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

OK, my snowblower has a Tecumseh engine, so when I read this I thought it could be either BS, correct, or old news.

You can't go wrong with a Briggs and Stratton engine. Tecumseh engines are prone to throwing piston rods through the crankcase wall if the oil level drops at all. The Tecumseh speed control is not nearly as robust as the Briggs and Stratton either. Briggs & Stratton is now back in the snow blower engine business in a big way with overhead valve engines ranging from 6.5 through 13 horsepower. Given prices, contracts and market inertia it's anybody's guess how quickly they will regain market share. However if you shop around machines can be found with these engines.

Anyone with any knowledge care to comment?  Here's the link.
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/snowbuying.html


--SnowRemover

It just snows to blow ya:
You cant believe everything you read on the internet.

Hahahaha, leave it to Lint to throw in some ironic symbolism.

ps I didn't get it either , then the light bulb came on upstair.

TheKneebiter wrote:
Actually this happened to my cousins sister's boyfriend.

--SnowRemover

Wouldn't your cousins sister still be your cousin?  (except in West Virginia that is, then your sister could also be your half cousin).

Walt wrote:
Or your wife!

Emmo,

Only in West Virginia!  - "The Home of the Scared Sheep State"

     The moral of the story.............

You can lead a Yak to water,

but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in the poke.

                                                                                                                                                      18 degrees

Emmo wrote:

      
      

            Only if she has all of her teeth !!!!!!!!!!!


                   Tom  

Run ANY OPE low or out of oil, regardless of the engine brand on it, and you're looking for an engine failure to occur.

Tecumseh's do have a tendency to be LESS TOLERANT to low oil conditions but they will last if you care for them.

This is a classic case of laziness/ignorance meets accountability or "saving of face". "It ain't my fault the darned thing crapped out on me - them Tekumsens are just plain JUNK!!"

Don't blame yourself, blame someone else (or blame the engine in this case).

Marty

Majorxlr8n wrote:
While I agree with the basic statement that you have to intelligently maintain you engines. There is a point of sensitivity to a problem where it is a design problem as well. I don't think the Tecumseh engines have passed that point, their requirements seem to be reasonbale. At the same time it is fair to say  that one engine design is more prone to a problem than another if it is true. I thought the origninal poster was asking for opinions on whether the staement was true.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Lets say that brand X engine only starts having problems if they are low on oil by more than 1 Litre ( close to 1 Qt ). while brand Y blows up if it is down by  30ml ( 1 oz). All other things being equal which would you like to own? Which do you think is a better design? Which is less prone to user error? which is less sensitive to a "low oil" condition?