BriggsForLife
Forum Newbie
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2017
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 4
Hello everyone,
I have been fixing a Tecumseh lawnmower recently and it has proven to be brutal. When I got it the lawnmower was a mess. I did a bunch of cosmetic work to get it looking nice and then moved to mechanical issues. When I got it it would run then stop. So I cleaned that carb and replaced the emulsion tube (I broke the old one when taking it out to clean it). This got the lawnmower running but not running well. So, after inspecting the flywheel I found that key was bent. Causing about 5cm of play back and forth in the flywheel. Unfortunately I cracked the old flywheel when trying to take it off. So I was able to salvage both a flywheel from another lawnmower and a coil. The flywheel is the same size it just has a different manufacturing number on it and it made great spark so I figured it was fine. So after replacing the key, flywheel and coil the lawnmower ran very strong. I did a couple of passes of my lawn and thought all was well and shut it off. After about 2 hours I came back and started the lawnmower and it ran rough again (just as it had before the flywheel key replacement). I found that if I held in the primer bulb the engine ran smoothly so it was worth a shot to replace the primer. It is also worth noting during the trouble shooting period I noticed a bit of light blue smoke when I took of the foam for my air filter and peered inside. I just assumed this was a bit of oil left over from me tipping it over to sharpen the blade. Or the crankcase vent doing it's job. My theory on the primer bulb was that maybe some air was being let in through cracks in the old bulb and messing with the mixture. (Even though the lawnmower ran great before). What I really think was that pushing in and holding the primer only enriched the fuel mixture. So, after replacing the primer the lawnmower ran fine again. After a couple of days the pull start locked up though my friend fixed it (So I don't have any detail on what was wrong) and got it worked fine again. However, I came back to it a day later and the mower ran rough again and the pull cord locked again. In order to fix the pull cord locking I had to turn the flywheel backwards a few turns. While I was doing this I heard a 'click' sound and the pressure on the flywheel seemed to be relieved. I wonder if it has to do with the engine brake on the handle not engaging properly. I also ran a compression test at this time too but the engine scored 90 psi. However! when I pulled the spark plug I found that there was oil on the electrode. Even after cleaning it and pulling it over I still found oil. The lawnmower still does not run but it has spark and compression. So my suspicion now is that the rings or valve guides on the engine are bad. But I'm not quite sure how that is related to my locked up flywheel issue. I welcome any advice you guys can give me. The lawnmower is for my girlfriend's dad, lucky me right? haha! The model number is LEV 120 361015B
Cheers
I have been fixing a Tecumseh lawnmower recently and it has proven to be brutal. When I got it the lawnmower was a mess. I did a bunch of cosmetic work to get it looking nice and then moved to mechanical issues. When I got it it would run then stop. So I cleaned that carb and replaced the emulsion tube (I broke the old one when taking it out to clean it). This got the lawnmower running but not running well. So, after inspecting the flywheel I found that key was bent. Causing about 5cm of play back and forth in the flywheel. Unfortunately I cracked the old flywheel when trying to take it off. So I was able to salvage both a flywheel from another lawnmower and a coil. The flywheel is the same size it just has a different manufacturing number on it and it made great spark so I figured it was fine. So after replacing the key, flywheel and coil the lawnmower ran very strong. I did a couple of passes of my lawn and thought all was well and shut it off. After about 2 hours I came back and started the lawnmower and it ran rough again (just as it had before the flywheel key replacement). I found that if I held in the primer bulb the engine ran smoothly so it was worth a shot to replace the primer. It is also worth noting during the trouble shooting period I noticed a bit of light blue smoke when I took of the foam for my air filter and peered inside. I just assumed this was a bit of oil left over from me tipping it over to sharpen the blade. Or the crankcase vent doing it's job. My theory on the primer bulb was that maybe some air was being let in through cracks in the old bulb and messing with the mixture. (Even though the lawnmower ran great before). What I really think was that pushing in and holding the primer only enriched the fuel mixture. So, after replacing the primer the lawnmower ran fine again. After a couple of days the pull start locked up though my friend fixed it (So I don't have any detail on what was wrong) and got it worked fine again. However, I came back to it a day later and the mower ran rough again and the pull cord locked again. In order to fix the pull cord locking I had to turn the flywheel backwards a few turns. While I was doing this I heard a 'click' sound and the pressure on the flywheel seemed to be relieved. I wonder if it has to do with the engine brake on the handle not engaging properly. I also ran a compression test at this time too but the engine scored 90 psi. However! when I pulled the spark plug I found that there was oil on the electrode. Even after cleaning it and pulling it over I still found oil. The lawnmower still does not run but it has spark and compression. So my suspicion now is that the rings or valve guides on the engine are bad. But I'm not quite sure how that is related to my locked up flywheel issue. I welcome any advice you guys can give me. The lawnmower is for my girlfriend's dad, lucky me right? haha! The model number is LEV 120 361015B
Cheers