Another Snowblower ?

[cliffy]

I recently got a used snowblower. It was bought from a relative who had it for one year and used it once or twice. I had a friend go thru it, clean the carb, dump the old gas..etc. I have used it a few times and the engine was running just fine.

Today I was blowing when it started to act like it was running out of gas. I had been using it all day and it was working fine until this started. It would idle down, sputter and idle back up. I ran it into the garage, unscrewed the gas cap and noticed it was half full. The gas was good as I was using the same stuff all day. I checked it over, couldnt find anything wrong with it. Pulled the plug and it looked fine. It still starts but wont run at a constant idle speed. Lots of back firing and sputtering..once second it sounds like its going to run fine..and then it sputters, back fires and picks back up. If I idle it down from the run position, its very hit and miss..and dies out. Any suggestions on where to start?

[Dave S]

Some blowers have a cheap plastic key that needs to be in place for it to run. I had a Huskee (made by MTD) that had this key and it wasn't quite pushed in all the way one day. The intermittent connection caused the same issue you described.

Related to the above, it could be a loose wire connection to the switch this key plugs into. I'm not sure how many blowers had this design, but it's a thought.

I want to say there might also be a switch that regulates the throttle. When mine would be sitting idling, it would fluctuate the thottle on it's own. I can't recall the purpose behind this, but was told it was part of the design and not to worry about it.

[Macgyver55]

Sounds like you may have some water in the gas. Mine was acting similarly yesterday, so I pulled the float bowl thinking I'd find some crud but all I found was some water droplets in the gas. Dumped it out put on an inline filter and its running great now. All it takes is a few snow flakes to cause a problem when you open the cap to check or fill it.

[cliffy]

I checked the plastic key and that is good. It was all the way in..and the connections look good.

I pulled the cover off and watched the throttle linkage and it would move around on its own when trying to run at full throttle.

I thought it might be water in the gas but I thought the whole tank would run poorly. When this started, it was still 1/4 to 1/2 full. I did dump the gas and put in more "fresh" gas that I had been using all day. I guess I will have to pull the carb apart. I am not very good at this stuff. So, you are telling me that even if I dumped the gas from the tank (unplugged the gas line and drained it into a bucket) there still could be water in the carb? I also pushed in the spring/screw on the bottom the of carb and drained that gas as well. I guess I would be surprised if water was left behind...but I guess its worth taking apart.

[Dave S]

there could be some water left in the bowl. Water will sit at the bottom of the bowl on your carb. At the right moment, it could take up some water and cause it run poorly.

I would drain the bowl on the carb also.

[Macgyver55]

Pretty much yes, it can get into the carb any old time and wont necessarily go away without help. But you only need to pull the bowl off the carb, not take the whole thing off. One nut at the bottom of the bowl and its off. Literally a 2 minute job. The brass nut piece is actually the jet too. The orfices in the jet are very small, so when the water sloshes around in the bowl it momentarily cuts off the ability for gas to flow through them, but the water usually wont go through them. I usually dump the bowl into a clear container and look at it, its pretty easy to see if there is water in it.

[cliffy]

Ok, sounds like a place to start. I will pull it apart tomorrow after work. Thanks for the info.

[eurolarva]

If it is back firing it sounds like a timing problem. I would imagine this has a wood ruff key like a lawn mower and I wonder if it sheared. If it sheared and the timing shifted only a few degrees it would back fire. I would check how close the spark plug fires in respect to TDC on the piston. Mine really struggled with the wet stuff we got on Xmas.

[huntnfish]

I had a blower that started acting up after running it for a while and it was the governer freezing up. The symptoms were a little different but it would work perfect after it thawed out.

[cliffy]

Thanks for the help guys. It turned out to be a partially blocked needle/jet. Cleaned it out and she is running again. Thanks.