QuestionThe clamp was already all the way counter-clockwise, though I messed with it anyway to see if any position relieved tension on the spring, all to no avail. I felt that the throttle lever spring had too much tension, and that if I could somehow diminish this tension that the governor would work as it's supposed to. I have a collection of small pull springs, so I tried one that was a bit longer, so that it didn't pull on the governor when the throttle lever was on low. I also moved the other link--that connects directly to the carb--to a hole closer to the governor. Neither of those changes affected the problem. I looked again at the governor of my good Craftsman mower while it ran, and saw that the governor lever had significant pull power despite spring tension. After spending a lot of time on it this evening, I'm convinced that the governor is simply not working on this problem mower. I've never known how governor levers work, as I've never seen the inside where the mechanism is. Because of my limited free time, I hate to take this engine apart to get to it, but it appears that it's necessary to get to the mechanism. Would you tell me what I should do, and how? Does this require draining the crankcase oil again?
Thanks,
Scott
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Followup To
Question -
I returned home today. The spring seems to be OK to me. I believe that it has more tension on it than normal, and is stretched more than normal (not damaged or permanently stretched). However, I can find no way to decrease the tension. It seems that if I could move the throttle lever plate further back, the tension on the linkage spring could be normal; however, the plate position is adjustable for only a small distance, and moving it as far back as it can go doesn't relieve the high tension on the governor.
Scott
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Followup To
Question -
Hi Eric,
First let me say that I asked Michael, the other guy, this question more than a week ago, but he never answered, and he has apparently quit allexperts since his name is no longer listed. I hope that you stay on, since you're the only one now to ask about lawnmowers.
Now, I'm going away for 10 days, so there's no hurry for your response, but I won't be able to respond to you til I return.
This regards a Craftsman Eager-1 walk behind mower with a Tecumseh engine. A guy gave it to me, saying that it had sat in his yard for a while, and probably just needed a tune-up. He neglected to tell me that it had suddenly stopped running after he hit something, which must have happened since I eventually found that the flywheel key was sheared. Once I cleaned everything and replaced the key, I had no problem starting it, but it runs at full throttle, apparently due to the governor lever constantly being pulled all the way toward the carb. Initially, I thought that I'd connected one of those governor links incorrectly. I have another Eager-1 mower with a very similar Tecumseh engine that I was in process of repairing, and thought that I'd wait til I got it running to compare the governor linkage to this mower. I finally got the other mower running fine. Its governor linkage connections looks the same as this problem mower, so I don't think that that is the problem. However, in case I'm wrong, I've taken some photos of the linkage so that you can see what it looks like. I will copy their hyperlinks here, though I'm unsure whether the links will work through this medium. If you send your email address, I will send them to you directly.
Two photos of the problem mower carb/throttle linkage:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/slaird/Image386.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/slaird/Image387.jpg
One photo of good mower with red flywheel cover in background, just for comparison. I didn't remove parts for this photo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/slaird/Image388.jpg
Some more detail: If I push back on that governor lever on the crankcase, the engine will slow; however, no matter what position I screw the throttle lever plate, the engine still runs fast. Moreover, not only does the governor linkage look the same as the good mower, I can't see another way for it to be connected that would correct the problem. It seems that there is more tension on the governor spring than on the spring of the good mower. The guy who gave it to me didn't tell me that it ran fast all the time, but I'll remind you that he didn't tell me about the obvious history that would have diagnosed the sheared flywheel key. As far as I can tell, he didn't take anything apart, so I'm assuming that I messed up something when I disassembled it; however, there's always a possibility that it was messed up beforehand.
I always try to handle things myself first, so I've put off asking someone to diagnose this problem, but I'm stumped now.
Thanks much for help,
Scott
Answer -
It's possible the governor arm needs adjusting, the spring is bad or worst case the governor spool is bad. I haven't a bad spool in a long time but for a while we were replacing them fairly often.
I'm currently away from the shop but if you send me the question again I will send you the directions on how to adjust the governor and we'll start from there.
Thanks for the pictures. I had no problems opening them.
Eric
Answer -
To adjust the governor arm: With the engine stopped, loosen the screw holding the governor clamp and lever. Turn the clamp counterclockwise on vertical shaft engines. Then push governor lever connected to the throttle to a fuel wide open throttle position. Hold the lever and clamp in this position and tighten the screw.
This procedure it straight out of the repair manual.
Eric
AnswerA few years ago we had a lot of Tecumseh engines where the govenor spool weights would "fly off" the governor spool and cause the engine to rev too high.
To check the spool you can drain the oil, dis-assemble the engine shroud and remove the flywheel. With these parts removed you can remove the engine crankcase breather. Using a flash light you can see if the small governor spool weights are sticking straight out from the spool.
To replace the spool you have to split the engine in half. Carefully remove the old governor shaft. It is pressed in the bottom of the oil/sump pump. DO NOT turn the shaft...it must be pulled out because the shaft has splines on the bottom. Once the old spool and shaft are out you can press in a new one.
This is a major job and fairly difficult to do. If you plan on doing the job yourself I would recommend purchasing a Tecumseh repair manual from a dealer or even E-Bay.
On a good day, if everything came apart really easy it would take us over an hour to replace the governor using a welder to weld on a washer to remove the old shaft and a hydrolic press to install the new on. You would also have to replace the lower oil seal and gasket.
Let me know if this helps.
Eric
