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Snow blower not running right...


Willie

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Fired up the blower to take care of the little bit of snow we had the other day. Ran the gas dry last season and put fresh in this season. It fires right up and runs, but even after warm, the engine surges like its running out of gas with the choke OFF. It runs smoother after warmed with the choke on about 3/4. Wasn't like that before. Does the carb need cleaned? Any ideas? Thanks

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Always keep it simple before replacing anything. The surging is a symptom of lean condition (not enough gas). Take the bowl off the carb, and clean the jets, put it back together, and see if it cures it. Likely on your bowl there is a push-in valve, and each year after you run it out of gas, you're supposed to push that in and let the remainder of gas out. Just running it out of gas doesn't take ALL the gas out of the carb, just the gas that the jet makes contact with.

 

My Toro / Lawn Boy with the primitive Tecumseh 5hp motor has been running like a dream for 14 years through snowstorm after snowstorm and with Ethanol, no problem.

 

-MKL

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I'd mix some Seafoam in the gas and run out a tank to see if that frees things up. And add stabil at the end of season before I ran out the gas.

 

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My Toro / Lawn Boy with the primitive Tecumseh 5hp motor has been running like a dream for 14 years through snowstorm after snowstorm and with Ethanol, no problem.

 

-MKL

 

That's great. It's probably attributable, in part, to the fact that you know how to take care of your small engine(s). There's more information on the problem here; not being too mechanically inclined, it sounds to me like the best thing you can do with small engines to lessen the likelihood of these problems is exactly what you do--fully draining the system every year.

 

Is there anything else you'd suggest that might be helpful, like using fuel system cleaners occasionally? The suggestion of some small engine mechanics is to avoid ethanol blends completely, but that's virtually impossible in many places.

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Always keep it simple before replacing anything. The surging is a symptom of lean condition (not enough gas). Take the bowl off the carb, and clean the jets, put it back together, and see if it cures it. Likely on your bowl there is a push-in valve, and each year after you run it out of gas, you're supposed to push that in and let the remainder of gas out. Just running it out of gas doesn't take ALL the gas out of the carb, just the gas that the jet makes contact with.

 

My Toro / Lawn Boy with the primitive Tecumseh 5hp motor has been running like a dream for 14 years through snowstorm after snowstorm and with Ethanol, no problem.

 

-MKL

For storage I follow the same regiment each spring. While the carb bowl is off,I sprayout all the orifices with *Ether/starting fluid* to clean out any gas residue.

Give a few minutes to dry and then reassemble. *Starting Fluid* is cheap and cleans away all gas/oil/grease residue and evaporates leaving no flim behind. (I use it all the time in the shop)

A few pulls of the handle will also cleanout any left behind gas/starting fluid. Then it is stored dry till next time it is used. There have been 2-3 year intervals between use and never a starting/running problem. Even the rubber tip on the "carb needle" stayed flexible.

Oh,it's a '91 Craftsmens blower/5hp Tecumseh bought new in 1991.

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Rich-

 

You go farther than I do, but your advice sounds great. I just run it out of gas, push in the valve on the bowl to let out any reminants, squirt a little oil in the spark plug hole and give it a pull to distribute throughout the cylinder, and put it away. Sometimes if I'm in a generous mood I spray the whole thing down with WD40 too, just to keep it looking new. It literally runs like new, and looks like new after 14 years.

 

There is no chance of avoiding Ethanol here. And re "cleaners" they won't really do much if you have a really gunked up situation. The carbs on these are a 5 minute affair. Often there's no air cleaner at all, so access is super simple. Cleaning the good old fashioned way is quick and thorough.

 

-MKL

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I have a nasty surge in my lawn edger. I attribute it to lean jetting required by California's annoying CARB emission rules now affecting small gas engines. Not surprisingly this POS has no external provision to fatten up the mixture

I plan to pull the carb off and drill the jet a bit larger. Thankfully Ca has not yet required bi-annual smog checks on small engines.

Maybe next time I will buy a hybrid lawn edger.

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Mike-

 

That article is interesting, especially the 2-cycle angle. Ethanol is an example of regulations run amok. It is proven to be not only a poor additive for gas, but a horrible polluter as well. Unfortunately it continues to be mandated thanks to hefty campaign contributions from Big Agriculture.

 

-MKL

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The suggestion of some small engine mechanics is to avoid ethanol blends completely, but that's virtually impossible in many places.

 

You're right, but trying to find pure gasoline is still worth a try. I use puregas.org to help me find ethanol-free fueling stations and go out of my way to purchase it for my (many) small engines, as well as my other vehicles if convenient. There is a POI file available too.

 

Jay

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+1 on adding a bit of Seafoam to the tank.

 

and +1 on spraying the hell out of the carb with some carb cleaner. We had the same issue with my brother in-laws Craftsman riding mower last winter. The idle was surging all over the place. I pulled the carb and gave her hell with about 2 cans of carb cleaner, then followed by a few shots of eather down the intake when it was running. It all helped, but a bottle of Seafoam through the tank and regular use is what totally fixed it.

 

I also blame the ethanol.......my buddies with boats/jet skis have been having fuel issues like this for years. They all rely on Seafoam.

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You're right, but trying to find pure gasoline is still worth a try. I use puregas.org to help me find ethanol-free fueling stations and go out of my way to purchase it for my (many) small engines, as well as my other vehicles if convenient. There is a POI file available too.

 

It's actually pure-gas.org.

 

Not that it would particularly energy-efficient for me to travel to get some pure gas for my snowblower:

 

5398.thumb.jpg.86a4ec8e7e919eb69eb52e52f1429144.jpg

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It's actually pure-gas.org.

 

Not that it would particularly energy-efficient for me to travel to get some pure gas for my snowblower:

 

 

Oops, yes I forgot the hyphen. I only buy it once or twice each year. I get 5 gallons and immediately put some fuel stabilizer in there. I then use it in my chain saw, weed wacker, leaf blower, ATVs and snowblower. 'Course I have to mix some with oil for the 2 cycle engines. I try to take the can with me when I am going to be driving through an area where a station is located. If it's been a few months, then I'll dump the older fuel in the car and fill the can with fresh. Yes, all this is a bit of a bother, but I've not had any carburator trouble since I started doing it.

 

If E-15 fuel becomes the new standard, then this will be even more important. Don't get me started... :mad:

 

Jay

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Thanks for the input. Put some Seafoam in it as soon as I noticed it not running right, but it might not have run through enough though. Got to the carb to spray it out good with carb cleaner. Still isn't running the best, but it may clear up. Boy, they really make it hard to get to the carb on these things! Float bowl drain is right out in teh open, but the carb itself is stuck behind the exhaust guard and a bunch of plastic and linkages. Hope I don't need back in there again. Thanks for the help.

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Willie - take the bowl off and the jet out. Spray the jet through. That's the problem, not so much spraying the rest of the carb...

 

-MKL

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Willie - take the bowl off and the jet out. Spray the jet through. That's the problem, not so much spraying the rest of the carb...

 

-MKL

 

I was going to do that also, but need to run the gas tank empty first. No shutoff and didn't have time to run it dry. THAT is easy to get to after its all together. Its a weird setup. Two of the bolts that help hold the plastic cover on actually are the two bolts that hold the carb to the manifold. Weird pulling the cover and seeing the carb start to slide of with it. Thanks

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I'm not a fan of wire. The brass is very soft and could be gouged or nicked by wire. Trust me, carb spray dissolved it all. Take the jet out, and spray it with the thin red straw going straight through the jet. Does the trick every time.

 

-MKL

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