OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Tecumseh / Kirby Engines identifying hp and model of engine

hi I just recently accuired a rover ride on mower model 5144 serial number 369 02208 with a Tecumseh vertical shaft engine it dosent have the engine capacity or hp marked on it but I found these numbers on the rear of the engine on the bottom of the engine cowl so here they are==TVM19515001HSER2103D I hope some one can identify the engine it has a provision for a starter motor in the cowl but its got a blank off plate there so its the good old pull start and its got heaps of compression n abit of a bugger to strart some days cheers tricky

The TVM stands for Tecumseh Vertical Medium frame. 195 means it has a cubic capacity of 19.5 cubic inches or 320 cc. 15001H is the specification, corresponding to Briggs' Type. After that is the serial number, 2103D, which decodes as follows:
2 is the last digit of the year of manufacture - probably 1982 in this case, given the age of the ride-on, but it could conceivably be 1992 if the engine has been replaced. If you post pictures of the governor mechanism on the carburetor we may be able to get closer - there was a design change in the mechanism in 1985.
103 is the day number in the year of manufacture - sounds like mid-April.
D is the line and shift at the factory where it was made.

I haven't found an advertised power output but a number of people refer to that engine as 8 hp.

If you find it hard to pull the starter, just be glad that engine has a decompressor fitted. I hope it still works, but it may not. It consists of a spring-loaded pin in the camshaft that sticks out beside the exhaust cam, so that the tappet rides over it. Above say 600 rpm, it is supposed to be automatically retracted. It looks like a tin-pot mechanism, and it has been a long time since 1982, so it is quite likely to need overhaul or replacement (if you can get parts: Tecumseh went out of business some years ago):