Starting lawn mower that sat for 12 years

[RoGuE]

So I tried the recommendations. Pulled the plug, put a little oil in the cylinder, pulled the cord a few times, reinstalled plug, and put gas in. It started on the first pull, ran for 3 seconds and shut off. Then each subsequent time I would have reprime with the bulb, it would run for 1 second and shut right off over and over. So I pulled apart the carb and while clean, the was some black gunk of the bolt that sits in the bowl with the orifices in it. I took as much as I could apart and poked some wire in all the holes and cleaned it up and put it back together. At this point for some reason gas is dripping into the air filter. I try to start it to see what happens and after cleaning up the spark plug a little it fires right up and stays running. After shut down I don't see any more gas dripping and there hasn't been for a couple of days.

I plan on changing the oil out. Is the Supertech SJ SAE30 oil from Walmart any good? I bought some of that but haven't used it yet.

 

[jhellwig]

Good work. The Walmart stuff is fine. Check it every time you start it and keep it full. Tecumsehs die easily with low oil.

 

[RoGuE]

Update: Weekend before last I took it out to mow, got halfway through my yard and it starting to sound strange so I shut it off, and gas starts pouring out of the air filter again. At this point I assume the carb float is stuck open and I don't feel like opening it up again so I just ordered a new one for $12 from the link someone posted earlier in the thread. I got it (Genuine Tecumseh part) and installed it on Saturday. Gave it three primes on the bulb, and it started right up on the first pull. Ran it for about 25 minutes through a couple start ups and all is good again. Thanks for the help.

 

[FT92]

I have the same , 6.5 Tecumseh on a Toro self propelled, bought the mower used a few years ago, it sat for 3 years,,,i did have problems with the carb also, finally after 4 cleanings it now runs like new , starts up first pull and runs strong...I guess Tecumseh carbs like to be real clean in order to run well... I'm pretty certain the fuel line was the main problem , kept finding almost micro pieces of black rubber in the carb..changed the hose along with cleaning the fuel tank now all is well