Tecumseh engine life record?

Hello all:

I was following a thread on deciphering the engine age from the cryptic code and found a 2013/11/02 post at the end where Cheese (you still here?) thought a gent with about 750 hours on his mower engine was some kind of record holder.

That's nothing. I bought my Murray Ohio MFG Co. Mower with a Tecumseh TVS90 engine when we built our house in 1988. It still starts right up every year. Sure it's not pretty anymore but it's incredibly reliable. Here's my ballpark estimates on it's use:

Every mow is at least one hour. Rounding down to 1 hour for simplicity. Every year:
April+May, Mow 2.5 times a week. 2.5 * 8 weeks = 20 hours
Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept. Mow 2 times a week. 2 * 16 weeks = 32 hours
Total for year: 52 hours
Total for 30 years: 1,560 hours

Is that the record?

 

It is in my book. What's the name of the ballpark and what type of fertilizer do you use? Please don't tell me it's a pasture. lol

 

Not even close, most people that mow lawns for a living put on at least 1000 hours a year and do not stop running them until the motor blows up.

 

Those people typically use mowers that have Kawasaki or Honda motors.

Not that there is anything wrong with Tecumseh. I have a Snowblower with a Tecumseh and it starts every year, one pull, since about 1998.

 

Yeah, I'm still here. My comment about that being a record was probably half sarcasm, half truth. Tecumseh motors don't have a reputation for being long lived quality engines and their poor reputation is what put them out of business. Yeah, yeah, I know, somebody has a whatever piece of equipment with a tecumseh on it and it has worked flawlessly for decades I'm sure. There are still a few Yugos on the road too. The older cast iron HH engines were pretty good. A few others of theirs were decent too. For the most part, they were the bottom of the barrel and the cheapest engines on the market until China introduced competition for them.

 

shows you how much I know. I didn't even know they were out of business.