Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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SnowRemover
Toro 828LXE
Location: Near Albany, NY
Joined: Jan 12, 2005
Points: 139
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Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Original Message Jan 31, 2005 9:48 am |
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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
This message was modified Jan 31, 2005 by SnowRemover
 It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! --Friedrich Nietzsche
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SnowRemover
Toro 828LXE
Location: Near Albany, NY
Joined: Jan 12, 2005
Points: 139
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #20 Jan 31, 2005 9:52 pm |
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the moral of the story is URBAN LEGAND.
Actually this happened to my cousins sister's boyfriend. --SnowRemover
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! --Friedrich Nietzsche
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18Degrees
Joined: Jan 19, 2005
Points: 111
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #24 Feb 1, 2005 2:24 am |
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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
18 Degree driveway - 928 Honda track drive - Fertilizer spreader for dispensing salt
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Majorxlr8n
Location: Freehold NJ
Joined: Aug 6, 2003
Points: 1092
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #26 Feb 2, 2005 6:38 am |
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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 
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nibbler
Joined: Mar 5, 2004
Points: 751
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #27 Feb 2, 2005 9:24 am |
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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 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?
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Richie
Bring On The White Stuff
Location: Long Island, New York
Joined: Dec 12, 2003
Points: 562
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #28 Feb 2, 2005 9:48 am |
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My personal preference would be to have a Briggs engine on all my OPE only because I've used them all my life and have been satisfied with them. Even better, like my Troy-bilt 2,500 psi pressure washer, which sports an OHV Honda engine. Usually we purchase a piece of equipment due to features or even brand name and therefore may not have the choice of a preferred engine brand in a case like that. The bottom line, owners must take responsibility for the care and maintenance of such equipment. I check engine oil religiously prior to starting any of them. This may seem like a chore to some, I know it was for me, but if practiced regularly, it just becomes second nature. Maybe Tecumseh engines are more sensitive, maybe they are not. A 25 year old snowblower I used to have was Tecumseh powered and always ran great. One can also say that perhaps everything was better made way back when, and may not have any bearing in 2005. In many cases, that may well be true. I look at it like this, if there is a chance my Tecumseh engine may have a sensitivity to low oil, I check it each and every time before starting it. If that isn't a sure way to completely eliminate such claims, I don't know what would. If you're still concerned about the engine, your only alternative would be to remove your engine, sell it, and pay the balance to re-power your favorite machine with your engine of choice. It actually sounds like a fun project for someone that likes to tinker. I know if my engine craps out after the warranty period, you can bet I'll re-power with my engine of choice 
Richie
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Gilsons
Let it snow, in southern Maine
Location: Southern Maine
Joined: Oct 10, 2002
Points: 669
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Re: Tecumseh Engines Prone to throwing Rods
Reply #29 Feb 2, 2005 7:20 pm |
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Gee I didn't even know I was at the root of this thread! I stand by my observations especially in regard to vintage engines. I had never seen a thrown rod in 6 years of working on OPE until Gilson started using some 10HP Tecumsehs and we had several fail out of a small population that same season. Those engines were very tolerant off slightly low oil conditions, this has surfaced over and over again including on the WTB board last season. If you remember Kaboom said it all, I get the same message in my email. There's no urban legend about it, it is fact. Why is this so? My two thoeries and they are only theories are that first the oil reserve is less on these engines and I suspect the lubrication system is also less effective. The other thiing we saw over and over was that the old governor linkages on the Tecumsehs were crap and had a multitude of hang-ups and failure modes including runaway RPMs. So that's my opinion based on my own hard experience. Are todays Tecumsehs bad engines? I'm not sure, I do still hear of the low oil failures, and I don't mean running the engine dry by any means. How bad can they be? Probably not that bad after all they are still around and you see them running all the time. Fact is when you hear thrown rod you almost always hear Tecumseh in the same sentence. In other words I don't want to hear about the one you have been running for 30 years, nobody said they all blow, just more than others, it is a relative thing. The section of my page quoted at the beginning of this page was written several years ago and is due for some updating but the message will not change. B&S is making a slow comeback. The challenge for them is overcoming Tecumseh's strong offering in 2 stroke power. After B&Ss lackluster attempt at a 2 stroke engine Tecumseh used their 2 strokes as leverage to gain 4 stroke market share. It was a shrewd business move and came right when the compact 2 stroke machines were coming into their own, manufacturers needed 2 stoke units and Tecumeh had them. Pete.
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