tecumseh engines

Is someone making Tecumseh engines again? Saw several new ones listed on craigs list

Yes. They are manufactured at the same factory in china that builds the 'Predator' engines for Harbor Fright products. They just slap a Tecumseh sticker on it. LOL

Very interesting. Actually that might be a good thing. Have heard the Predators are a Honda copy and work very well. A lot of folks on here have said so. Personaly I have two machines with Tecumseh engines and found that with Hi-Test gas and adjust the carbs they work very nicely.

There are still plenty of new USA Tecumseh engines around for sale in left-over stock. Poorly designed engines right to the end when they went bankrupt.

I also see new engines from China with the Tecumseh name stuck on them. They are NOT made by the same company in China that makes the Harbor Freight Predator engines. Predator HF engines are made by Lifan of Chongquing, China (a company with a great repuation for quality). The new Tecumeh engines I've see from China are made by Tzhaohui of Zhejiang, China and I know little about that company.

That's pure baloney. Who the heck knows what comes out of china? The point is that they are not the same as the old Tecumseh engines of days gone by. So is the bull$_it about Tecumseh USA old stock sitting around for sale somewhere. They stopped making motors in 2009. Show me a 100 Tecumseh USA motors for sale. Maybe there are a handful left.

And Tecumseh was really a decent motor back in the day. Maybe not on par with Briggs & Stratton in it's glory days but a good motor if you kept oil in it. Tecumseh's were the former Lawson engines of the 50's/60's. Had a few, zero problems.

I sure wouldn't waste my money on a piece of crap Honda copy when I could buy the same thing to depend on for another $100. They really haven't been around long enough to get bad reviews. The same goes for Generac motors. Worthless, poor quality garbage which hasn't been around that long but sure have alot of people disappointed.

For small engines BUY LEADING NAME BRANDS or suffer the consequences.

What is "pure baloney?" Cite some real facts.

I bought three brand new 10HP Tecumseh motors, made in USA, this past year. Plenty
still for sale. Left over stock with little demand for them. Generator engines, snow-
blower engines, etc. Even at the low prices now - money is better spent on a better
tech Chinese engine unless you have a special app where the USA Tecumseh fits better.

As to your China comments? Sorry - but not every company in China is the "same", just
as they are not here in the USA. At least I take the time to actually research these
things instead of just guessing and/or making assumptions.

I will also add that I do not share your sentiments about Tecumseh-Lauson-Power-
Products-Peerless quality. Back in the 60s they were on par with Briggs & Stratton
and never as good as Clinton, Wisconsin, Subaru, Onan, or Kohler. Then while some of
the others got better, Tecumseh got worse and worse. Quality control issues and
design issues. I worked for one of the first dealers in the USA in the 70s to carry
Honda direct-replacement engines for commercial lawn-mowers (Bunton 10 HP). They
outlasted the cast-iron Tecumsehs by 3 or 4 to 1. We did not even try to fix the
big Tecumsehs after that. The Hondas were worlds better. Even the aluminum Briggs
were better although they tended to pop valve seats under heavy use. Now it is not
about Japan anymore. There are companies in China making some great stuff - along
with some bad. Just like it was with Japan in the 60s. The first Honda car was a
real piece of junk and a great example of that. I have several HF Predator engines
made by Lifan of China and they have been great. Better quality then the new Kohler
I got last year on a log-splitter (big mistake as I see it). I had a choice of an
Asian engine or a USA engine for the same price. BIG mistake. Had trouble with it
since I got it and the Kohler tech support is horrible. Too bad. Kohler used to make
some excellent stuff.

I will also add that I do not share your sentiments about Tecumseh-Lauson-Power-
Products-Peerless quality. Back in the 60s they were on par with Briggs & Stratton
and never as good as Clinton, Wisconsin, Subaru, Onan, or Kohler. Then while some of
the others got better, Tecumseh got worse and worse. Quality control issues and
design issues. I worked for one of the first dealers in the USA in the 70s to carry
Honda direct-replacement engines for commercial lawn-mowers (Bunton 10 HP). They
outlasted the cast-iron Tecumsehs by 3 or 4 to 1. We did not even try to fix the
big Tecumsehs after that. The Hondas were worlds better. Even the aluminum Briggs
were better although they tended to pop valve seats under heavy use. Now it is not
about Japan anymore. There are companies in China making some great stuff - along
with some bad. Just like it was with Japan in the 60s. The first Honda car was a
poor design and a great example of that. I have several HF Predator engines made by
Lifan of China and they have been great. Better quality then the new Kohler I got
last year on a log-splitter (big mistake as I see it). I had a choice of an Asian
engine or a USA engine for the same price. BIG mistake. Had trouble with it since I
got it and the Kohler tech support is horrible. Too bad. Kohler used to make some
excellent stuff.

You would have to give me $140 to take a Tecumseh engine. It's a family curse, never had a good Tec. Seems they can have good power, or start easy, but not both at the same time.

(quoted from post at 19:21:57 05/07/17)
I bought three brand new 10HP Tecumseh motors, made in USA, this past year.

Click to expand...

Well congratulations you played right into their hands. You only get what you pay for -- I wonder why they stopped making them? But good plan ... buy 3 so you'll have a few spares when they seize-up.

I have several General engines and all have performed flawlessly.

Predator engines made by Lifan are NOT a direct copy of any Honda engine. Very similar - yes. I think Lifan was an Honda-authorized engine-maker (for Honda) at one time.

My first Predator went on my Troy-Built rototiller around 5 years ago. Original engine was a cast-iron H70 Tecumseh and what a piece of junk. The Predator is worlds better.

I first worked for a small engine dealer in the 60s. At that time - common engines were Clinton, Wisconsin, Kohler, Briggs, etc. I think Wisconsin took on Subaru in the 70s and the Subaru engines (Wisconsin Robin) were some of the most rugged engines in the industry. We took on Honda replacement engines in 1976 and they greatly outlasted all the US brands except Wisconsin, on commercial equipment.

The little cast-iron Tecumseh engines in the 3-5 horse range in the 50s and 60s were pretty good. All down-hill from there. The HM series of cast-iron engines with electronic ignition were horrible.

I still have two 3 1/2 HP four-stroke outboard motors made by Lauson and love them. Not exactly modern though. Later stuff - most anything from Peerless, Power-Products, Lauson, and Tecumseh was a curse.

My major gripes about Tecumseh engines- The very first time I ran into them was a a Golf Course, we were using Greensmower III's to actually do greens (riding Greens & Tee mower) but for some reason the 4 walk behind greens mowers were still in the shop, we had 4 of them, all Toro's with Tecumseh Engines, no two engines were alike. Tecumseh engines were built to price (a polite way of saying cheap) but they didn't have the volumes that Briggs & Stratton did so I felt they cheapened the Tecumseh to compete against the volume Briggs & Stratton had. They did have some innovative engines (pressure lubrication, over head valves) but they didn't seem to have the quality or engineering behind them. The first year Toro made the Greensmaster III they used an OHV Tecumseh engine, by the second year Toro switched to the Kohler K341. My boss at the golf course told me the way to identify a first year Greensmower III was to look for a white seat as he didn't know any of them that still had Tecumseh engines as many of them didn't make it through the first year and Toro had started installing Kohlers if the unit was under warranty when the Tecumseh failed.

send me your "junk" Tecumseh engines. I have had better luck with them than I ever did with breaks&Scatters.
I would not have a Predator even for free I'd rather have good old Made in USA.... get a good carb on a Tecumseh and youre golden..... I have 4 push mowers right now; 3 Tecumseh and 1 B&S, the 1 B&S is most likely to go down the road..... it is also the only rear bagger/non side discharge as well and the only self propelled of the bunch....

You can pretty much buy a Predator engine for the price of a new carb for Tecumseh.


I have had good luck with one Tecumseh, it was a 4HP overhead valve engine from about 1994 (first of the OVH lawn mower engines?) mounted on a push mower. The engine is still running even though its mounted on its third deck - runs like a top and starts great.

The other Tecumseh's I've owned all had carb problems - rebuilding the carb did no good - they ranged from one mounted on Troybuilt Horse tiller to a Wheelhorse riding mower to an old John Deere 110. Granted they were all old machines but working on them and throwing money at them didn't make them run any better, The Wheelhorse and the 110 were sold, the Troybuilt got a $70 Predator mounted on it - best thing that could have happened to that tiller.