Ok, I knowingly got myself into another project with a tecumseh engine. This one is an ohh60. I got a Yerfdog go kart for free from a relative, you know the story, ran great last summer, they hit a tree with it and destroyed the right side a-arm, so that needs to be replaced, other than that it is a fairly decent cart. The cart has a tecumseh ohh60 6 hp powersport engine on it. I would guess that it has less than 50 hours on it total. So here's the saga so far.

I got it home, and checked the oil, low and behold all that was in it was this horrible grey sludge, so first things first, oil change, bear in mind that this sat in the weather for 6 months, the crank case was full of water and what used to be old motor oil. The valve cover had been loosened at some point and allowed water to leak into the crank case. So I drained all the sludge out of it, and flushed it with clean oil. Filled it up, so now thats good. Also replaced the missing bolts that hold on the valve cover. The engine turns fine. No signs of it ever being stuck. On the the fuel system, the tank was full of a mixture of water and about 1 oz of gas, so you can guess the kind of shape that the carb was in, full of water. I pulled the tank off and drained it and set it aside to dry. Had to take the muffler off to get at the rear bolt on the carb that holds it to the intake. This engine has the non adjustable carburetor on it. Got the carb off and it was a bigger mess that the one on the last go kart I told you all about. The bowl was corroded away around the brass bolt and had pinholes throughout, so that had the be replaced. Also a new bowl gasket. The clip that holds the needle to the float has long since rusted away, needle was toast, as well as the seals for the nozzle. I tore the carb down and used the dremel and a lot of cleaner to get the body all back up to par, the float was still good so i cleaned it up with a buffing wheel to check for holes, and reused it, put in a new needle and seat, new nozzle seals, new carb to intake gasket, cleaned all the holes. Cleaned out the jet on the side of the carb(non adjustable), and also all three holes in the brass bolt that holds the bowl on. Replaced the bowl seal and also the plug in the bottom of the carb that covers some hole. So now I have a nice clean shiny rebuilt carb. The ignition system was a wreck also as you can imagine. The flywheel was covered in surface rust, the magnetic surface was rusty, a little pitted, not bad. And the coil was covered in surface rust, I took off and cleaned it until I had a shiny surface on the legs, all 3. And cleaned the magnetic surface on the flywheel as well. spaced it so that there is a business cards thickness in between the two surfaces.

So in theory I should have a running engine now right? Well I have tried to get it to start, and it doesn't seem to be firing at all. Th carb primes fine, I replaced the fuel line, ( on a side note, I still have not put the fuel tank back on, I have capped off the fuel line where it runs into the carb. ) sprayed carb cleaner into the throat of the carb and turned on both switches to run and it will not start or even catch. So what am I over looking? all of the contacts for the wires on the coil were cleaned with electrical contact cleaner. carb's as new. I don't understand. Does this engine have points behind the flywheel? what could I be over looking? I really appreciate any help and suggestions. This forum is a great resource for help and advice.


Justin

hi. so what your saying is it will not spark at the plug? if thats the problem try a new plug. also check for ground wires and if there rusty then it will not spark. it could also be the off switch is not turning on. check all those things and if still no spark then check for points. it might have but what i dont know. sounds like you did alot of work on this thing so far.

Does it have spark?? Have you tested with a spark tester?

Isolate the engine from any external kill switches or safety interlocks and test. If no spark then possible CDI module problem, I don't think this engine has points.

If you plan on ordering the A-arm from YerfDog, call ASAP. Yerf Dog went bankrupt and they were only keeping the warehouse open until they sold out of the majority of their in stock parts. You'll have to call the 1-800 number to get it. If they're out... you SOL unless you can manufacture one.

Verify spark like the man said. Pull the plug, re-insert the wire ground it, and cranker' over. I've seen a flywheel key get stripped on an abrubt hit, but thats pretty remote. Verify all hots and grounds as this old girl sounds like she's been on a voyage to the bottom of the sea. If you got enough water in the fuel system to rot a carb theres enough moisture to fuzz up the electrical connections.

I will replace the plug and get a spark tester and fill you all in on what I find. I cleaned all electrical connections to and from the coil the other day.

All electrical!? Like 30 year tech said. Interlocks, safteys, and kills are not guaranteed till you verify them.

Ok, heres what I've got, I know that I at least have some spark to the plug. with the plug pulled and held near ground while connected to the spark plug wire and the engine being pulled over I get a blue spark at the plug. For the heck of it I decided to do a compression test~~~~~ ugh. The engine struggled to give me 50psi of compression..... so where does this lead me knowing the engines past from the posts above???

Check your valves for proper clearance and to make sure they are not sticking. If there was some moisture in the engine the valves may be working slow and not closing like they should, may need to be removed and cleaned up, or you might just try spraying some lube on the valve stems, that is if they are sticking or moving slow...

Good Luck :thumbsup:

Thanks. I will keep you informed on the whole thing. I appreciate the advice.

If you want to check for spark and don't have the tool to do it, you can unscrew the plug, leave the wire attached and make sure it is against something metal as you pull. I find that tecumseh coils are generally strong, so unless the plug is corroded to bits ( which might be the case with yours) you will see a fat spark. Usually, these engines has an electronic ignition unit with a green grounding wire. The green wire and spark plug wire will be the only two wires unless the engine has points, which I doubt since tecumseh hasn't made engines with points in a long time.
One more thing: if the engine was full of water, make sure the breather tube is unobstructed because the remaining water vapor in there will need to evaporate as it warms up.Some tecumsehs have a breather tube that goes back into the carburetor body. If so, you might want to disconnnect it until you're sure there's not any water vapor coming out or it will make the engine run like crap since it'll be trying to burn water.

I guess I gotta pull the head off and check to see that I have a valve sticking, which is what I think the cause may be. The breather tube runs from the side of the valve cover to the top of the carburetor. It is clear.