Tecumseh announced the decision to stop production in October, long after this years crop of snow blowers had been built. Ariens, like the other OEM's, got caught flat footed.
Apparently Sears is buying up a lot of inventory but there should be a decent supply for some time to come. The aftermarket has a golden opportunity.

Good luck finding a replacement Briggs snow engine. OEM's have them all locked up.

The manager of the store I purchased my Ariens from had been positive about parts support when I spoke with him about my concerns. When I spoke with him yesterday, he had a different outlook. He now agrees parts support will be a problem, yet they are still selling their top of the line Ariens blowers with Tecumseh engines. I blame that on the Arien's company for marketing their blowers with an unsupported engine. That has got to hurt their good name in the future. I certainly hope there will be enough after market parts in the system to make up for the shortfall. Charles Ranheim

After 14 years my Tec powers sears (MTD) snowblower is still going. Despite only a couple of oil changes in its life.

That said doesn't mean I don't get snow blower envy at this time of year.

I'm not worried. Short of a complete engine failure, most small engine problems are carb or ignition related and someone will step up to the plate and supply replacement parts for tecumseh engines. I'm sure once the small engine market stablizes after tecumsehs closes it doors, replacement engines from another manufacturer will be available.

Might be a good idea to stock up a couple of carb rebuild kits, other than that the Tec Snow King has been of the best cold weather engines that should easily go for 10-15 years under moderate use with routine maintenance.

Like many other manufacturers, Ariens builds their winter equipment in the summer and vice versa. They had their stock of Tec engines on hand for 2008 snow blower production before Techumseh pulled the plug last month. It was when Sears decided to stop using Tecumseh engines a few months ago that Tecumseh's parent holding company decided to cease engine production due to a lack of adequate orders to keep costs low enough. (Sears snow blowers now use Briggs labeled cheap Chinese built engines that don't even use a horsepower rating.)

Other equipment from Ariens includes a variety of engines from Briggs, Honda, Kohler, and Kawasaki and I imagine the 2009 Ariens snow blowers will use one of those 4. Unfortunately any of them that will wind up on the snow blowers is probably going to be Chinese, so feel lucky you got one of the last ones with a Tec Snow King.

-UT-

Well my brand new PRO1336DLE quit after 16 hours. The preliminary examination was that one rocker arm was wet with oil and the other wasn't with galding and metal contamination. They are going to replace three parts but quite frankly if this quits again I am going to ask for my money back and go buy one with a Briggs engine. Response from Ariens has been tepid with standard pap about how they have been using these enignes for years. I wrote to the CEO and haven't heard anything yet.

I just picked up another 30 ish Ariens with a HM6 flathead on it. I've got 2 runners and 2 parts rigs.
Hopefully these will last me a few yrs. I'm not that impressed with the things I'm hearing about OHV small engines from B+S and Tecumseh.

Update on the Tecumseh OH358SA, forget it. Do not purchase this engine on any product! Tecumseh is not interested if finding the root cause. The engine sat around for over 1 and a half years until it was assembled on the Ariens ST1336DLE. The latest information is that Kohler is being considered as a front runner for replacing Tecumseh on the Ariens products. I am receiving my money back fromt eh dealer and I will have to shovel my driveway until the end of this season. Too bad, I thought Ariens was a product that was supported well by the company. Like many others, too many new people with the plug and replace mentality rather than designing long life into the product. And we wonder why we have an economic crisis in this country. Here is living proof.

What was, or is the problem with the Tecumseh OH358SA engine? I have the Tecumseh OH318SA engine on my Ariens blower. So far, it has always started easily, has plenty of power, and runs great. Is this an engine with a trouble history? Charles Ranheim

Upon first examination, only one rocker arm was getting oil. That is really a problem since they are located in the same hemisphere for the pressure oil system. Next there was metal contamination and severe galding on the non-oiled rocker arm and push rod that could be seen. It was taken to an authorized Tecumseh repair shop and a third party representative, not the company itself of Tecumseh authorized the repair of three parts. They did not want the oil from the last oil change to determine the root cause. They have not responded to an email with this problem. In their minds the problem is fixed. I have received a full refund from my dealer and will work with Ariens on future prodcut changes. Ariens has been extremely helpful and straightforward. I would do business with them again but the Tecumseh people should be avoided at all cost. They have no interest in supporting this engine or any of their OHV large engines it would appear. There must of been some problem since the 195 has a separate oil hose to the top of the rocker arm cover. The 2009 Ariens should have some options for engines that we will all enjoy.

I find that the only thing that kills these engines othe than a design or manufacturing flaw is neglect and neglect acounts for 98.9% of the failures IMO. Now this is not aimed at anyone just falls inline in this thread, if you don't like it don't read it.

Let's face the fact most Home owners do NOT cleaning there equipment after use, not checking, changing the oil, or changing it enough, not storing it properly, draining the gas, treating the gas, covering it up, or better yet indoor storing. And Last NOT cleaning the carb. which IMO causes all the starting problems. If you do your part IMO the engine will outlast the work end of the machine. IMO this pretains to ALL manfactures Even the So called quality models like Honda, Kaw, and Kolhers.

As far as tec going out if a fact of life now days and I have a feeling more will bit the bullet down the road. Yes we will be left hanging, but it's the american way to buy over ever few years anyway.

All the guys I know here in Erie, PA have Tec Snow Kings on their snow blowers, most are Ariens, Toro, or MTD's. I have yet to run across anyone who has had any major problems with one of these engines on a snow blower, either the flathead or OHV.

Stens (who is owned by Ariens parent company) will be supplying many of the common replacement parts for the Tecumseh engines for many years to come. Even that Tecumseh is gone, although they are no Honda I still believe they are (were) a better engine than a Briggs, and a far cry from these Chinese crap Honda GX wannabe clone engines that are showing up on a lot of snow blowers.

I think Ariens should look to Subaru/Robin as a new snow blower engine supplier. They have models in the HP ranges that would be perfect fits at the quality levels they need on their products.

-UT-

I am not worried about Tecumseh not making engines anymore. My 1997 9 horse Yardman Snowblower runs just like the day Mom and Dad picked it up. And I think the R-Tek in the new Toro single stage is a Briggs and Stratton. I did have a 1988 or so Ariens with an 8 horse what was a piece of junk. Sucked oil,pinged unless you used premium gas, and had no power. You are right, Ariens and Tecumseh did nothing to help us. Thats why we went Yardman the next time. And never looked back.

did tecumseh go out ? i have a toro with a tecumseh 2 cycle engine thing runs great.i know that there lawn mower engines were not that good.

Update on the engine! After many discussions with Ariens, which were very good, it shamed Tecumseh into examining the engine closer only to discover that an oil hole had not been drilled in the block in order to allow oil to feed the upper rocker arm. So they decided to replace the short block but I have received a full refund from the dealer and I will possibly lease it for the balance of the winter but will not take this proudct with the Tecumseh engine on it. The D.O.M. on this engine is 07176CB0122 and the Spec. is 223843G. Do not purchase any Tecumseh product with the poor quality control in manufacturing that has been exhibited here. I will wait and see what Ariens powers the equipment with for next winter before purchasing another Ariens this Fall.

The tecumseh flatheads will run forever......tecumseh flatheads are very well made,especially the older one's......tecumseh also made an all cast iron block engine,wich is the BEST; much better than any japaneese engine,and also,before all you people jump to conclusions,think of how many hundreds of thousands of tecumsehs that were made over the years,how popular they are,and ask yourself,will there be parts available? Of course you fools!! As long as there is a demand,there usually is a supply .........I bet Ariens go with either Kohler,briggs,or another american engine, Ariens is still the best,much better than Honda for sure...........I would buy a new ariens over a honda In a heartbeat.....

I have a tec snow king engine on my machine, its 14 years young still doing a great job with only routine maintenance.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TecumsehPower Company Sells Assets from Engine Business
to Certified Parts Corporation
Transaction Provides Customers Long-Term Parts, Service and Warranty Support
Grafton, WI (February 10, 2009) Â TecumsehPower Company, provider of powertrain
solutions to the global outdoor power equipment industry, announced today it has sold
certain assets of its Engine Business to Certified Parts Corporation (CPC). Financial
terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The transaction announced today includes the sale of existing and unfinished engine
parts inventory, tools to make finished product and certain intellectual property assets.
CPC will also assume the warranty obligations of the Engine Business.
"We have again sought and found a solution that preserves the commitment we made to
our customers," said TecumsehPower Company President and CEO Rudolf Strobl. "We
are proud to have found a way forward that ensures all warranty obligations are met and
provides long-term parts and service support into the future."
TecumsehPower will continue to own certain real estate and other assets, and will
provide some services to CPC under a transition services agreement for a limited period
of time.

http://www.certifiedpartscorp.com/

Berrypatch

I sure hope what you wrote about Tecumseh parts and service really happens. I wrote to Ariens Customer Support to ask if there were any plans to get Tecumseh engine support a few days ago. I did not receive any answer, only the computer generated statement saying they will respond within two business days. The response never happened. Where did you get your information? I searched and could not find any reference to it. Thanks for giving us what you had. Charles Ranheim

Our local tv news, Channel 3, ran a story about the recent Tecumseh acquisition, by Certified Parts, located in Janesville, Wisconsin. They interviewed the president of Certified Parts. He is currently moving equipment, parts, and drawings, by the semi-load. I would expect that process to take a few weeks. Then he will have to inventory and organize what he has purchased. That could take several months. He said that he will immediately identify which parts need to go into production first, in accordance with customer demand. He also stated that he owns the rights to manufacture Tecumseh engines, and that he might put certain models back into production. This is very big news in Janesville, where the local economy is suffering, mainly due to the recent closing of a General Motors manufacturing plant, after about 100 years of operation.

Type in-Janesville Gazette-Believe it was in the paper early last week.

Tecumseh did close in 2009. They sold out to Peerless Transmissios and to Husqvarna. I have a Cub Cadet 930SWE with a 10HP L head Tecumseh engine. I couldn't ask for a more reliable motor. It's 3 years old but just for future information, I called Husqvarna and had search for my Tecumseh's engines model number and was told it's current and is still available. I called Cub Cadet to inform their Customer Service techs because they weren't aware of this info. Basically if any of you need parts for a Tecumseh check either of these two company's first.

Thanks for the info. I have a 10 hp Tecumseh L-head engine on my 2-stage Toro snow blower. It starts but has some running issues, just wondering if I can get parts for it anymore.

I cannot speak for the newer Tecumseh motors , but i was gifted a 1969 Snowbird with a Tecumseh motor and it still runs like a champ , ive put $20.00 into this machine so far and it will eat thru 4 foot of Snow! { winter of 2008 Spokane ,Washington} , i just bought a older Ariens 10hp -32" with a Tecumseh also and can find all parts for it online ,including rings and head-gaskets etc . Too bad they went downhill

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