Briggs and Stratton Reviews

In November of 2019, I bought a Dual Stage Snowblower from Briggs and Stratton with a one-year warranty. Two days after my purchase, it snowed and I was eager to use it. After opening the box and reading the manual, I tried starting the engine but it failed to start. After two days of trying to start the snowblower, I brought the machine back to the store, expecting to return it. The store told me that since I had already tried starting it, I must call Briggs and Stratton, rather than returning it. When I called B&S and they directed me to a local repair shop. The shop would not repair the machine without payment, so I called B&S and they assured me that the warranty would cover the machine. I tried the shop again but they would not accept the warranty.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying any Briggs & Stratton products!! I bought my pressure washer in April 2020 and stored it in my garage till last month and opened it up to use it and ran horrible! Smoking running rich and didn’t make pressure would barely run. Called Lowe’s to return it and they guided me to Briggs & Stratton for the issue. Came with a 2 year warranty and they won’t even cover the carburetor that was bad! So I’m stuck with a brand new pressure washer that doesn’t work!!! Worst customer service ever and warranty!! Bought a new one today with a Honda motor and it works perfect!

When the 12 kW generator kicked on during a power outage, there were swings in the voltage noticeable by the lights in my home getting dimmer and brighter and an accurate voltmeter I own oscillating between 114 and 119 volts. In addition, the 12 kW generator would not support the air conditioning in my house which I was told it would do. I had completely lost faith in this unit and wanted to replace it with a Generac but the cost to install a new control unit along with a Generac generator was excessive so I kept the control unit and upgraded to a 20 kW B&S in September 2020.

Used as replacement engine on Steiner 420 only to have breather cover on valve pan vibrate off and begin to leak oil while mowing and can't notice resulting in way premature engine failure in 112 hours. B&S could have cared less when contacted about part falling off engine. Had a lot of things with engines but none ever had parts fall off. I would suggest any other motor for repair.

I bought this Huskee lt4200 mower with a 17.5 Briggs and Stratton engine not even a year ago and am having nothing but troubles with it. Engine compression is shot. Won’t start without manually turning the flywheel. I’m a 46-year-old woman. I am so unhappy that this is not working. We did everything the book said and it still won’t work.

I bought a Husqvarna with a B&S 18.5 Itek motor 03/24/19. Garage kept oil, and filter changed 3 times and a lot good it did. The mower looks brand new but still has a compression problem. The motor simply won't start. Now I have to find a mechanic and they will have to take the motor off to find the broken part. My yard is less than a 1/2 acre but still this is just too much for this Husqvarna with the 18.5 item mower. IT IS MY FIRST AND LAST. I haven't been able to speak to a real person about this yet.

I have been a small engine mechanic for years. Briggs & Stratton have never been able to get their carburetors are the governor's right and they will break down before warranty is finished and right after.

Purchased a Toro zero turn with a BRIGGS and Stratton 24hp motor. I have a level 7500 square foot lot that I cut frequently and still only have 30 hours on a 3-year-old mower. The mower is kept in a shed and not exposed to the elements. Recently the Briggs engine started smoking with a strong odor of unburnt gas. Had it taken in for repairs (about a month before the 3 yr warranty expires). After disassembly, the repair shop said the cylinders were rusted.(?) To my knowledge I've never used a high content ethanol gas. Toro and Briggs rejected a warranty claim saying the water in the ethanol rotted the cylinders. My $4000 zero turn now needs a $2000 repair. The guys I work with laughed when I told them I bought a Toro mower and laughed harder when I said it had a Briggs and Stratton motor on it.

Craftsman Lawn tractor 21hp Briggs & Stratton Single cylinder Blown engine rod went through block. Terrible Engine. Only used the tractor 6 times. Bought brand new. What a disappointment. They need a recall on this garbage!

Long story short, a mower I bought in the fall is 100% dead come spring. I took proper care and maintenance and the end of the lawn season. It is junk. Went and bought another, but not a Briggs & Stratton.

I have a 21 HP single cylinder Briggs and cut half acre it's a pretty steep slope at least 2 times a week plus some other peoples yards I do and it's going on 11. Not a single issue with it. Runs like the day it was bought and my lawn mowers have Briggs on them too. Never had issues so I dont see why all you are having issues. You must not maintain them properly. My neighbor had a mower he bought 12 years ago. Used and never changed the oil and it's still running today. I wouldnt own any other than a Briggs.

I bought this mower from "brandnewengines.com" on March 20th, 2019 with my understanding it had a 2 year warranty. In the fall the mower started running very rough (chocking). I contact brandnewengine's about where to take it for warranty work. They said "Ball Equipment in Parkville, Mo. was the closest Simplicity authorized deal". In early December 2019 I took it to Ball Power Equipment. When I told them the problem they said it should be covered by my warranty. In early January they finally called saying my mower was ready and the bill was $500+ dollars. When I asked why it was not covered by warranty the girl said she didn't know and the owner "Mr. **" would call me probably the next day.

I bought a Toro mover with a B & S engine. I don't use it a lot so I use fuel stabilizer. Guess what? After 6 months it won't start! Called a dealer as HD does nothing. All they had to say was: "Your fuel is old, you didn't use a stabilizer, might have a carburetor issues etc etc. Bring it in!" So I guess this means I have to repair this POS (piece of **) every 6 months. Ridiculous! My handy friend couldn't get it going either.

Have a one year old Simplicity Courier zero turn with this engine that does not like to start in cold weather. SUPPOSEDLY Briggs & Stratton and its ReadyStart system should make it as easy as a car, but every car I've ever owned starts easier than this thing in the cold. I can get no answers from B & S or Simplicity about solving the problem other than to take it to a 'warranty center' - but they don't tell me where one is or how I'm supposed to get it there. Useless support.

If it was possible to give no stars I would do so. They have the worst customer service, I was on hold for 30 minutes until I decided to call from another line and then they answered. Supervisor talked over me while I was trying to speak and was not trying to do anything to help the situation. They were an actual headache! I hate this company with a passion and I hope they go out of business.

2 months past warranty. The engine on my 2017 mower is junk and yes I take great care of all my engines. Changing oil is cheap. This engine has had 3 oil changes in 25 hours. No reason to crap out other than a decompressor that would not have to be there if they could put on a good starter. This was engineered to fail. They should be ashamed of this.

I bought a Snapper XD electric mower, but it's a Briggs and Stratton product and comes with a manual with their name on it. One of the two 82V batteries that came with the mower would not fully charge on the initial charge and never would on subsequent charges. According to the manual, it is charging to 60-80% of capacity. It runs the mower about 25% less time than the "good" battery that came with it. I've now called B&S 3 times. The first two times, I was encouraged to use the battery a few times and recharge it, to see if it would become normal. It hasn't. I called today, expecting them to send me a new battery. The service rep said that his supervisor said that my faulty battery is performing better than their minimum standards and they're not going to replace it. Thanks a lot!

Early this summer, I purchased a mower with a Briggs and Stratton motor. I literally used it four times before the engine failed. I took it to the dealer thinking that they would honor the warranty being a great company and reputable brand. It sat at the dealer for six weeks before I finally called Briggs and Stratton to give them the business over the phone. One week later, they rejected my claim due to lack of lubrication. The mower was running fine the first four times I used it. How does a good motor just fail when the thing had oil in it from day one?? DO NOT BUY THEIR PRODUCT. I will continue to give them bad reviews, because they completely let me down. Having to borrow someone else's mower every week while I waited for a rejected claim that I thought would be a no-brainer for them, is not something I will ever go through again.

I purchased the mower in April of 2017 to mow a 1/4 acre city lot with a ranch home, garage and pass through driveway. This yard takes just under 20 minutes to mow. Mowing in this area is once a week in April through June, every other week July through November and none in winter. I had finished mowing and was cleaning the mower. I test pulled after cleaning and the mower didn't start. On the fourth pull the mower made a clank sound and I could no longer pull the starting cord. I tried internet recommendation such as removing the plug and pulling, checking the pull mechanism, and checking the blade. The engine remained seized. I checked the oil, proper level and clear.

I bought a Toro 20339 model lawnmower from Home Depot. It made with Briggs and Stratton Engine. After 3.5 month it won't start. I took it to Power Zone for repair, dealer send claim to them but they request dealer sent the broken engine to them. One weeks later I received email from them. Said, "Failure due to lubrication. Your claim has been rejected."

21 h.p. Platinum engine on Sears YT3000 lawn tractor. What a piece of junk!!! The engine is only a couple of years old and I've kept up with ALL the maintenance requirements to a fault. One day it decided to start billowing out white smoke, blown head gasket. Ok. Had it repaired. Taking off the valve cover, gas POURED out. Apparently the NIKKI carb can leak gas through the system while it is shut off!! So I had to have a gas shut off valve installed. NOW the dang thing won't start, it only grunts but won't turnover. Apparently there is too much pressure in the cylinder because the cam shaft pressure release is not working. Major repair. I quit!!! Why is this company allowed to exist!!

Back in 2013 or 2014 I bought a Cyclone Rack with a Briggs engine on it. 2 years ago had to replace breather tub on it and is busted again. Now I have to replace carb on it. All the numbers I have gotten off of it none of them work. Diagrams that you find don't list all parts in pics. All pics are so faded you can't hardly read. Parts strip out easy. Have had to have helicoil put in for a bolt. Will never buy anything with Briggs engine again.

My family has a 6.5hp on a Snapper push mower, and 3 nearly identical, 5hp, cast iron sleeve, horizontal shaft Briggs on a woodsplitter, generator, and tiller. The mower was purchased new in 2008 and the others are late 80's models bought used. You should expect to have the carburetor replaced/rebuilt at some point. Annual oil changes are a must. I keep fuel stabilizer in everything to prevent ethanol from gumming up. Parts are cheap and maintenance is easy. I would recommend these engines to anyone.

Most people expect to do nothing to their lawn mower but start it and cut the grass. If you use ethanol gasoline you MUST USE FUEL STABILIZER to combat the negative effects of the ethanol in fuel. My last Toro push mower with Briggs and Stratton engine lasted 19 years, absolutely NO ISSUES. Annual oil change, spark plug change, sharpen blade and always added fuel stabilizer to my gasoline supply can. Read online effects of ethanol in fuel, fuel goes bad 30-60 days, use fuel stabilizer good for at least one year. I have two lawn mowers both Toro with Briggs and Stratton engines, after sitting 6 months this winter in outside shed, started on first or second pull. Lazy owners who DO NOT perform annual maintenance OR have a mower shop repair the annual maintenance is usually the main issues with poor mower performance. Buy American, Briggs and Stratton is the best quality.

A relative bought me a new push mower with a Briggs & Stratton engine about 4 years ago. Almost immediately gas was leaking from one of the small tubes on the engine. I used it that summer a few times but mostly used my older Honda push mower. The next summer I used the B&S mower a few times and then it wouldn't even start, even with the automatic starter on the mower. I took it to a guy that worked on lawn mowers and he couldn't figure out what was wrong. After that, I took out my Honda push mower-that I purchased new in 1996 and it started on the FIRST pull. The Honda that is now 23 years old, and that I am still using in May 2019, with nothing ever changed on it except for the spark plug. While the almost new Briggs & Stratton piece of ** won't even start! Briggs & Stratton, you are Pathetic!!

Bought a Poulan Pro lawn mower about a year ago equipped with a Briggs & Stratton Series 500E engine. It performed as expected the first couple of times I used it then took a turn for the worse. It began "smoking" from the area of the air cleaner and seemed to lack power. This problem continued to get worse where the engine "quit". The air filter was VERY saturated with oil. I ended up throwing it away. The engine appears to have "blown up" after no more than 8-10 hours of use! I couldn't believe it! Once upon a time Briggs and Stratton was an "icon" in small engines but it doesn't appear to be that way anymore. My advice is to anyone purchasing equipment with a small engine, shop for anything WITHOUT a Briggs and Stratton engine.

This mower has no wheel adjusters to set how high or low you want to mow. It worked great but for only 1 season. The following spring it would not start at all. It is junk. Do not buy it. It is worthless.

I bought a Toro 22” recycle mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine in it 3 years ago. Was the worst mistake I ever made. I had to replace the carburetor 3 times because it was made of cheap plastic which could not be adjusted and they kept breaking down. The mechanic could not just clean it out and adjust it, it had to be replaced. The mower kept losing power and sounding very sick every time I used it even after replacing the carburetor. I was only cutting small patches of lawn that my riding mower couldn’t reach. I never had a problem like this with any of my previous mowers.

I bought a Toro model 20339 mower from Home Depot in March 2018. I should have looked at the one-star reviews more carefully because apparently a lot of people had issues with the engine in this model. The engine is a Briggs and Stratton (of course) and it stopped working after only about 5 months of use in August 2018. I took it to a Service Center and was told that a "rod broke through the engine block due to a lack of lubrication." The "lack of lubrication" is completely untrue. I put in enough oil to the required markings on the dipstick and checked frequently. (I have been mowing lawns for 30 years so I know what I am doing.) Anyway, Briggs and Stratton is not honoring their warranty for their defective product claiming that the consumer is at fault. (How convenient for them.) As difficult as it is, I will never buy another Toro, nor any other product that has a Briggs and Stratton engine. (Even though they pretty much have a monopoly.) Sigh.

I bought this can a couple of years ago and carried, perhaps, 10 cans of fuel. The spout dripped fuel whenever the can was used. The vapor reduction mechanism nearly required a second person to help open the mechanism so that the fuel would flow. Holding that spout open to dispense fuel requires it to be jammed against something in the receiving fuel spout while supporting at least part of the weight of the can. That pressure is enough to cause the spout to disconnect from the can spilling more fuel.