Which ones? It's not Briggs, Honda or any of the three brands of Chondas in my fleet. The Chondas might all be LCT for all I know. So beyond Kawasaki and Kohler, who does that leave?
snowblower burning oil
- Thread starter nbpt100
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I used it today for about 40 min on wet snow. The engine worked well but bogged down at the end of the drive way where the plow leaves a wall of heavy junk. I took cuts of 50-30% of the 26" bucket and it threw it fine with minimal bogging down. I checked the oil and I can not tell if it burned any. No smoke and no unusual smell. Yes all Tec snow kings smell rich. when they run. I need to go out again tonight and do some more. It does pop a bit at times. I think that is unburned gas hitting the hot muffler. Just a guess. What else could it be. No sparks or flames coming out the mullfer. Just a pop and any sparks are contained inside the muffler which is rather large. I am rather pleased with it. It is a big time saver and back saver.
Mine had no guts left in the muffler, so it sounded absolutely badass compared to my much newer Briggs OHV professional in the Ariens. It would also shoot flames occasionally.
I would run a HM 5w30 or 5w40 with some Liquid Moly Motor Oil Saver in it. I add it to all my small engine machines and never an issue.
Yeah it sounds to me like it needs a carburetor rebuild. When they run too rich they can pop like that and also lack power. When did you last change the spark plug? Sometimes the popping can be from it miss firing, I've had a new spark plug cure some odd issues on those Tecumseh Snow Kings. I always use a Champion RJ19LM.
It has actually gotten a bit better after my last use of it. I would rather be a bit rich than lean. The Owners manual says to use a champion J8C but I have used the J19LM with no issues.
You can buy a replacement carb off Amazon for 20 bucks that will have high and low speed mixture adjusting screws. Makes a big difference. Those old engines never ran as nice as a Chonda engine. They fart and bang on occasion. Mine is 20 years old now. I’ve always ran synthetic 5W30. Doesn’t use any oil.
It usually is not the valve guides. It is usually the low tension rings they used. I have had several that were un-usable without a new set of rings and a quick hone.
I've had several pieces of OPE with glowing red mufflers. I look at it as "getting what I paid for", LOL. Never any long term detriment. If you want to go over 3600 RPM, rememeber some guy on the internet said that's ok too. Probably a consumer safety thing like a lawnmower with a max blade speed. Don't shoot the snow too far, ok?
But yeah a nice syn 0w40 will suit you nicely. Tecumseh went out of business because they sucked. Their snowblower engines lasted this long because they only see a few hours a year of use.
But yeah a nice syn 0w40 will suit you nicely. Tecumseh went out of business because they sucked. Their snowblower engines lasted this long because they only see a few hours a year of use.
Glowing red exhaust is not normal. My neighbor had that on his B&S snowblower. Unfortunately he melted a piston. His engine was trying to tell him something he didn’t listen to.
Just my $0.02
They actually got out of the small engine business because Sears pushed their suppliers for cost savings and they got dumped for Chinese Engines. For Decades, Sears Craftsman was the largest ODPE seller in the country. The Tecumseh Snow King and HM series has been used on most all USA made snow blowers for decades. This includes high end brands like Toro, Ariens, The old Bolens, and some Murray. Also used on many MTD's under many brands like Troybilt and Cub Cadet.
Tecumseh power still exists and is supplying OEM replacement parts for the millions of Engines still out there working. In my opinion they are reliable engines if you take care of them. They normally burn some oil and if you run them low you will burn out the exhaust valve prematurely. You will hate any engine that does not start. What is the biggest reason a small engine does not start?
+1
Tecumseh actually built very good engines. Most of their vertical shaft engines even had oil pumps inside. Their carburetor design and the fact that most snowblowers sit over the entire year with old gas made them temperamental once the E10 gas became the norm. I used to do a ton of carb rebuilds on Tecumseh powered snowblowers, now that the Chonda and Briggs engines are in most newer snowblowers I'm doing a lot of carb rebuilds on those instead.
I owned a few Tecumseh powered machines over the years, never an issue with the engines. Both a go kart and a leaf blower with a 6hp overhead valve and they ran flawlessly on minimal maintenance. We also had a Murray push mower with a 4.5hp vertical shaft engine, had one oil change within 20+ years and always started first pull until the wheels literally fell off it.
I currently have a 1979 Ariens 1032 snowblower sitting in my garage with the original 10hp Tecumseh snow king. Starts first pull and doesn't even smoke even though the machine itself is fairly worn.
Those Tecumseh's have cast iron cylinder sleeves and are tough. Not as efficient as the OHV but they are work horses and if you take care of it, it can make it to 50 years and still do the job. Keep the oil changed as needed and top off as needed. It is the ones that run with low oil that wear out the valves. Operator error not poor design.
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- Sep 26, 2022
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Would it possibly be because tec L head engines are guzzlers, which have very big jet holes so it is harder to get gummed up?
4WD
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They were great on higher RPM tillers …
