VOL.28
Dec
A seasonal newsletter discussing trouble shooting problems with
generators, tillers, lawnmowers ,SNOW BLOWERS and some other
around the home subjects, but mostly small engines with a growing
archive section.NEW THIS SEASON,A FORM TO SUBMIT YOUR
QUESTION FOR A PERSONALLY E-MAILED ANSWER........
CLICK HERE TO ASK A QUESTION
published
occassionally
TECUMSEH CARBURETORS
SPRING TIME TUNEUP ON SMALL ENGINES
A good spring tune-up on your briggs, kohler, honda or
tecumseh should involve a oil change, a new sparkplug
and draining any of last years gas out and replacing it
with fresh fuel.
Also it is a good idea to clean the carburetor bowl out,
especially if the engine is over two years old, assuming
you have a carb bowl type carburetor, which 90 percent
of todays engines do.FRESH FUEL, GOOD SPARK AND
CLEAN AIR FILTER and you should be on your way to a
good start this spring,engine wise.
If your 20 or 22 inch walmart special pushmower wont
start or wont stay running after your tune-up, its time for
a new carb, since briggs is putting plastic carbs on
these without any adjustment,about a 21 to 23 dollar
replacement item, my troubleshooting guide shows you
how to replace, assuming you have a briggs engine,
however if you have the sears special with the tecumseh
engine, 9 times out of ten it will have some bowl type
carb, thats almost neccessary to clean out every season.
Actually the nut that holds the bowl on is part of the
main jet,and will have two small pin holes that seem to
stop up from season to season.I have actually spent ten
minutes cleaning the bowl out on one, that the guy had
been pulling on all day, ran like a new one, something he
could have just as easily done.
Check belts, blades, and pulleys for wear.Most of the
time an uneven cutt by your mower is worn blades or a
bad bearing in a pulley that turns the blades, one side
cutts higher than the other.
One way to check deck pulley bearings is to grasp the
blade from underneath deck and try to move it up and
down,there should be no play or very little play in
blade,if however you can shake the blade up and down
with a lot of play, you need to replace bearings or quill
assembly as they are called,since running it this way will
give you an uneven cutt, one side higher than the other
or leaving a streak of grass in the middle.
Batteries, if you get more than a years usuage out of the
normal walmart or auto parts store mower batteries
consider yourself lucky.One more note on batteries, if
you have a electric clutch on your mower to engage the
blades, you need a good battery for it to operate
properly,you cant just jump the mower off ,have a dead
battery and expect the electric clutch to work, the
alternator on the small engine will not keep it engaged
without a good hot battery.Also see ohv valve adjust for
an added piece of tuneup advice for todays engines
over two to three years in their usage
SMALL ENGINE TROUBLE SHOOTING
NEWSLETTER http://news.smallenginetrblshtng.com
