1641 with blown engine

[brudder]

Time for an update on this thread. I decided i wanted to keep this tractor and fix it. It's a little long but maybe the details could be useful to someone else someday.

First thing to deal with is the engine. I was going to half-@$$ rebuild it on the cheap. I got a different 16 hp engine that was also blown up but the crank was good, so I was planning to make a good engine out of the two using a piston and rod from each. Well, then I realized the rods that weren't broken were also bad. They had some aluminum from the rod that blew up melted on to them... In hindsight, now that I know what I'm looking at, it's obvious and makes sense given the trauma the engine experienced during a lack of oil situation... So then I decided if I was buying two new rods and a gasket set, new rings are obviously necessary. Briggs changed the pistons so I couldn't just buy new rings... A new piston was required. At that point, with everything else being new, some machining would be in order.

I didn't want to spend all that money and end up with something with problems because I've never done a rebuild. So, I found a new 16 hp vanguard on Amazon marketplace in very good condition for $700 after taxes. Bought that. Well, Amazon shipped it in the cardboard box with NO padding inside. It banged around in the brown truck and brown plane for a couple days and showed up at my house damaged. Key was bent, blower housing banged up, wiring frayed, air filter box bent up, etc. Amazon refunded my money and told me to keep it. Most of the stuff that was damaged I didn't need because I had from the old engine or it was already on the tractor, so I could work with it. I had to straighten the blower housing and repaint it. They changed the flywheel from the older Vanguards. Otherwise, new engine for free. Win.

Well, with a brand new engine, I decided to go through some other things. Pulled out the wiring harness to do a better job of cleaning up the tractor. Re-taped and replaced some of the split loom conduit that was melted to the engine. I replaced fuel lines and shut off valves (my valves were rusty and one wouldn't shut off). I adjusted the Ross steering box and greased the front end including the steering CV joint. I also cleaned up the driveshaft and will obviously re-grease when it goes back in. The old grease was black and came out in chunks.

Here's a couple pics of the damaged engine and where it stands now. I need to get things lined up and the engine tightened down yet, then electrical and fuel hooked up, air cleaner on, etc.

A couple questions related to start-up... I won't need this until next spring, but I want to get it running. Any thoughts on starting up a brand new engine, running it for 20 minutes, and then storing for the winter? Ultimately, I think I will run synthetic 5w-30 (briggs recommendations: https://www.vanguardengines.com/na/e...endations.html) but am thinking SAE-30 would be better for engine break in. The problem is it's cold here now, so don't know if cold starting a new engine with 30w oil is the best for it.

[DieselDoctor]

Wow, lucky break on the "free" engine. I would follow the recommendations in the Briggs manual to the letter. They know best what weight oil, amount of run time, etc. will give the results needed for break in.

[Sam Mac]

Way to go. Do what the book says. I run Shell Rotella T 30 in my Vanguards and Kohlers

[ol'George]

Go by the book as recommended.
If I had no book, I'd go with light break in oil, non detergent.
run it and play with it checking things over, adjusting linkages, alignment etc. You have a new toy and you want to play with it a little.
If it is really cold in the shop, you can put a 100W light bulb under the engine for a couple of hours before you start, just to make you feel better.

[olds45512]

I guess I need to order an engine today and beat it up when it gets here so I can get it for free.

[David Reinhardt]

Nice looking 1641. You are doing a great job on bringing it back. ��Engine ��
Looking at you pictures I noticed it has a plastic tunnel cover, mine has the metal one, I guess yours is a newer version.
David

[brudder]

Alright, I got the engine bolted down and all the wiring and linkages connected. I'm having an electrical issue though. Let me tell you guys what I've done.

When I turn on the key, I have no idiot lights on. Usually, there will be a low oil, and low amp at least. I found a wiring diagram and traced a few things. First, I found that I have 12 volts to the key switch on the black wire (comes from the solenoid through the fuse). Coming out of the switch, in the "run, lights" position, I have 3 volts to the voltage sensor. I thought this should be 12 volts.

I also checked the low oil pressure idiot light in the indicator harness with the key in the "run, lights" position and found that it also only had 3 volts.

I measured the voltage across the battery to be about 12.3 volts or so. Confused but thinking I may have a dead battery (it's a brand new 2660), I jumped the tractor to another battery, cranked it, and the engine fired right up. It was a beautiful sound, let me tell you. I let it run for about 5 minutes, thinking the battery was just low but figuring the tractor would keep running on its own now. It died immediately.

I'm pretty sure I have everything hooked up correctly, but I could use a few suggestions. I could post pics of specific wiring if need be.

Also, I was going to post wiring diagrams but to make them the right size the text wouldn't show up. If someone wants, I could email them if you contact me via PM.

[brudder]

After thinking about this more, I think it could be as simple as a dead battery. If the battery was dead, I think it would have closed the fuel solenoid when I disconnected the jumper cables.

I don't have a battery charger right now or I would just throw it on the charger. I asked Santa for one for Christmas already so don't want to go buy one right now. I'm going to swap in another good battery and I'll report back.

[Sam Mac]

1641 wiring diagram. Make sure you have a good ground to the engine. I ground the Vanguards to one of the bolts just below the fuel pump

[sorner]

Well done with the free engine.

I would guess either bad ground, or ignition switch/plug issues. Or dead battery..... Or locusts... that should narrow it down a bit