, 2016)

When in drive does engine rev like it's slipping or does it kind of bog down, if it revs could be belt slipping or something in the drive itself slipping which could be from being low on fluid, not sure how your drive works if I get a chance I'll see if I can look it up.

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## mrfred (Jul 5, 2011)

Had to have a belt from the engine crankshaft to the hydro. Will also have a couple idler pulley s to keep the belt tight


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## kawala (Apr 9, 2019)

Hosedraggah said:


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I just looked at my manual for my Husqvarna and sorry but it shows us nothing there other than saying take it to the manufactures  sorry I cannot help


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