I have a Tecumseh carburator (1276A1M) from a Craftsman Lawn Tractor
(917.254790) with a 12.5 Tecumseh OHV engine (can't seem to find the model
number for the engine but I'll keep looking). The carb apparently does not
deliver any fuel to the engine. The engine will run with just about any 'ol
carb temporarily attached. All of the passages on the carb seem to be clear
when I spray carb cleaner through them. The gas tank has been thoroughly
cleaned and the fuel lines and filter replaced (before the carb problem
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these carbs? Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no screwdriver slot.

On May 29, 11:14*am, "Ulysses" wrote:
I have a Tecumseh carburator (1276A1M) from a Craftsman Lawn Tractor
(917.254790) with a 12.5 Tecumseh OHV engine (can't seem to find the model
number for the engine but I'll keep looking). *The carb apparently does not
deliver any fuel to the engine. *The engine will run with just about any 'ol
carb temporarily attached. *All of the passages on the carb seem to be clear
when I spray carb cleaner through them. *The gas tank has been thoroughly
cleaned and the fuel lines and filter replaced (before the carb problem
appeared). *Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these carbs? *Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? *There is no screwdriver slot.


I recently rebuilt one on a 5hp Tecumseh/Sears. Found the rebuild
kit on Ebay. It included new float valve, the little welch plugs you
have to knock out to clean properly, bowl gasket, new main adjusting
screw, etc. Remember you also need the gasket from carb to engine,
which was not included in mine. I think the key here is you need to
remove the welch plugs to be able to get to all the areas of the carb
that need cleaning.

I also got a service manual for the engine, which helped.

As an alternative, you could take the carb to a local small engine
shop and have them do it for you.

This from hard experience. Tecumseh carbs, the bolt that
holds the bowl on. The bolt has a tiny passage, which gets
clogged easily. Said passage meters the fuel to the mower.
I'd have a miserable time trying to explain how to find the
passage, but look in the mower end of the bolt. And look
along the side, the part that's not threaded. Use magnifying
lens and good light.

You can clean this passage with carb cleaner, or the copper
wire selected from a strand of lamp cord. Please don't use a
steel poker, might widen the hole. Size matters, men.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Ulysses" wrote in message
...
I have a Tecumseh carburator (1276A1M) from a Craftsman Lawn
Tractor
(917.254790) with a 12.5 Tecumseh OHV engine (can't seem to
find the model
number for the engine but I'll keep looking). The carb
apparently does not
deliver any fuel to the engine. The engine will run with
just about any 'ol
carb temporarily attached. All of the passages on the carb
seem to be clear
when I spray carb cleaner through them. The gas tank has
been thoroughly
cleaned and the fuel lines and filter replaced (before the
carb problem
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these
carbs? Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no
screwdriver slot.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
This from hard experience. Tecumseh carbs, the bolt that
holds the bowl on. The bolt has a tiny passage, which gets
clogged easily. Said passage meters the fuel to the mower.
I'd have a miserable time trying to explain how to find the
passage, but look in the mower end of the bolt. And look
along the side, the part that's not threaded. Use magnifying
lens and good light.

You can clean this passage with carb cleaner, or the copper
wire selected from a strand of lamp cord. Please don't use a
steel poker, might widen the hole. Size matters, men.


Yes, that hole is small. I took one apart and did not see it. A friend
told me how small it is and it was just above the threads of the bolt.
The threads only went about half way up the bolt. I used a very small
copper wire to clean mine out. I had to use a magnifying glass to see that
hole.

There are about 8 diffeant kinds of Tecumseh carbs. It helps to have the
book that shows how each one is made.

I was looking around and one site mentioned a series that has a small ball
that rattles around if the carb is shaken. If it gets stuck you have to
get another carb as you can not service it.


Some small carburetors have a very small hole sideways thru the body spigot
in the center of the bowl where the bowl retaining bolt screws in, also. If
there is a proper fuel level in the bowl and all passages are clean, the
carburetor should work fine. Some small engine shops seem to not want to
work on carburetors, just replace them.

Don Young

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
This from hard experience. Tecumseh carbs, the bolt that
holds the bowl on. The bolt has a tiny passage, which gets
clogged easily. Said passage meters the fuel to the mower.
I'd have a miserable time trying to explain how to find the
passage, but look in the mower end of the bolt. And look
along the side, the part that's not threaded. Use magnifying
lens and good light.

You can clean this passage with carb cleaner, or the copper
wire selected from a strand of lamp cord. Please don't use a
steel poker, might widen the hole. Size matters, men.


Yes, that hole is small. I took one apart and did not see it. A friend
told me how small it is and it was just above the threads of the bolt. The
threads only went about half way up the bolt. I used a very small copper
wire to clean mine out. I had to use a magnifying glass to see that hole.

There are about 8 diffeant kinds of Tecumseh carbs. It helps to have the
book that shows how each one is made.

I was looking around and one site mentioned a series that has a small ball
that rattles around if the carb is shaken. If it gets stuck you have to get
another carb as you can not service it.

"Don Young" wrote:
-snip-
Some small engine shops seem to not want to
work on carburetors, just replace them.


IMHO, they are the *good* shops.
You can buy a carb for $50 and put it on in 5 minutes with a 99%
possibility that it will be perfect out of the box. . . . or spend
$20 in parts and an hour in labor for 60/40 chance.

I like the odds of the first- especially when I'm paying for the
labor.

Jim

On May 29, 7:09*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
This from hard experience. Tecumseh carbs, the bolt *that
holds the bowl on. The bolt has a tiny passage, which gets
clogged easily. Said passage meters the fuel to the mower.
I'd have a miserable time trying to explain how to find the
passage, but look in the mower end of the bolt. And look
along the side, the part that's not threaded. Use magnifying
lens and good light.

You can clean this passage with carb cleaner, or the copper
wire selected from a strand of lamp cord. Please don't use a
steel poker, might widen the hole. Size matters, men.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"Ulysses" wrote in message

...
I have a Tecumseh carburator (1276A1M) from a Craftsman Lawn
Tractor
(917.254790) with a 12.5 Tecumseh OHV engine (can't seem to
find the model
number for the engine but I'll keep looking). *The carb
apparently does not
deliver any fuel to the engine. *The engine will run with
just about any 'ol
carb temporarily attached. *All of the passages on the carb
seem to be clear
when I spray carb cleaner through them. *The gas tank has
been thoroughly
cleaned and the fuel lines and filter replaced (before the
carb problem
appeared). *Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these
carbs? *Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? *There is no
screwdriver slot.

Isn't it more a nut than a bolt? I don't remember what it is called
in the manual.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message news:a4650971-bc9e-48c1-a0fd-
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these carbs? Also,
how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no
screwdriver slot.

Isn't it more a nut than a bolt? I don't remember what it is called
in the manual.

The manual calls it a "Fuel Bowl Retaining Nut"

To me it looks like a bolt with holes drilled in it. I think of a nut as
being sort of short and the threads being internal (female type) . I
think
of a bolt as being long and having threads on the outside (male type).

I guess they can call it whatever they want to.

Also from the manual:
"Always use a new screw(s) when reinstalling the choke shutter as the
screws
are treated with dry-type adhesive to secure them in place."

That also goes for the throtle plate. Guess they don't want to chance the
screw loosing and going into the engine.


Thanks everyone. I've read about that small hole but didn't see one. I
think it was refered to as a "primer" or somesuch thing. Maybe I'll put on
my glasses and look again ;-)

The fuel bowl retaining nut is easy enough to find and remove. It's just
what's above that I can't figure out.

The fuel bowl retaining nut is the piece with the hole in
question. Look at the base of the "bolt" close to the head, there
is a cross hole that intersects the long hole that you see on the
top of the "bolt". Welding torch tip cleaners work really well, a
spritz of carb cleaner and a shot of air gets all cleaned out.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Ulysses" wrote in message
...

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
news:a4650971-bc9e-48c1-a0fd-
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these
carbs? Also,
how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no
screwdriver slot.

Isn't it more a nut than a bolt? I don't remember what it is
called
in the manual.

The manual calls it a "Fuel Bowl Retaining Nut"

To me it looks like a bolt with holes drilled in it. I think
of a nut as
being sort of short and the threads being internal (female
type) . I
think
of a bolt as being long and having threads on the outside (male
type).

I guess they can call it whatever they want to.

Also from the manual:
"Always use a new screw(s) when reinstalling the choke shutter
as the
screws
are treated with dry-type adhesive to secure them in place."

That also goes for the throtle plate. Guess they don't want to
chance the
screw loosing and going into the engine.


Thanks everyone. I've read about that small hole but didn't see
one. I
think it was refered to as a "primer" or somesuch thing. Maybe
I'll put on
my glasses and look again ;-)

The fuel bowl retaining nut is easy enough to find and remove.
It's just
what's above that I can't figure out.

wrote in message
...
On May 29, 11:14 am, "Ulysses" wrote:
I have a Tecumseh carburator (1276A1M) from a Craftsman Lawn Tractor
(917.254790) with a 12.5 Tecumseh OHV engine (can't seem to find the model
number for the engine but I'll keep looking). The carb apparently does not
deliver any fuel to the engine. The engine will run with just about any
'ol
carb temporarily attached. All of the passages on the carb seem to be
clear
when I spray carb cleaner through them. The gas tank has been thoroughly
cleaned and the fuel lines and filter replaced (before the carb problem
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these carbs? Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no screwdriver slot.


I recently rebuilt one on a 5hp Tecumseh/Sears. Found the rebuild
kit on Ebay. It included new float valve, the little welch plugs you
have to knock out to clean properly, bowl gasket, new main adjusting
screw, etc. Remember you also need the gasket from carb to engine,
which was not included in mine. I think the key here is you need to
remove the welch plugs to be able to get to all the areas of the carb
that need cleaning.

I've never removed any "welch" plugs--do you use an awl or something
similar? One came with a rebuild kit that I bought for a weed-wacker but
there were no instructions and I didn't replace it. I also never got the
thing running. So far, in all my years using small engines I've never
needed to rebuild a carburator--just cleaning them seemed to be all they
needed (except for the weed-whacker but I think that's a personality
conflict).

I also got a service manual for the engine, which helped.

As an alternative, you could take the carb to a local small engine
shop and have them do it for you.

Sadly, my recent experience with repair places has not been good. I usually
get the impression that I know more about it than they do. And if I'm there
then it means I don't know enough to fix it.

wrote in message news:a4650971-bc9e-48c1-a0fd-
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these carbs? Also, how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no
screwdriver slot.

Isn't it more a nut than a bolt? I don't remember what it is called
in the manual.

The manual calls it a "Fuel Bowl Retaining Nut"

To me it looks like a bolt with holes drilled in it. I think of a nut as
being sort of short and the threads being internal (female type) . I think
of a bolt as being long and having threads on the outside (male type).

I guess they can call it whatever they want to.

Also from the manual:
"Always use a new screw(s) when reinstalling the choke shutter as the screws
are treated with dry-type adhesive to secure them in place."

That also goes for the throtle plate. Guess they don't want to chance the
screw loosing and going into the engine.

"Ulysses" wrote in message
...

I've never removed any "welch" plugs--do you use an awl or something
similar? One came with a rebuild kit that I bought for a weed-wacker but
there were no instructions and I didn't replace it. I also never got the
thing running. So far, in all my years using small engines I've never
needed to rebuild a carburator--just cleaning them seemed to be all they
needed (except for the weed-whacker but I think that's a personality
conflict).

I also got a service manual for the engine, which helped.


The service manual should show you haw to take out the Welch plug. Yes, you
use a sharp punch through the top of the plug and pry it out.

Cut and past from the Tecumsche manual.
__________________________

Remove all welch plugs if cleaning the carburetor.
Secure the carburetor in a vise equipped with protective

jaws. Use a small chisel sharpened to a 1/8"

(3.175 mm) wide wedge point. Drive the chisel into

the plug to pierce the metal, then push down on the

chisel to pry the plug out of the hole (diag. 32).


Welch Plugs

To install a new welch plug after cleaning the carburetor,

secure the carburetor in a vise equipped with protective

jaws. Place the welch plug into the receptacle with the

raised portion up. With a punch equal to, or greater than

the size of the plug, merely flatten the plug. Do not dent or

drive the center of the plug below the top surface of the

carburetor. After installation of the welch plug, seal the

outer diameter with finger nail polish or equivalent (diag.

42).

On May 30, 7:50*am, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
"Don Young" wrote:

-snip-

Some small engine shops seem to not want to
work on carburetors, just replace them.

IMHO, they are the *good* shops. * *
You can buy a carb for $50 and put it on in 5 minutes with a 99%
possibility that it will be perfect out of the box. . . . *or spend
$20 in parts and an hour in labor for 60/40 chance.

I like the odds of the first- especially when I'm paying for the
labor.

Jim

I am right in the middle of this with my Toro. I found a guy on
Craiglist who looked at my mower. He said I can buy a $12 rebuild kit
but then have to worry about the welch plug and still not be sure it
would work, or I can spend ~$60 and throw a new carb on in less than a
half hour.

He didn't charge me for the diagnostics since he didn't fix the mower.
Nice guy!

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

"Ulysses" wrote in message
...

I've never removed any "welch" plugs--do you use an awl or something
similar? One came with a rebuild kit that I bought for a weed-wacker
but
there were no instructions and I didn't replace it. I also never got
the
thing running. So far, in all my years using small engines I've never
needed to rebuild a carburator--just cleaning them seemed to be all they
needed (except for the weed-whacker but I think that's a personality
conflict).

I also got a service manual for the engine, which helped.


The service manual should show you haw to take out the Welch plug. Yes,
you
use a sharp punch through the top of the plug and pry it out.

Cut and past from the Tecumsche manual.
__________________________

Remove all welch plugs if cleaning the carburetor.
Secure the carburetor in a vise equipped with protective

jaws. Use a small chisel sharpened to a 1/8"

(3.175 mm) wide wedge point. Drive the chisel into

the plug to pierce the metal, then push down on the

chisel to pry the plug out of the hole (diag. 32).


Welch Plugs

To install a new welch plug after cleaning the carburetor,

secure the carburetor in a vise equipped with protective

jaws. Place the welch plug into the receptacle with the

raised portion up. With a punch equal to, or greater than

the size of the plug, merely flatten the plug. Do not dent or

drive the center of the plug below the top surface of the

carburetor. After installation of the welch plug, seal the

outer diameter with finger nail polish or equivalent (diag.

42).


Funny! I guess if you're single you can't seal the plug. Actually I'm
surprised that nail polish is expected to withstand gasoline.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On May 30, 7:50 am, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
"Don Young" wrote:

-snip-

Some small engine shops seem to not want to
work on carburetors, just replace them.

IMHO, they are the *good* shops.
You can buy a carb for $50 and put it on in 5 minutes with a 99%
possibility that it will be perfect out of the box. . . . or spend
$20 in parts and an hour in labor for 60/40 chance.

I like the odds of the first- especially when I'm paying for the
labor.

Jim

I am right in the middle of this with my Toro. I found a guy on
Craiglist who looked at my mower. He said I can buy a $12 rebuild kit
but then have to worry about the welch plug and still not be sure it
would work, or I can spend ~$60 and throw a new carb on in less than a
half hour.

This is exactly why I'm asking. I don't want to (and can't afford) to waste
the $12 or whatever if it won't fix the problem. OTOH i'd rather only spend
$12 if I can get away with it.

He didn't charge me for the diagnostics since he didn't fix the mower.
Nice guy!

"DanG" wrote in message
...
The fuel bowl retaining nut is the piece with the hole in
question. Look at the base of the "bolt" close to the head, there
is a cross hole that intersects the long hole that you see on the
top of the "bolt". Welding torch tip cleaners work really well, a
spritz of carb cleaner and a shot of air gets all cleaned out.


Huh. I thought the holes in that nut/bolt were just for draining the bowl.
Time to put on my Opti-Visor.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Ulysses" wrote in message
...

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
news:a4650971-bc9e-48c1-a0fd-
appeared). Has anyone had success rebuilding one of these
carbs? Also,
how
is the main jet (in the middle) removed? There is no
screwdriver slot.

Isn't it more a nut than a bolt? I don't remember what it is
called
in the manual.

The manual calls it a "Fuel Bowl Retaining Nut"

To me it looks like a bolt with holes drilled in it. I think
of a nut as
being sort of short and the threads being internal (female
type) . I
think
of a bolt as being long and having threads on the outside (male
type).

I guess they can call it whatever they want to.

Also from the manual:
"Always use a new screw(s) when reinstalling the choke shutter
as the
screws
are treated with dry-type adhesive to secure them in place."

That also goes for the throtle plate. Guess they don't want to
chance the
screw loosing and going into the engine.


Thanks everyone. I've read about that small hole but didn't see
one. I
think it was refered to as a "primer" or somesuch thing. Maybe
I'll put on
my glasses and look again ;-)

The fuel bowl retaining nut is easy enough to find and remove.
It's just
what's above that I can't figure out.