# Craftsman DYT 4000 (B&G 18.5hp Intek) stopped working



## curlybandit (Dec 1, 2014)

Hello everyone.

I have a Craftsman DYT 4000 lawn tractor with a Briggs and Stratton 18.5hp Intek motor. I was cutting the lawn the other day and heading up a gradual slope. I noticed the tractor start to seem to begin to lose power on the way up the hill. This was very unusual as it's never done this before. Suddenly there was a loud noise from the motor followed by some rumbling and shaking. I shut off the motor, gave it a second and tried to start it back up. It wouldn't start. The starter seems to spin the blower fan freely - almost too freely, like there's no resistance. 

I performed a few basic tests. There's still oil in the motor. The plug is still creating a spark. The air filter is clean. The vacuum line from the crank case is clear. The fuel line from the tank is flowing. I checked to see if fuel was passing through the fuel pump but none was coming out of the line leading to the carb. I replaced the fuel pump but the motor still won't start up.

Any suggestions? 

Thanks.


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## HarveyW (Sep 15, 2014)

Hi curlybandit, welcome to the forum.

If the starter spins the engine freely, "almost too freely", you've lost compression. And the loud noise is probably bad news. Pull the plugs and hold a finger on the plug hole and crank to determine which cylinder has lost compression. Then pull the appropriate head to see what's going on in there. 

You say the engine had oil in it, but if it was low on oil you can run out of oil on a slope. You can find replacement engines for about $500.


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## curlybandit (Dec 1, 2014)

HarveyW said:


> Hi curlybandit, welcome to the forum.
> 
> If the starter spins the engine freely, "almost too freely", you've lost compression. And the loud noise is probably bad news. Pull the plugs and hold a finger on the plug hole and crank to determine which cylinder has lost compression. Then pull the appropriate head to see what's going on in there.
> 
> You say the engine had oil in it, but if it was low on oil you can run out of oil on a slope. You can find replacement engines for about $500.


Truthfully, my initial concerns was that something terrible had happened in the motor. A loss of compression would also explain why no fuel is passing though the fuel filter since. A loss of compression would mean no vacuum.

I'm much more familiar with car engines than small single-cylinder engines such as this B&S. I'm going to pull the head to see if I can find out what's going on. I imagine that I may have broken a piston rod or spun a bearing. Either way, a new motor looks to be on the horizon.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

doesn't sound good curleybandit, you may be lucky and get away with a short motor if your engine crankcase suffered internal damage, and if all of the bolt ons are still good, pull the sump and check the internals first though, I have attached a photo in the "so what did you accomplish today" section, have a look at that one, no oil does wonders to these engines.


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