# tecumseh doesnt start.



## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

Hi, i have a tecumseh LEV115,
I recently rebuilt this engine a shop...
full rebuild replacing all faulty parts and measuring all clearances... did a valve job... etc.
everything was in fairily good shape... didnt have to replace any parts or anything (except gaskets.. duh..)
so i oiled her up, gave it some gas and after a little cranking on the recoil it started up... and i ran it till it was out of gas, then drained the oil and stuck it in my car and drove home, left it in the garage for a day or two.
i get home, mount the engine on the mower it came off of, oil it up and gas it up... and i cannot get it started for the life of me.
when i pull the recoil the rope will come out about halfway and get REALLY hard to pull... i muscle my way through that and i can pull it normally...
if i pull the spark plug the recoil pulls easily and efforlessly, without becoming very difficult about halfway through, so its as if the compression is building up or something. however, the engine will not even fire. the exhaust smells like unburnt gasoline. I assume its flooded and take out the spark plug and let it sit overnight in my garage.
I have the same problem the next morning. the engine will not even ignite the mixture in the cylinder. It has great spark and great compression. Its getting fuel, i can smell it in the exhaust, and its not flooded cuz i let it sit overnight. tried it, and was very conservative with my pressing of the primer.
Oh, and i had the air filter off the whole time. (i started it up in the shop without the air filter too, and it worked fine then)
btw, it has no mixture screws, its fixed.

any help is greatly appreciated.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Make sure the blade or counter balance is installed on the engine good and tight, otherwise the rope will be hard to pull when you try to start the engine.

It's possible to shear a flywheel key if no blade or weight is installed on the engine.


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

well that fixed the problem with the recoil being really hard to pull...
however there is still no combustion in the cylinder.
i have air, fuel, compression and spark, so idk what is wrong.
one thought i have...
it is a lawn mower engine, designed to be run in the summer, however i live in wisconsin and it is about 23 deg. Fahrenheit right now, could that be a cause of the problem?
when i started it up in the shop it was about 70 degrees inside the shop... and it was considerably easier.


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## Cser (Oct 26, 2006)

Possibly split the flywheel key trying to crank it with no blade on and that will cause it to be out of time.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

The cold weather can make engines a little harder to start, but they should still start and run alright. Like Cser said your flywheel key is probably sheared from trying to crank without the blade. That will throw off the ignition timing and keep the engine from starting.


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

nope... flywheel / flywheel key are both intact and correctly positioned.

even tho it is (very) cold, the engine should at least sputter, or SOMETHING, right?


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## Cser (Oct 26, 2006)

30 year do you think it may be fuel iceing???.
Nafango,,,,when you got home where did the fuel come from that you put in the engine,,,,was it fresh or something you've had awhile???


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## Cser (Oct 26, 2006)

Nafango,,,,put a shot of starting fuel directly into the carb and see if it will fire,,,,if not pop a shot directy into the combustion chamber thur the spark plug hole...Did it fire?????


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## heptagon (Jan 29, 2005)

Just curious nafang-in your second post you start out saying 'that fixed the problem with the recoil...". I've reread the post several times but can't figure out what you did to fix the recoil problem.


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

to fix the recoil i put the blade on. (it acted as a counter-weight)
its fresh gasoline... just got it about 2 days ago.
im looking for a suitable thing to spray the gasoline into the carb. im leaning toward a squirt gun, but not 100% sure thats the best thing in the world...
any suggestions?


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

An oil squirt can will work ok for priming an engine. And to answer cser's question, no I don't think the carburetor is icing up, the engine would have to be running for that to happen.

Did you remove the flywheel to inspect the key, or just look down through the key way in the flywheel?


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

i just looked down the flywheel. i dont have the tools to remove/replace the flywheel.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

The key can still be sheared, it is sometimes hard to tell if it is good without removing the flywheel and checking the key to be sure.


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

well i figured if the timing between the flywheel and crank are still correct... the key is intact.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

How could you tell if the timing between the flywheel and crankshaft was correct?


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

here ill draw you a pic cuz im not the greatest at explaining with words...
http://nafango.org/pics/flywheelkey.png

EDIT: I used the trick with the oil can and it worked great... sorry for the delayed response but i had a hard time finding an oil can... lol...
question tho... isnt that basically what a primer is supposed to do... only not quite to that extreme?


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Yes, that is basically what the primer on your carburetor does. There is a difference however, the primer on your carburetor forces fuel that has collected in the metering jet up the carburetor nozzle. If you press the primer bulb several times without allowing sufficient time for additional fuel to enter the metering nut, you only get in effect 1 prime. The trick is to depress the primer and wait 1 second before pressing it again, this allows fuel to enter back into the metering area and be pushed up the nozzle into the carburetor.

The reason I asked about timing alignment, is that many Tecumseh engines use an offset key and it is sometimes hard to tell how they should line up.

Glad to hear you got it going :thumbsup:


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## Cser (Oct 26, 2006)

deleted my post,,,I did not see the 2nd page


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## nafango2 (Jan 20, 2007)

30yearTech said:


> The reason I asked about timing alignment, is that many Tecumseh engines use an offset key and it is sometimes hard to tell how they should line up.


Yea, this engine does have an offset (L-shaped) key, but i recently did a full rebuild... so i knew where it was supposed to be.
thanks for all your help!


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## jerry_h_holt (Feb 4, 2007)

Hello Nafango2,
I would have to agree with Thirty Year Tech, the key way must be sheared. I recently had the same problem with an older Briggs. Tuned up the engine, points, plug etc, put the flywheel back on, ( didn'y get the recoil assy tight enought) ): pulled the rope it ran a few minutes. Then I tried it again, it's kicked back one time, then it would not start. It had plenty of fire at the plug, gas was there, but no start. Took it back apart, removed the flywheel, and the key was sheared. Replaced the key, really tightened the recoil assy! it cranked and has run great since. I say, go back to the shop that it was rebuilt at, ask to borrow the gear puller and check it yourself.
Good Luck,
Jerry


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## jerry_h_holt (Feb 4, 2007)

Sorry,
I didn't see you had it running.
Good job,
JHH


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