Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - 6.5hp Tecumseh Engine won't start

I recieved a 6.5hp Scotts (walk-behind) Lawnmower with a Tecumseh Engine that has an Overhead Valve from a neighbor of mine whom I really have no idea how he use to treat this mower or store it but I knew he hadn't used it in a while. Well anyway, first things I noticed from the machine were that the front two wheels didn't work (spin) and that the pull string was stuck and it wouldn't budge. I opened it up since I figured I might aswell give it a try to fix it since it would most likely be scrapped anyway. I cleaned out the cylinder and got the piston to move up and down (after being stuck with a bunch of sludge) and thought maybe that was it so I put it all back together and... well the string wasn't stuck anymore, I could actually pull it now althought it would snatch back from my hand every two or three pulls... but it still wouldn't start. :mad: After that I replaced the spark plug and put some fuel in the cylinder and got some white smoke after pulling the string so I figured the electrical part was working. I tried cleaning out the carb and I fixed the traction on the mower so the front wheels are actually spinning now... put the engine back together but.. it still won't start :wall: If you have any suggestions as to what may be causing this engine not to start plz post, thnx. :thinker:

When you cleaned out the carb did you clean the small holes in the bolt that hold the bowl onto the carb...?

Yeah, Ceaned out all the holes and bolts so that the carb cleaner just shot out through all parts of the carb freely.

I tried checking the engine again for a spark by removing the plug and getting a bit of fuel in there and now I get nothing... no white smoke, no nothing. Wonder what happen!?! :wall: Since.. if you read before I had tried this and got a lot of white smoke out of the muffler. Now I can't even get that, dang I'm stuck :confused:

Could missing the Dowel Pins from the case in the engine cause it not to work? Because I received the lawnmower without them. My neighbor tried to open the engine himself with out any success... just lost some pieces along the way.

hold the plug against the engine so it is grounded and have someone pull it and look to see if it is sparking.

Thanks (for the replies I've gotten) and well I'll check that first thing tomorrow. I put it all up for today and well hopefully tomorrow I can get it to run or else it is scrap lol. Not really it'll probably take some skilled person to get it running but I wanted to get it fixed myself. Well, other than the procedure to check the plug is there anything else I can do to check or "make work" the whole fuel part of the engine. I had at one point a spark and the engine did blow out some white smoke but after that, it wouldn't run. Well all the replies are very appreciated, even if it is just to know that people have looked at all this typing lol :-) thnx :thumbup:

Does the engine still kick back?

No, The engine seems to be perfectly fine now in that aspect, actually feels better than most other lawn mowers that I have pulled on. (it supposedly has that magna-torque thing that says it makes it easy to turn on) and I'm sure that if the engine was in perfect conditions that it would turn on quite simple. Of course there is something wrong and so it doesn't start. Thnx for the replies.

I checked the spark plug, I do have some sparks. This engine seems to be in perfect conditions yet it doesn't start. It frankly looks brand new yet it will not start. The pull cord feels great, the engine seems to be moving correctly. Today I put some fuel in through the spark plug hole and was able to get a lot of white smoke out of the muffler. So I'm guessing that the carb cleaning wasn't good enough for the mower. That fuel is still not getting to where it needs to be to be ignited. Well if I fix the mower by this weekend I can make my neighbor an offer (maybe $20) and keep the mower. If not then it goes right back where it came from and all the time and effort has been gone to waste :wall: . Thanks for all the replies though, they are greatly appreciated. The model number on this Tecumseh engine is <font color="red">OVRM12022032E</font>

If you got a lot of smoke, but no attempt to run with fuel directly in the cylinder, then the carb cleaning had nothing to do with it. The smoke is oil burning. It may have a lot of oil in the cylinder, especially if it's overfull or was tipped up. Is the spark plug oily?

sounds to me like the flywheel key is sheared and that's why it sat so long. If you didn't pull the flywheel it would be very wise at this point.

S/T

The spark plug was only oily in the sense of me having oiled it up with my oily fingers after cleaning up some of the oil that spilled from the engine when I was taking it apart. Ummm I bought some good cleaner (degreaser) and I'll clean it up tomorrow. Also about the flywheel... I don't know about that since the engine does feel really well when I try to start it. The pull cord feels absolutely great... but who knows. Well I'll try to clean it, rinse it, and put it together with right oil (amount) and try it again. (bought some good carb cleaner and will spray it as well). Thx for replies. Good night

Well.. I just wanted to update everyone. I set out to do what I said I'd do in my last post. As I had finished washing everything and let it dry out... and just about to put it all together again, I realized something (common sense) the fundamentals of the engine. Everything seemed to be in tune, except I for some reason was overlooking the fact that I took the camshaft out of the engine along with everything else (A HA! :thinker: = is what you guys are probably saying right now) Well yes... I had tipped off the timing on the engine and that's why it wasn't starting. I got the camshaft back into a good timing, put the engine back together and pulled the string and immediately the engine wanted to start. I then figured I just put the throttle controls a bit off. After adjusting them, perfect run, easy start, just.. perfect (I thank you all for the replies and sorry that it just turned out to be something so silly :-P but hopefully it can help someone save some time in the future by not doing the same thing [mistake] I did and have to -> :wall: ) Glad the nightmare ended and I am defenitely going to keep this mower, (maybe I'll pay some $10 dollars for it and tell my neighbor that it still doesn't work but that I'm going to order some parts to fix it that are expensive $$$ :-P)(then maybe he'll just give it to me for free :-D) Well I really doubt that'll happen since the engine looks brand new and so does the mower. Well thanks again. :)