Tecumseh motors just plain suck.......never did make a decent motor.
Put that crappy gen set on craigs list and get rid of it and buy one
with a honda motor and be done messing around with a wanna be engine.



On Wed, 7 Feb 2007 14:20:40 -0700, "theChas."
wrote:

I purchased a Sears 5.5 HP generator with a Tecumseh motor, (right after
9/11), no electric start. I have no means of heating my house if the Arabs
take down the power grid. Especially when it is 30 below.
Right from the beginning (summer) it was next to impossible to start (I live
at 5300 feet ASL). I went through the manual and did exactly as directed.
Less than 4 hours on the motor, and it already has had the 3 oil changes
recommended. The Sears owners were not co-operative in any manner. More or
less said 'no warranty', no assistance. I press the red primer bulb the
recommended 5 times, and since it is an updraft type carb, I eventually get
fuel running out of the intake. It refuses to start. Since there is no
choke on these monsters, I found a rubber plug that I can hold in the intake
while pulling the rope. It will start roughly then, very roughly, and one
has to play the game and choke it and then give it air, until it finally
takes off. There has to be fuel present in the intake before the hand
choking method works. It is a single speed engine. Since I depend on this
machine in sub-freezing weather, I run it every 3 months for 20 minutes,
until the carb is dry, and then store it inside the house (empty tank). I
use stablized fuel. I have a 50 ml plastic bottle of gasoline, with an eye
dropper, on my patio. I found out that with one squirt of gasoline,
directly into the cylinder head, I can usually get it running (very roughly
at first), on first or second pull. I wish someone at Tecumseh would be
smart enough to put chokes on their mistakes. It appears that by hand
starting, there is not enough air movement in the manifold to generate the
rush needed to get sufficient gas into the cylinder. Even when hand
choking, it takes more than one pull to finally get it to coughing. I doubt
it would ever start, by any manner, if kept outside in sub-freezing
weather. I refrain from using ether, as it is hard on components. I
haven't tried propane, but it's a thought. Any experiences, or ideas?
I have a Sears 4.5 HP Tecumseh mower and it is no problem at all (summertime
of course).
Most likely, this is my last Tecumseh machine.



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!