All lawn and garden equipment I have ever owned has had a Briggs & Stratton engine. I have never been let down. While shopping for a snow thrower, I found a deal on a Craftsman (Model 88700) with a 5 hp Tecumseh engine that I could not pass up. I have a quite extensive knowledge on the small Briggs engines, I have rebuilt many of them. But Tecumseh, I know very little about. I am just looking for opinions on Tecumseh engines and wondering if they are prone to any specific problems.

Thanks in Advance!

 

I've got a few things with a Tecumseh... no issues yet... many years have past, just regular maintainance...

 

for whatever reason alot of snowblowers use the tecumseh 'snow king' motors.

when i got my john deere a few years back (when they were still made by ariens) they were using the tecumseh motors on them.


i have a 9 horse motor, with a 24 inch cut, and the motor has always been more than enough to handle what i was doing, and i have had no problems with it at all.

 

Just to add my $.02

I worked for a company that made starters to B&S, tecumseh, and Kohler. The company had a test lab where we tested all sizes of each. The B&S and Tecumseh are by designed to run an average of 800 hours. The Kohler and Honda are design for a commercial use at 800 to 1200 hours depending on the model. That's not to say they won't last longer. It's just what they are designed for. In fact the starters we built would out last the motor 3 to 1 on the Kohler and Tecumseh. The B&S has a starter designed by B&S and will only last about as long as the motor. In our test the B&S and Tecumseh were about as equal as them come, but our designed starter was much better.

Happy snow blowing.

 

I've owned a couple of snow throwers and a riding lawn mower with Tecumseh engines with no problems. The first snow thrower didn't have electric start and it started first pull every time.

The only warning I got from the dealer was to be sure and keep the oil level up (probably a good idea for any engine). He said the Tecumseh engines seem to be more prone to problems if it drops.

 

I too had reservations about my first tecumseh- it was a 3.5 HP. All my friends laughed (We had a little lawn-mowing racket when we were in High-School)

We all had 3 - 3.5HP B&S engines, mowing lawns 20" at a time...

Anyhoo; they all laughed at my Tecumseh. That engine wore out two frames, and was workign on it's third before someone stole it from my mother (After I graduated).

Tecumseh are good engines... So good, I was worried about going back to Brigs & Stratton (That were notorious for throwing pins)

My newest mower- A Wal-Mart special, $179 5 HP- has no throttle... it just runs at a factory set speed- not a problem in low grass; but let a couple days of rain hit, and the yard springs up, and that 5 HP starts cuttign like a 1 Hp engine...

 

Almost through rebuilding a Tecumseh engine actually. It was a 6 hp flathead that was on my grandfather's Troy Built tiller. After almost 30 years it finally started smoking pretty bad. I pulled the rod and crank and they had just a little scuff on them (bearingless crank and con. rod). I got some WD40 and super super fine sand paper and polished it out. I haven't cranked it up yet, but should be good to go. Had a valve job done on it as well.

 

We also have an old Troy Built with a tecumseh on it. It is no telling how old and it still runs like a champ. It can set there all winter and most of spring, and all you have to do is put fresh gas in it, clean the spark plug, change the oil, and fire her up. It never takes over 3 pulls to get her goin. We have also had great luck with the kholer. The BS, on the other hand, has always given us trouble. I think it's the sorry throttle linkage and carburation problems that cause me to dislike them. And on the new 3.5 HP's, the cams are plastic!