Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hi,

I have an ongoing project to get a Tecumseh HSSk50 going.  (My first posting was here http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/18286-0-1.html)

The repairman said that there was not enough compression - and that he didn't think it would be worthwhile for him to pull the engine plate cover off and inspect.  He encourage me to open it up and see if anything looked really wrong.

So I have pulled the engine off the snow blower, and removed the cover.  I noticed that when I remove the cover and the cam shaft, there is plenty of compression.  When I replace it, there is no compression.

From my research I see that most engines nowadays have mechanical compression release to ease starting.  It would seem that this could be malfunctioning. 

Any suggestions about what to check for ?? - everything seems to look ok to me.

Thanks for any help,

Tim.

Check your valve stem clearances with the cam in and the cover on.

Sorry - could you please elaborate.  I am a novice.

Sounds like the clearance between the tappets and the valve stem is too little causing the valve  or valves to stay partially open. I would recommend picking up a service manual as they are not very expensive and will tell you step by step exactly what to  do and check for. With the speed of my typing I'd be here for hours explaining the whole process.

Thanks - I actually have the service manual in PDF form..    I guess I need very fine measurement tools as the clearance is stated as .004 and .01 inches.

Thanks for all the advice.

I set the clearance to the correct gap and it started right up and purrs like a kitten.

Thanks for all the advice and great website.

Tim.

timadler wrote: