Tecumseh Small engine issue

[ScottVA]

I wanted to post this in the Small Engine area but I didn't see the tab for New Topic.

I have a Scott's push mower with rear wheel drive (Mod- 21997X8A). It has a Tecumseh engine (Mod-OVRM120, Family-YTPXS.1951AA, Disp- 195) on it that won't start. I got this from my Dad last week. He's had it for about 5 years and only used it the first year he had it. I have replaced the air cleaner and spark plug and verified gas is getting to the carb. It had a little gas in the tank and I'm thinking it has varnished (my dad never put a stabilizer in the gas and it sat for 4 yrs). Is this motor now completely dead or can I try to clean out the varnished gas and try to get it running? Besides the gas tank and the carb and bowl, what else should I look at to try to clean out the old gas? And what kind of cleaner should I use to do this?

Thanks
ScottVA

[NickD]

Just recently cleaning out the carburetor on a barely used Tecumseh that sat over the summer made all the difference in the world.  Older ones had mixture adjustments, some EPA stuff about not using that anymore.  My son commented that the inside of his carb looked clean, I said, it doesn't take anything to keep these things from running, blew it out with choke and carb cleaner, noticed the carb mounting nuts were a tad loose, like to put a very thin coat of Permatex non-hardening gasket sealer on those.  Put it all back together and started on the first half a pull.  Peeked in the spark plug hole with a flashlight, said you are really carboned up, but rather than pull the entire apart added fuel injector cleaner, the correct amoun and the kind that show a dirty intake valve as was some minor backfiring, after a couple of tanks, that doesn't take lone, engine is running great now.

Think is, with a one lunger, doesn't take anything to keep these from running, makes you think about a car engine how one cylinder can really mess things up.

[ScottVA]

Thanks, NickD. I'll pull the carb this weekend and clean it good. I'll also get the fuel inj cleaner and try that.

Thanks, Again.

ScottVA

[ScottVA]

Ok. Sorry it's been a while for my update. I pulled the carb and pulled it all apart and cleaned everything. There was a lot of varnish. I made sure to blow out all of the orifices to make sure they were clear. I sprayed the fuel injector cleaner in through the spark plug hole. If it weren't for the carb cleaner, the engine will not run. It'll run for a few seconds on carb cleaner but not gas. I did notice that when I press the primer bulb, it doesn't get stiff like they usually do. Could the bulb be leaking? If so, I couldn't tell how to remove the old one to put a new one in. How do you remove the primer bulb on this motor?

Small engines are not my cup of tea. If I had the money I would take it somewhere to get . Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
ScottVA

[Jim Fairbanks]

Does it look like this one?...If it does..take a small pick and pry the retainer out...clean it out real good before you put the new one in..Jim

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[ScottVA]

Yup. That's it. I'll try that and let you know.

ScottVa

[ScottVA]

Sorry it took so long to reply to this. Completely forgot about it til now. I replaced the primer bulb with no luck. I purchased a carb rebuild kit- same thing. I ended up replacing the carb altogether with a serviceable one and the mower works fine now. Still not sure why the old one didn;t want to work. When I was rebuilding it, I pretty much stripped the old carb, let it soak in carb cleaner for a while, made sure to blow out all the orifices and took my time installing the needle and other parts. Oh well, new carb, job done. Thanks for your help.

ScottVA

[Jim Fairbanks]

Glad you got it running...thanks for posting back....Jim