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

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.

Add me to the list of blown Tecumseh ( thrown rod ) engines.

I've got it chalked up to probable operator error ( me). I had some problem, sent it to a local dealer. they fixed it but said there was no oil in it when it came in. Next time I used it it locked up on me. Sent it back without doing an inspection ( silly me). They come back and say the engine is blown, do I want a short block? I say no and start researching ( mostly WTB - thank you everybody :-) ).  Got the engine back and there's this big hole in the side. I've put an 11HP B&S Intek Snow  on the blower and so far have been really happy. I also check the oil every time I start up which is what i should have been doing in the first place.

Note - There was a dead spot in the grass that was under the snow where I had the blower parked so my guess is that I had a slow leak that went unnoticed. I had changed the oil in the fall and checked the level for the first several startups and then got lazy.

Final Note: Yes it was fun putting the new engine on.

The "dipper "on the connecting rod which splashes the oil around is as big as your finger nail and does not go to the bottom of the sump." down only a little oil" famous last words as you tilt back your blower to back up . opps now i have a large hole undre my starter .

millwright

Hi Nibbler,

Was it difficult trying to re-power your machine.  I don't recall if you mentioned whether your snowblower originally had an 11 HP engine on it.  If not, were there any modification to the snowblower or the drive & auger pulleys that you needed to make?  This is a great subject, I wish more members that have repowered were to post their experiences.  I'm sure many would benefit from it. 

Could it be possible Tecumseh's use oil faster, thus catching more people with low oil, thus more kabooms?

Marshall,
Briggs tells me that thier 10 hp, horizontal shaft, L-heads, (that they used on a lot  of generators) use 1 oz. of oil per hr.....That's acceptable too them.
So... say you are on a jobsite....where you run 8 hrs a day....burning 8 oz of oil is normal? I just hope you have an oil-guard switch that shuts it down every couple of hours? Cause if you didnt buy that option.....you are going too have toast for lunch  the second day it's on the jobsite.  I have seen alot of those with big ole gapping holes in the side of thier crankcases.

buttlint wrote: That's an insane amount of oil for an engine to use.  Glad I'm looking for a Honda powered generator with their 11 HP OHV engine. 

buttlint wrote: Their either scewing with you or, more likely, those engines that do run all day have no cylinder walls left and the rings are shot. Who would knowingly continue to use an engine in that shape, besides the government? LMAO

Would this mean that my recycled tec, some parts came from the auto-recycling center
(still love that phrase) will throw a rod in the middle of a dark and stormy night,
(sounds like the start of a novel) snow blowing 2' of snow, so I can get out and get to work.
I keep the oil,(synthetic and a little sea foam) right at the full mark.
Will I have to stop every 1/2 hr. to check the oil?
  WHEN AND IF IT BLOWS IT GOES!!!(right back to the auto-recycling center HA HA)
BUT it will have another tec on it!!
Old iron is good iron!
T.J. terry
 

Recently my Husqvarna Blower went into a high rpm fit seconds after starting.  I had walked away to let it "warm up".

It threw a rod as I was running back to it to shut it down,  This took like 5 seconds.

Not the best idea this day.  It was a tecumseh snow king, 10.5 HP with only about 12 hours on it.  I take care of my stuff like a paranoid mechanic.

It was not low on oil, and had been changed about 2 1/2 run time hours before this happened.  of course it was just outside of warranty.

I just bought another blower with a briggs and stratton engine to get away from this nightmare.  In my lifetime I have never had any of my equipment throw a rod.

Now I have a $1200 boat anchor, and a shiny new Snapper.  Snowing today,  cannot wait to run the new machine.

Maybe I can fit a briggs motor on the Husky?

Jim