"Terry Collins" wrote in message
...

SNIP
Seriously, the best advice I can give someone on mowers is to avoid
Briggs & Stratton engines. Now that is probably flamebait to some people
as I know some people will not have anything else, but dad loved mowers
with Briggs and Straton engines.

Good point to raise.
I'm only young, but over the time from own use and at work, it seems that
they are all much the same.
At work I have seen John Deere, Toro and Stihl fail quite quickly, but then
on the same note, the same brand has been good. It's interesting when you
have 4 or 5 of the same machine and they are treated the same, the
differences on failures can be interesting.
My father had a similar briggs and stratton to your fathers, the thing about
it conking out then failing to start 'till the next day, and after numerous
hours of trying to fix it himself, then lotsa $$$ on getting it "fixed" he
finally traded it in on a new, wat for it, rover with Briggs and stratton
engine. It's been great.
A yardman at work has the B&S motor and its lasted a long time, and rough
use.
My Masport with the B&S starts fine, but the throttle lever has to be held
on, or it vibrates back to a low idle. No tinkering has yet fixed it :-(
So yeah, I guess everyone has a story to tell with how good or bad these
engines are. Me? I'm on the fence with the subject :-)