# Tecumseh HH120 Hard to start



## JoeNezZ

Hi I have a bolens 1220 with a Tecumseh HH120
& this thing has to be the hardest engine to start & I can't figure out why ?

I got this tractor from a friend who was told by the guy he bought it from that it had just been re built.

However it was very hard to start & smoked like an S.O.B. when you did get it started.

last summer I tore it down to find that it had a 30,000 over bore with a 20,000 over sized piston & standard size rings with no ring springs.

so after getting the correct piston & lucking out on some new old stock for the 30,000 over sized rings I put it all back together.

the engine was still very hard to start but runs like a dream once started & no more smoke.

when you start it you need a fully charged battery because it likes high RPM's to get it to catch.
1/8 to 1/4 " of throttle no more.
full choke for 10 seconds then slowly reduce towards half choke
while cranking @ this point it will start to pop sputter & back fire out the carb, as you repeat this process every few minutes (allowing the starter some rest time) it will eventually catch & start running, when it runs it runs fine you can even shut it off & start it again an hour or two later with no problems. 

its just when it sits for a day or two it does not like to start the first time. 
I even tried spraying quick start in the air intake & all it does is pop & back fire out the carb.

does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this & how I can fix it ?

Thanks in advance, Joe


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## Live Oak

Welcome to Tractor Forum Joe! By chance, have you performed a compression check on the engine since you did the work on it?


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## JoeNezZ

compression is good I forget the reading as it was last summer but it was very good infact it always loads down the starter till it gets past the first stroke since the new rings.

I think I have it figured out, I was reading the engine manual here on the website, & I found that the trigger pins on the flywheel were bad, the short pin was chewed up pretty bad & the long pin was close to 1/4" too short, I re-surfaced the chewed one with a grinding stone & set them both to the proper distance, I allso found the spark plug wire clip was all rusted inside the boot so I put a new clip & boot on the wire.

Tomorow I will re assemble it, set the air gap & see if that solves the starting problem.


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## Live Oak

The symptoms you describe do sound like a timing issue in which the ingition is too far retarded. I always thought the timing was a preset, nonadjustable set up on smaller engines such as these. Hopefully you are on the right track now. Let us know how things turn out.


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## JoeNezZ

yes problem solved, it started right away without any problems,.

I too thought they were all preset & because I had never disturbed the ignition system & I was getting spark I never suspected that as the reason behind the hard starting.

so if anyone has a similar problem, check the trigger pins on the flywheel (page 584) of the tecumseh engine manual posted & the check the spark plug clip for rusted or broken clip.


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16

A great way to empty your pocket is to burn out that starting mower. remember crank for 5 sec and let it cool for 15 sec after cranking it for 10 sec the 1st time when it is cool. motors arent cheap and sometimes finding one isnt as easy as 1 2 3...


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