what is your opinion on tecumseh engines. just curious, i got a tecumseh 3.5 hp engine that sat for who knows how many years and it fired right up after cleaning what appeared to be a mouse nest in the cooling shroud. yikes( i wondered why the shroud was so d@m hot!!)
but it runs ok, but could use new gaskets on the carb, and a carb cleaning.

I personally steer clear when I can, alot of them suffer from carb issues, plus they're cheaper made than Briggs, but I wouldnt say no to a free one. Maybe you could just sell it if it runs well?

it runs alright but it has a couple misses here and there, i know its been overheated cause there was shredded paper all over the cooling fins. I know about every Tecumseh i ever encounter is running like crap or not at all due to the carburator. Now the other day i worked on this tecumseh that was 5.5hp with cast iron sleeve. and i test ran it and i was actually surprised how well it idled and ran, but that was after i replaced a busted flywheel and key. the guy hit something REALLY HARD to do that.
also i wish i knew about the flywheel keys shearing when it stalls to fast cause if i knew that i would of had another perfectly good 3.5hp briggs, cause my sister was cutting the yard and hit a stump which then it didn't want to run right at ALL. but all well.

The newer ones are ok i guess... My dad has one on his snowblower and it works fine. It says its an 8hp, but my 8hp briggs on my snowblower(Which is bigger) seems to bog down less in the wet/heavy stuff.

But foe the most part, I wouldn't rely on them.

i wouldn't rely on them either, its just a free engine i got, don't know what im going to do with it. may just keep it around for a back up, but i have 3 other mowers with briggs on them so ill probably never use it. well actually ill keep it, to let other people barrow, cause its not too important to me unlike my briggs i hate when someone else uses my briggs.
also fearless, how have things been going, haven't seen any new videos on u tube.

As far as push mowers are concerned, they seem pretty reliable. I have worked on plenty of these engines and have had pretty good success with them. The only thing is the crankshafts are fairly soft so they tend to bend more than the competition, but I guess thats why we have a De-wrinkler!

I dont like em - ive had a few of them. One was actually a really good motor- 12HP OHV teccy on a dynamark i sold - the rocker arms were hanging in the breeze when i got it , found out there was no lock nut on em- and after i did that and bot a used carb (old one was wore out) ran actually good - didnt even bend a push rod .

I had a 10HP that ran but had bad points ( would quit when it got hot) - another 12HP ( still have it) that pukes oil from the breather- a 10HP horizontal shaft thats DOA with no spark, a 16HP that had no starter ( has oil pressure/oil filter) that ive used parts off for other things. i also had a push mower with a teccy- tuned it up and wouldnt run, so put everything back and it ran- it was knocking badly when i gave it away with a mobile home trailer i had.

Id like to slap that 12HP ( oil puker ) on something and run the snot out of it- amybe see if i can get the 10HP going with the 16HP coil.....( if that works).

Its only their push mower engines that seem any good. THe exception to that is the really old engine and the newer stuff. The old stuff was up there with Wisconsin and Kohler.

Its just anyhting inbetween then that seems to be awful!

My cast iron Tecumseh with overhead valves from 1980 still works like new, although it's very tired. Today I started working on one of their early 90's OHV engines, It seems o.k. so far but I still need to clean the carb and set the valves to get it running.

junk

yeah i know they are junk. So im keeping it for tearing up use, like mowing a rocky yard or using it as a brush cutter, but the oil does need changed cause the oil is like, brown water, just cause its so broken down, the tecumseh engine also gets very hot, even though the cooling passages is clean. but the least i will do for this thing is change the oil, thats about it.