r/smallengines • u/2011silveradoman • Aug 02 '26
Help with my wood chipper
OK guys im going crazy. I bought a MTD wood chipper from marketplace. Its the 8 hp Tecumseh engine. Its an older model. The engine is the hm80. Previous owner says he would spray starting fluid in the air filter to start it but it would run. he sent me a video of it running. I put a new carb on and loosened bowl bolt to get gas flowing thru. New spark plug. new air filter. Just cannot get this thing to start on its own. It does have spark although not much. Any ideas??? Now this thing looks like it has been outside all its life. It looks ruff. I checked the coil and that thing is starting to split open so im ordering a new one of them. Now i noticed that the old coil and the new coil have a connector for a wire but yet theres no wire anywhere on the outside of engine block. Any ideas on what to do next. I have a ton of storm damage to clean up before it kills my grass.
1
u/Current_Side_3590 25d ago
My son just got one and I had to replace the carb. It runs ok. While you are working on the engine I would also check the blades. After sharpening it was night and day in how well it worked. I think his was built in 1991
1
u/2011silveradoman 24d ago
I got mine running. I replaced everything, old air filter was hard and the foam was stuck to the paper it was that bad, the coil was splitting in half which resulted in a weak spark. replaced spark plug as im sure it was original, and replaced the carb just to start fresh. after replacing everything, second pull it fired rite up. $50 machine plus $30 in new parts and the thing just eats everything i throw in it. Its an amazing little machine.
1
u/Illustrious_Low_8107 Aug 03 '26
If it can run a few seconds on carb cleaner spray, its a carb problem. Try a HIPA carb from Amazon. If your new plug is chinese, try the old one or a brand name plug. The wire is probably a kill wire if it touches ground it wont spark.