Ok i have the exact problem, removed and rebuilt carb to no avail. Still nehaves just as in this video.

Yeah ive got 2 flathead tecumseh snowblowers one of em my dad made a good engine out if two bad ones they both need a valve job and are a bit hard to start but they are rough and iffy i thing thats just how flatheads are😂 OHVs are for prettyboys that have it easy

It's unfortunate, but these engines are just pieces of garbage. Tecumseh is one of the few American manufacturers I was not sad to see go bankrupt. They had a period of about 10 years where their products were just worthless boat anchors. No wonder the company went bust.

@@Rustbelt_Research I'd like to have it!!!!

Hey Alan. I have a 5hp Tecumseh snow king that starts after many pulls like 10 then runs good at full speed but I have to ease it into 3-4 inches of dry light snow or it will die under load. Would you suspect valve issues? Thank you. Oh. Carb is clean.

I did a couple more checks not looking good. Compression test was 45psi. Applied air into spark plug hole and it blew right out through the muffler.

@@daveg2199 Hey how are you? It sounds like it could either be a carburetor issue (is the carb fixed jet?) Also the low compression is due to the de-compression release on the camshaft. Make sure both valves are closed before blowing air into the cylinder. I have a video on checking compression on a snow-king engine.

@@ZigZag9 Hi. Yes it a fixed jet carb. Ill look at your video on compression test. Thank you.

@@daveg2199 ... can you feel compression in the pull rope when trying to pull it? Chances are the clearance on the valves especially the exhaust valve may be off, slightly keeping the exhaust valve open or possibly the intake valve open. My HSSK50 5hp had bad scuff marks in the cylinder, even though I always changed the oil etc...over time it was slowely scoring up the piston cylinder. Maybe it was put together from the factory dirty or without care and like you mention it would barely move 4" of dry snow because it had very little compression. I purchased a new block, new , piston, rings and two new valves with a gasket kit for $200.00 and rebuilt it myself. It would have been less costly and labor saving to purchase a Harbor Freight 216cc engine or bigger and swap out Tecumseh engine.

It's not worth the effort. This snowblower is worth $50 in perfectly working shape. The customer declined the repair and I scrapped it. If this was an Ariens or other premium brand it might be worth it. But these machines are worthless garbage.

If you look around on KZfaq and elsewhere, you will find that this is actually an unfortunately common problem with this specific engine. The exhaust valves also often fail, which causes the engine to run similarly, but the muffler glows red from the hot combustion gasses escaping through the valve. The backfiring shown in this video was coming through the carburetor, but the camera's microphone didn't really pick it up as well as I had hoped.

Try seafoam, I've never used gum out, might work the same. Otherwise actually clean the carb, and if all else fails pull the head and check the valve.

@@charredskeleton I tired the Gum Out and it worked beautifully.... made it run like new again. I just ran about a quarter bottle with half a tank of fuel and it was great.. I can now run it without the choke

If it's an ohv engine ? I'd say check & adjust your valves

I suspect this too, and almost added it to the video. But I don't have solid proof of that, so I didn't. I think the biggest thing was the engines were just terrible quality. This engine is very low hours as I said in the video, maybe used two or three seasons at most, and it's already developed this problem.

I have two snowblowers that have Tecumseh engines which use similar adjustable carburetors and after much use this winter I have read the plugs and they seem to be running with the correct fuel/air mixture. However I suspect that one and possibly both have valve leakage issues as they don't burn oil but the compression on the older one is about 65 pounds with no compression release. The other is better (about 80) with BCR compression release. I will run a leak down test as soon as I can to see what is going on and whether it is worth the effort to fix them. I don't want to deal with getting a new machine the new ones are too poorly built and the engines are all made in China.

@@phil463 I did the leakdown test a few months ago and both were very good which surprised me as the older one is 40 years old and wasn't well cared for. The newer one gave me really good compression when I used the electric starter to crank it over as opposed to the recoil starter. The older one has recoil start only. Like any other gasoline or diesel engine the most important thing is to change the oil frequently enough and most engines will last a long time without major issues.

Yes absolutely. I have seen this problem dozens of times. It is also basically impossible to sheer a flywheel key on a snowblower engine, since the impeller is belt drive. And the belt will slip before the flywheel key breaks.

While I agree with this entire comment. This particular engine's problem is the result of a manufacturing defect. And isn't worth repairing.

@@Rustbelt_Research I'm not saying its not possible, I was speaking from my experiences I guess. But all the problems I come across I dont find myself fixing to many Tecumseh engines. Got one in my early 80's generator runs like new it never let me down since I pulled it out of a dumpster 16 years ago. I find myself doing Briggs alot and the import knock off everyone uses these days. My old man swears it's the ethanol it ruins everything he drives far to get ethanol free but his old stuff always work. I guess there are alot of variables to have to consider

@@Rustbelt_Research yeah I have an MTD snowblower with a 5.5 hp tecumseh engine and I think the valves are bad. I get blow by and it fouls up the spark plug

This is the solution I usually tell people to go for. These Tecumseh engines are junk. It's never worth fixing them.

Yes a ree that scraps things that are still well worth saving. Also from the vid and comments it seems he has a big ego like his time is worth a million $ cause he can fix some of them sometimes.

Exactly I finally came across one that had a bad valve out of about 100 snow blowers that have sold in the last couple of years. The guy I got it from gave me three snow blowers he beat dog piss out of all of them and didn't change the oil. The only reason I got one with a bad valve is because of ethanol fuel f'd the carburetor up and he was running it lean as hell. I change the oil twice a season in my personal snowblower always add 20% Lucas oil stabilizer, only use real gasoline no hybrid "acid gas" I beat the hell out of mine it's way over clocked on the max rpm.( I Live on a bench realistically I need a 10 or 11 hp for the heavy snow)It's a Toro 824 power shift it was over 30 years old and abused when I got it. Runs like a dream starts on the first Pull every season funny thing is the one I have is currently and was before I got it beaten and Ridden like a red headed step child and it has no valve issue. He probably has a bad head gasket from when he pulled the pull starter rope at a 90* angle and broke it. No worries he's the handy type fiqured he would try it out to see if he fixed the rope correctly before he put all the head bolts back in the blower housing and kaboom. I've seen that quite a few occasions believe it or not. What do you do.....