Briggs & Stratton 8hp Engine Internals Complete

This article details a method I used to fix a large hole in the crankcase of a 8hp Briggs & Stratton Vertical Engine.

First a little background:

When we first bought our property we quickly realised we would need either a tractor or a ride on lawn mower. Whilst I would have loved a tractor, cost meant we went for a ride on lawn mower. However this ride on mower was unique. It was a 1977 Rover Ranger mower. Go Kart style steering, Briggs and Stratton engine, all steel construction, etc.  Built solid as a rock but it was in need of some work. After about 6 months restoring the mower it was ready for testing – restoring the mower not the engine that is.

With the mower restored I added some oil, fuel/gas and gave the engine pull cord a tug, then another tug, and another…eventually I got the engine going. The mower worked great! Cut through thick grass, drove hard, ran smooth -though fast until… I hit a brick. Hidden in the long grass was a house brick and after hitting it at full speed something had to give. Normally this would be the mower blades. However, unknowingly at the time, the previous owner thought it was a good idea to weld the blades fixed. The engine did not like this and after spluttering a little decided the connecting rod (conrod) was the piece of metal that had to break. Sadly as it broke it put approximately a 5cm/1.5″ hole in the crank case wall. Not surprizingly the mower then stopped.

I was devastated. Months of work were now down the drain. A hole in the crankcase surely was unrepairable – especially since I’d never opened up an engine before. Consequently the mower was wheeled into the shed and left for a week. That week was a slow week. However, it also gave me time to think about the motor with a clear head. In particular: Why is a hole in a crank case unrepairable? After eventually pulling the engine apart I came to the conclusion I would try and repair the hole.

The hole was in the side wall, the conrod had created a few additional cracks as it flew through the crankcase side wall, but in general the engine looked repairable. Luckily when the conrod went, the various small pieces of broken conrod didn’t destroy any of the valve stems, oil slinger, etc. The main damage was the side wall.

Initially I thought “I’ll just weld something over it”. That was a nice theory but I very quickly discovered that the crank case was made from cast aluminium. One touch with the Arc welder and it would turn to molten metal! (Aluminum melting point is quite low in comparison with steel – about 700 degrees C vs 2300 degrees C). Hence my options were either TIG weld the case or find some other method of repairing it.

Sadly I’m not rich enough to own a TIG welder and none of my friends had one either. Hence I was left with finding some other method of welding aluminium. After searching Google I found out about a product called Durafix. Durafix is a type of welding rod, or more accurately a solder rod that can be used on aluminium. A little more searching revealled there was a number of products on the market that do a similar products. These can be found by searching for the names Alumaloy, Aladdin, HTS2000. They all do the same thing. So I started looking around for some of these welding rods. Sadly they were not cheap. Hence before I bought them I thought I’d check both prices of new engines as well if the rest of the engine I had was still any good.

New engines turned out to be much more expensive than I thought and I sadly I soon found the piston didn’t run smooth.

Piston with scoring marks from sanding to fit cylinder

One of the side effects of the conrod giving way is the rod arm in the piston had slightly deformed the piston. Hence it wasn’t correctly round any more. At this point I realised I needed a parts list. Going to Briggs and Stratton’s website I punched in the engine numbers and guess what – the parts list was still available. So after ringing around locally and checking Ebay I discovered a new piston wasn’t cheap. Especially since I didn’t know if I could repair the engine. I left the entire project for a few more weeks whilst I thought about what to do.

I eventually decided that if I could get the piston running smoothly I’d get the welding rods and try and repair the crank case. After all a set of aluminium welding rods could always come in handy. The problem was how to fix the piston. Everything I read said it had to be machined round, or replaced. I thought to myself, this is just a lawn mower, not a Ferrari V12. So I did the next best thing. I put the piston in the vice and crimped it until it was reasonably round. This got most of the shape back but it did still catch a little. (A note for anyone attempting a repair, I found the piston would only correctly work when put in from the bottom of the cylinder, it wouldn’t fit from the top).

To fix the small catch that it had left I sanded the side wall of the piston. I figured since it’s only the side wall the worst that would happen is a little movement (later I found out this is called piston slap and can be harmless or can destroy the rings depending on the amount of movement).

With the piston now running smooth I bought aluminium soldering rods off Ebay (It was cheaper to buy them in the US and get them shipped to Australia than buy them in Australia). After a few weeks they arrived and I replicated a couple of youtube videos I’d seen that welded coke can together. This was pretty easy stuff to work with – so I thought. Turns out small things are easy! The biggest issue was I was working with a large crank case.

After cleaning up the crankcase as best as I could with degreaser, some elbow grease, water and a stainless steel brush (as it

doesn’t cause the aluminium to oxidise) I began to heat the case. I’d borrowed a propane blow torch for the job and also had my electric heat gun. Initially I used the heat gun to get the entire crank case to a temperature where it was hot to touch (Electricity wasn’t a consumable like the propane tank).  I then used the propane torch in the cracked areas on the welding rods. It took ages!! Heating, heating, and more heating. Eventually the crank case got hot enough.

(At this point a little side note. The best way to use the welding rods is to heat the surface you want to repair. The rods are designed to melt below the melting point of aluminium. If you heat the rods they just turn in to little solder blobs but never cling to the surface your trying to weld. If you heat the surface your trying to weld then touch the rod to it, the solder melts and clings to the surface).

Finished Weld

With the surface now hot enough (hot enough to smoke the plastic grips in my vice), I began welding…er soldering. It was at this point I realised fixing this would be a little tricker than expected. You see the rods are more of a solder than a welding compound. My aim was to weld a piece of scrap aluminum I’d picked up at a local steel recycler over the hole on the outside of the crank case, then seal the inside with more weld. Being a solder this was a difficult task. The outside weld went perfect. The inside on the otherhand was not so successful. Turns out because the rods are a solder, touching the inside of the piece of aluminium covering the hole, ended up shifting the outside (as the piece was sitting on a layer of molton solder). Quite a few attempts later I had finished the repair.

Sealing the inside of the crankcase with liquid gasket

After 2 hours cool down time (the case took that long). I then did a water test for leaks. Drip………….Drip…….. Drip……… sadly the weld was not water tight. Due to time constraints and limited propane, sadly I could not reweld the case. Instead I applied liquid gasket to the inside of the weld, let it set the retried the water test – I was now water tight – success!

So with the case welded, it was a matter of putting the engine back together. (See the shots below for step by step instructions). By this time I had already bought a new after market conrod which fitted perfectly and despite quite a few mistakes where I had to take bits apart to put other bits in I eventually got the engine back together.

With the engine together, I added oil, petrol a new spark plug and crossed my fingers. I tugged on the pull cord….then again… and again… finally, the engine coughed to life. After quite a bit of spluttering whilst I adjusted the carby, it was running really nice. Time to put some load on it  – This time I had removed the fatal welds on the mower blades, if I hit anything THEY were going to give first.

The mower worked a treat, ran smoothly – after a few adjustments (the safety wire on the flywheel was rubbing against the flywheel cover making a awful noise) and kept running well.. so I thought.

It wasn’t until about 15 minutes into mowing I noticed the excess smoke coming from the mower. There was a little smoke as it accellerated but the amount of smoke had certainly increased quite noticable. Not wanting to destroy the Briggy any more I stopped the mower to inspect what was happening. Sure enough there was a small leak of oil through the weld.

You see Briggs & Stratton engines are designed to run with a negative pressure in the crank case. This helps suck the oil back down when the piston drop and prevents excessive oil burning. Without this negative pressure the oil get up to the combustion chamber and burns – also makes a nice black coated spark plug.

That’s what was happening here. The leak in the crank case weld was letting air in, stopping the back pressure and causing oil to burn. As a quick fix I wedged some metal putty over the hole, topped up the oil and tried again.

It still smoked and leaked. Though dramatically less than the first time. A little more putty and practically no leaks.

So now 5 months down track with the mower use pretty much ever weekend (A lot of grass grew whilst I was repairing it). The repaired B&S 8hp is still going strong. By using some premium unleaded (98 octane) it’s got a lot more punch, and getting the right spark plug gap (0.3″/.72mm)  it works very well.

When summer comes and I can’t mow due to the temperature (due to bush fire regulations). I intend to rip the engine apart again and reweld-solder the cover plate I put over the hole, and not give up until it’s water tight.

I’ve also learnt a lot in the process of doing this. All about engines, how to get them running, keep them running etc. A tip I want to try with the welding is to use a dremel and carve a V groove before welding. Especially over the cracks that are hairline but widen as the engine heats up this should fill them better. (This tip was from a site asking about welding a motorbike crank case with JBWeld – though I can’t find the link again). I also think I’ll purchase a rebuild kit and replace the rings to help eliminate smoke due to a worn piston/rings. The engine runs well enough to justify this. The rebuild kit also has a complete gasket set which will help.

So if suddenly you find yourself with hole in your crank case, a broken conrod and a warped piston,  but otherwise the engine looks fine, don’t believe everyone that the engine is scrap metal. You just might be able to fix it yourself!

Putting a 8hp Briggs and Stratton Engine Back Together

]]> http://www.clearchain.com/blog/posts/fixing-a-hole-in-a-brigg-stratton-engine-crankcase/feed 3 http://www.clearchain.com/blog/posts/replacing-an-oil-pump-in-a-husqvarnapoulancraftsmanjohnsered-chainsaw http://www.clearchain.com/blog/posts/replacing-an-oil-pump-in-a-husqvarnapoulancraftsmanjohnsered-chainsaw#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:47:11 +0000 Benjamin Close http://www.clearchain.com/blog/?p=790 It was the middle of winter, the nights were cold and we needed some firewood for our little combustion heater.  Out I went with my 2 times hand-me-down Husqvarna 136 chainsaw to cut some wood up. After only a minute of cutting the blade began to smoke. Despite the cold I thought “That ain’t right” [..more..]]]>

Husqvana 136 Chainsaw

It was the middle of winter, the nights were cold and we needed some firewood for our little combustion heater.  Out I went with my 2 times hand-me-down Husqvarna 136 chainsaw to cut some wood up. After only a minute of cutting the blade began to smoke. Despite the cold I thought “That ain’t right” and quickly stopped the saw to investigate.

I did the usual checks. I checked the saw had enough oil – it did. I checked the blade was sharp.. it wasn’t any more – though it was when I started only minutes before. I then checked that oil was getting to the bar and the chain. Ah, that’s the problem.

The chain was bone dry!  I checked the bar. There was some dirt in the bar but not enough to prevent oil getting on to it. Finally I checked where the oil is meant to come out on the chainsaw – Nothing was coming out.

Old Oil Pump With Slice in top left

A little digging and I found that the oil pump cover had a slice in it. How it got there I’ve no idea. The fact it was there proved to be the problem. The oil pump cover performs two jobs. It creates a seal so suction can build up for the pump and acts as a dirt cover.

I began to pull the chainsaw apart to check the state of the oil pump. Pulling the saw apart started off quite easily. Off with the steel outer cover, remove the rubber insulator.. then I hit a road block. The oil pump was actually under the main drive socket/chainsaw clutch. It was held in by two screws that I had no chance of getting into. Hence the drive socket/clutch had to be removed.

The drive socket/clutch is actually a reverse thread screw type setup attached directly to the main crackshaft of the engine.
Every attempt I did to unscrew this piece simply turned the cylinder.  I gave up for the night in frustration.

Google is a friend and I soon found the reason I couldn’t undo the part.  In the official repair manual, a special ‘cylinder lock tool’‘ is required to brace the cylinder in position and a special ‘drive socket/clutch release tool’ is used to grip the clutch. These tools allow the clutch/drive socket to be unscrewed and hence the oil pump removed. A quick inquiry – $58 for both! No way was I going to pay that for tools I’d only use once. I was at a loss.

Luckily I eventually found the following forum post. In the post the person mentions using an old nylon rope as a cylinder lock – Ironically they mention the official tool often pokes a hole in the cylinder! Anyway back to the shed I went to give it a go. Nylon rope in cylinder, vice grips as release tool – It worked! The drive socket/clutch released and I was able to access the oil pump.

Oil pump with cover removed, stripped gear visible

Worm Gear That Drives The Oil Pump

With the oil pump removed it was clear the part needed replacing. The oil pump in the chainsaw is driven by a worm thread on the main drive shaft. This worm thread turns a plastic gear which causes a half cylindrical piece of metal to rotate. As it rotates it creates suction. This suction draws the oil from the oil tank, through an oil filter into the oil pump. The oil pump passes the oil from one side of the pump to the other and out via plastic channels to the bar/chain. In my case the plastic gear on the oil pump was stripped in one place. It looks like the slice on the pump cover allowed dirt to get in. The dirt jammed the plastic gear and the metal worm thread did a nice job of stripping the gear.

After downloading the parts list for the 136/141 from the Husqvarna website (Note: IPL = Illustrated Parts list) I was soon able to work out what part I needed – it was part 530014410 (apparently also the same as: 530029838, 530029834, 530029835, and 530029912, 545036801). A trip to the local chainsaw shop had the part listed at $32. A quick trip to eBay and I found the part for less than $10 delivered! (Thanks to user/ebay store Mowers4u)

The replacement oil pump

I ordered the part and waited for it to arrive.

A few weeks later (it was an international trip) the part arrived and after giving the chainsaw an extremely good clean using degreaser, petrol and a wirebrush; I set about putting the chainsaw back together. At each stage I checked that the pump was working. Turns out the model of pump I got (as stated in the eBay ad) was actually an enhancement to the original part with better dirt protection – looking at the part this modification was clearly visible.

Eventually I finished putting the entire chainsaw back together and test it out – it worked! Oil now flowed nicely on to the chain again. A fine line of oil was now clearly visible when spinning the chain next to an object. So for the cost of a couple weeks worth of waiting, a couple hours of my time and less than $10, my trusty Husqvarna 136 Chainsaw was back in action and ready to finally cut that much needed firewood! (The backup stock was getting really low

One final side note to anyone wanting to replace the oil pump; the part I used is actually is able to be used by many chainsaw makes an models. Taking direct from the Mowers4U eBay Add:

“This is an oil pump assembly Poulan, Husqvarna, Jonsered, and Craftsman chainsaws. The oil pump is part number 545036801, which is the latest version and supercedes part numbers 530014410, 530029838, 530029834, 530029835, and 530029912. The pump fits a large number of models including Poulan and Poulan Pro 2200, 2500, 2600, 2750, 2775, 2900, 3050, PP255, PP295, PP310, PP315, PP4620, and Husqvarna models 36, 41, 136, 141, 137, and 142. This is a genuine Poulan part, not an aftermarket part”

Installing The New Oil Pump on The Husky

1 Oil Pump Fully Removed

2 New Oil Pump Installed

3 Washer Installed

4 Clutch Housing Installed

5 Clutch Installed

6 Tightening The Clutch Housing ("Special Tool Used"

7 Rubber Guard & Covers Installed - Pump Changed

Edit: A kind reader (Eino Yooper) contributed the following when replacing the pump of his Jonsered

From Benjamin Close: Many thanks Eino Yooper for the feedback and the photos!

“A thousand thank yous for the Chainsaw rope trick.  My Jonserud was not oiling and I spent hours searching the internet before I found this wonderful posting.  I could find no directions or an exploded diagram of my clutch assembly.

It took 8 ft of twine to fill the cylinder head of my 2045.  I had to buy a vise grips, but it was well worth it.  The Jonserud is a little different in the appearance of the clutch and that the oil pump is not enclosed withing a nylon enclosure.  I found that there is a rubber oil channel.  It was completely filled with greasy sawdust blocking the passage of oil.  I cleaned it out and the oil flowed by hand rotation.

I’m sure the pump is about the same as the Husky, a small piston pump.

This didn’t come easy to me.  I am mechanically challenged.  There are about four parts on the engine shaft that need to come off after removal of the clutch.  There is the clutch housing with integral sprocket, a bushing that rides inside the clutch housing, an inner bushing, a screw to hold a thin sheet metal plate down and the sheet metal plate.  Pay close attention to their orientation.  I did this about 2 in the morning and mixed them up.  I ended up using the chainsaw rope trick three times before I got them together right.

While the machine is apart, this is a good time to clean and gap the plug as well as to clean filters and the inner guts of the saw.

The chain should turn as easily as before when the unit is completed.  If not, the rope may need to be gently pushed into the cylinder head again for dis-assembly. 

Test the chainsaw on some snow to see if a line of oil shows up.  Point it at the snow and rev her a bit.  Don’t spill gas and oil on yourself like I did.  If you live in an area without snow, you are lucky.”

“I’ve had that oiling problem for months, brought it into a chainsaw person and he installed a new pump. Then the problem came back as an intermittent
problem. You’ll see the black rubber oil channel. It filled with oily sawdust and probably will again, but now I know how to fix it. My house will be warm. The propane bill collector will not trouble me this Winter. “

The Jonsered Chain Saw

Taking the Clutch Cover Off

Below the Clutch

Clutch Exposed

Pump Channel

New Tool

Sheet Metal

Plug and Rope

1.33Fathoms-in

Dirty Plug

Dirty Filter

Oil on the Snow

All Fixed For A Happy Result

Inspiron 8000

It all began in February 2001. I bought a Dell inspiron 8000 laptop, with a 1400×1050 capable screen and I was happy. Over time however, things slowly broke. I was lucky enough to get a free upgrade to a 3 year next day onsite warranty, and over time got the HDD replaced twice and keyboard replaced once (The laptop was running 24×7 and was my main machine). Alas, sadly event the 3 year warranty expired – but things were still running sweet. The laptop still worked like a charm, until that fateful day in March 2006.

The LCD screen had been getting dimmer over time, something I attributed to old age. But that day in March proved to be the start of a very long but in the end successful hack – A hack to fix the laptop screen!

For those that aren’t aware, most LCD screens have a single fluro backlight which illuminates the screen. Like any fluro, over time they get dimmer, take longer to turn on, and their colour changes. Sadly like any fluro, eventually they blow.

I contacted Dell requesting a price for a new screen but the $765 price tag did not impress me. Even after market displays were rather costly at $400. Ebay was not much better. I have the 14.1″ SXGA screen – I wanted the higher resolution of 1400×1050. However, everything I could find was only for the 14.1″ SVGA screen with a resolution of only 1024×768, or the 15″ screen with a resolution of 1600×1280 (I think).

I did a few google searches to see what else I could do.. new laptop, put screen in for repair (yeah right, I’m in Adelaide, no one here to do that & shipping would kill me).. then I found something useful. A forum which indicated how someone had replaced the backlight themselves. A few more searches and I foundhttp://iantha.net/ccfl.htm.

Bingo, now I knew I’d found the cheap solution.

Hence I decided to fix the screen myself.

Symptoms

To be honest I’d known the screen was dying for a while. Initially the screen got quite dim and I found I had the brightness turned up all the way. Next I noticed the screen had some pinky purple sections appearing around the edges. These weren’t bright colours, more of a tint to the white that should have been showing.

Next there was the issue that when the screen turned on, it was extremely dim and slow got brighter. The big thing that gave me the hint something was on it’s way out was the fact that the screen would just die after some time. Basically if I shined a torch on the screen I could still make out what was on the screen but there was no light behind any of it.

Diagnosing What was wrong

Initially I didn’t know exactly what the problem was. The back light for most laptops (well in the 2000′s anyway) are a fluorescent tube know as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). They work by an electrical charge exciting a gas (often mercury vapour) which causes electrons to jump hence causing a UV light to be emitted. This light then hits the phosphorescent coating on the inside of the CCFL and causes it to glow for a split second. This glowing creates light. (For a full description about fluro’s see the wikipedia pagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp)

Here’s the catch. In order to excite the gas, a high voltage is needed. This voltage is provided by an invertor. Now the big issue was to work out if it was the CCFL or the invertor that had died.

I tried to work out what the issue was and after more google searching, I came to the conclusion it was the invertor. Due to so many forum postings indicating the invertor was more likely to go than the backlight. Hence I began the hunt for a new invertor. First I had to work out what invertor I needed.

I found a trusty screw driver and began to pull apart the laptop.

• Removed the face plate where the buttons were
• Undid the screws holding on the flexible cable for the LCD
• Pulled out the LCD cable

At this point the LCD could now be separated from the laptop

• Removed the rubber grommits used to both cover screw holes and make the protect the screen when it shut
• Gently found the clips around the edge of the plastic bezel which held the front and the back plastic panels together
• Removed the few screws holding the screen to the rear plasic bezel

Now I could clearly see the model of the screen and also the invertor.

The invertor was attached to the laptop with one screen and two cables that cliped in to it. One came from the ribbon cable that went into the laptop – this supplied power to the invertor. The other was a much thicker cable that carried the higher voltage to the backlight.

The screen I had was a Samsung LTN141P2 model screen. The invertor had various info on it including the model numbers:

• k02I024-01
• LTN141P2

I later found the invertor was made by Ambit Electronics – though I could not find their website.

Hence I pugged the numbers into google and off I went searching. Sadly I found my laptop was really old. There were lots of places that referenced the invertor but sadly none of them had it in stock. Ebay proved to have a few, but they were both expensive ($40+) and the shipping would kill me (I’m located in Australia, most places charged $30USD+ for shipping).

Hence I decided just to check back every now and again, looking for a bargin.

About 2 months later I found a website (Sorry Can’t find the URL now) that gave a good run down about what a company who fixed LCD’s could fix. This website gave me a clear indication that the problem wasn’t my invertor but my CCFL instead. The page had a video indiciating the exact symptom my screen suffered – Ie: I’d turn the laptop on, the screen would flicker to life for a few seconds then die.

This gave me renewed hope. Hence I decided to rip appart the actual LCD panel and replace the backlight.

Replacing the CCFL

Before destroying what was left of my screen, I decided to see if I could find a replacement backlight. A little more searching reveled the website:http://www.jkllamps.com/index.cfm?action=fam&tid=2&fID=45

This site lists the backlights related to specific laptops – Excellent! The backlight I needed was model: BF20292-24B. I also thought Wow! The CCFL needs 660volts to run – you could kill yourself on this thing! So I decided to be a little careful.

I then set about ording a backlight. The cost of the lights were fine (~$15 AUD). Then I saw the shipping cost – $40USD! Ouch. Thankfully the lab I worked for occasionally ordered from Digikey (one of the led distributors). Another month later, I purchased the backlight and added the light to one of the lab’s orders to avoid having to pay the shipping charge.

The backlight arrived! The CCLF for a laptop is very very fine. It’s only 2mm thick but 292mm long and made of glass filled with pressurized gas! I was extremely careful working with it.

• Cut off most of the electrical conducts on the CCFL
• Soldered the wires from the invertor plug to it
• Ever so gently put the rubber gromits over the end plugs
• Plugged in and tested the soldering was ok
• Gently put it into the cradle it came out of

Drat! It’s too long by a few mm. Looking at it I saw one of my solder joints were preventing the rubber grommit from sitting properly. Hence I gently moved the rubber grommit a little more …. snap …. Look of disbelief…SHIT!.

I’d broken the backlight in half. Admittedly really was caused by me rushing and not being careful enough. Hence back to waiting for the next order to be placed.

It was some months later when the lab placed the next order. This time throughhttp://www.rs-components.com.au. The backlight was about the same price but once again, the shipping was the killer.

Eventually the order was placed and I piggy backed on the shipping again (anything over $100 is free shipping – the CCFL was $25AUD). Sadly when the CCFL arrived – in the worst packaging I’ve ever seen, it was already broken. I rang up RS and they told me what to do to return it. A few weeks later (after a number of chase up phone calls), the replacement CCFL arrived. I delicately took it home. That night was repair night. This time however, I was determined not to break it.

By this time it was a good 6 months after I’d pulled the laptop apart. Hence my memory of how everything went back together was a little sketchy. Hence I decided to use the broken backlight and see if I could place things back together. 15 minutes later I was confident I knew how things went.

The CCFL replaced in the cradle

Once again I:

• Cut off most of the electrical conducts on the CCFL
• Soldered the wires from the invertor plug to it
• Ever so gently put the rubber gromits over the end plugs
• Gently put it into the cradle it came out of

This time it fit ( Just! ). The rubber grommits really made the whole light hard to put in the cradle.

The rubber grommits made life difficult

Another rubber grommit

However once it was in place it was a matter of putting the screen back together.

Putting the LCD back together

With the CCFL in it’s cradle, it was time to put things back together.

Putting the clip & wires in place

CCFL Fully in place

First the clip that held the cradle in place was put on and the wires for the CCFL were cliped into the clip.

Then the LCD filters and lenses needed to be put back together.

Makeup of an LCD Screen

In order to get the CCFL out, I had to pull apart the LCD screen. For those not familiar with LCD internals, there is a glass panel illuminated by the CCFL. Then a whole series of filters and lenses to focus the light on to the actual LCD crystals.

Now I had to put all the lenses and filters back in the correct order so the screen worked – this took a while. The wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD) proved to be extremely helpful in this respect. Trial and error eventually found me getting things right.

At this point I noticed lots of spots and marks on the screen. Due to the 6 months wait, dust & hair (we own two cats & 2 dogs) had found it’s way in between the lenses/filters. Another 30mins later and 99% of that was gone.

It was done!

The finished product

With the LCD screen back together, all that was left was to put the LCD into the plastic bezel and everything else back together. That was the easy bit!

Now I have a working Dell Inspiron 8000 Laptop screen with a total replacement cost of $35 – even cheaper if I hadn’t broken the first CCFL!

Hence anyone who thinks that $400+ is a rip off for a new laptop screen, has a bit of technical knowledge and a steady hand can fix their own screen!