trouble starting snowblower

[Wade Lippman]

I have a 22" 2 stage snowblower. It is 5 years old.
The 2nd year it was hard to start and only ran with the choke on. Serviceman replaced the carb without even looking at it. He said they were crap and I could count on replacing it yearly.
3rd and 4th years were uneventful
We are expecting 8" of wet snow this weekend, so I thought I would fire it up.
Five pulls didn't do anything at all. arghhhh.
For no particular reason except desperation, I moved the choke to "run". It started on the next pull and ran fine for a few minutes until I shut it off.

So, do I have a problem? It is the exact opposite of the 2nd year's problem, but I know nothing about engines.

[Jerry Thompson]

Was the gasoline left in it during the off season without being treated?

[George Bokros]

The evaporating gas leaves a deposit in all the tiny passages in the carb. I always remove the gas from all my equipment (snow blower, mower, tiller) at the end of the season then start it and run it untill it stops when it has used up the gas left in the tank and csrb bowel.

[Dave Lehnert]

Everyone who uses gas powered lawn equipment should get use to using a gasoline stabilizer with every fill up. At the very least, at the end of every season.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/STA-BIL-Fuel-Stabilizer/16645039

I have never used this stuff (link below) but reviews are good. Be worth a try. Home Depot also sells it or a like item.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Start-Your-Engines-Fuel-System-Revitalizer-4-oz/23565899?action=product_interest&action_type=title&beacon_version=1.0.2&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&client_guid=7c486d39-c66b-47fa-88bd-244ef39fc5d0&config_id=106&customer_id_enc&findingMethod=p13n&guid=7c486d39-c66b-47fa-88bd-244ef39fc5d0&item_id=23565899&parent_anchor_item_id=16645039&parent_item_id=16645039&placement_id=irs-106-m2&reporter=recommendations&source=new_site&strategy=SMT&visitor_id=IM8MWKamWeAecL2cgPXeas


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[ryan paulsen]

try a heavy dose of seafoam, usually does the trick to clear a mildly gunked carb

[Bill Orbine]

Seems to me you'll be fine for the time being. You probably flooded the motor a little with a little bit of bad gas that made it difficult to start under choke after several pulls. Now you have it started with choke out, fresh fuel replaced the old after having run the machine a few minutes.

Go back out and try starting it again.....should be better this time with choke.

[Wade Lippman]

I ran the gas out last year; but maybe there was a bit left somewhere. The stuff I put in today was a couple weeks old, ethanol-free, with stabilizer.

Will try it again tomorrow. Thanks.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Get some "Mechanic in a Bottle." It's a little over $5 at HD in our market. I don't know what is in this stuff, but it works. I rescue lawn mowers and small engines from dumpster (five time gold medalist in dumpster diving.) Drain existing fuel, add fresh fuel along with MIB. Crank, almost always using choke to get it to idle, or run. Let idle for a few minutes and listen to engine smooth out. We picked up some water in our van. Changed fuel filter, but it still ran rough, so I added a bottle of MIB to fuel tank. In less than ten minutes of driving, she purrs like a kitten.

[Kev Williams]

Ethanol, and poor engineering, are your biggest enemies... Ethanol because it breaks down certain types of rubber still used in certain types of fuel lines, poor engineering because they still build these things with hoses that won't tolerate ethanol.

I'd bet a buck there was nothing wrong with your carb. Chances are it looked like this inside...
347822
--this was in my mower's carb. Gasohol jello. Sticky & slimy, and it has no problem finding its way into the jet.
The alcohol breaks down the gas line rubber, this is the result. I've found this crap in our houseboat's carbs too (1988 boat, old gas lines).
This float bowl was on my 18 year old Toro. My new Weedeater mower, I've had to clean this stuff out of it 3 times every summer...


This is my snowblower, big ol' 3-stage Cub Cadet, when it was new. I've had it 3 years. Still looks exaclty like this, because I've only used it 5 times.
(won't snow since I bought it) ;)
347823
--Last year it wouldn't start without about 10 pulls on full choke. This was because hmm, there's no resistance on the primer bulb.
Getting TO the primer bulb requires nearly an hour of disassembly of half the machine. I was expecting to find a the primer tube broke off at the bulb.
I was half right. What I found was the primer tube broke. As in broken like windshield glass..
It was still intact until I grabbed it, and it imploded into a million little pieces. Within 2 years, the fumes from the alcohol in the gas completely
destroyed the clear rubber primer tube. Now, why would the build this thing like a brick shiphouse, and put a primer hose on the thing they KNOW
is going to turn to dust when exposed to alcohol? Why does Weedeater put gas lines on their new mowers they know alcohol will attack?
Well, I have my opinion on that, but I digress...

[Justin Ludwig]

As mentioned, use a stabilizer like STABIL, but go a step further and only buy high octane ethanol free gas. The extra cost is worth the less-maintenance and less-hassle savings. I forgot to use STABIL one year and didn't have any problems the following spring because I used 93 octane gas (that's my theory and I'm sticking to it).

As for having to choke the engine to start it, that's common. Every small engine I have has to be full choked on first start, even my 27hp ZT mower. A few of them have to run for a few minutes at half choke before I can put them to full use.

[George Bokros]

Not only does the alcohol in the fuel break down some rubber hoses and seals but the alcohol in the gas absorbs moisture in the air and settles to the bottom of the fuel bowl, it also does it in your gas can. I never thought about this until I purchased an Echo leaf blower / vac shredder. Echo recommends not using gas with ethanol which can be found or using a good quality fuel stabilizer.

The ethanol absorbing the moisture is like putting dry gas in your car in the winter to get the moisture out of your gas tank and fuel lines so you do not get fuel line freeze up or carb icing.

[Kurt Kintner]

I bought some fuel shutoff valves from Amazon, and put one on all my small engines....
After I use one, I shut off the fuel and let the engine run until it stalls ...

[Wade Lippman]

This morning it coughed on the first pull, and started on the second. So I think I am good. But it is 60 today. Monday morning, when I have 6" of wet snow, it will be 25. We will see just how good.

[michael langman]

I have been putting an ounce of seafoam and an ounce of marvel mystery oil into my equipments tanks for years when filling them up with gas that has been treated with stabil fuel stabilizer. 87 octane gas with ethanol, and I never have problem.

[Bill Jobe]

I use seafoam in all my gas engines. Sure glad BP decided to at least give us a choice with the premium. Awful to have to pay so much to use in a mower or power washer but probably worth it over time.
My daughter and her husband have a problem with water making its way into their basement even though they brought in enough fill dirt to raise the house about 10' when they built.
One day I got a call from my son in law asking if I had a gas generator. His 2 sump pumps had been off while he was gone. Found out the gas with alcohol had messed up his generator. I will not put it in anything. Besides, I think the claim that it is more "green" than gasoline is bogus. And there's less energy in it. If a car doesn't need 91% you not only pay more per gallon, but milage suffers as well.

[Wade Lippman]

I think the claim that it is more "green" than gasoline is bogus. And there's less energy in it.

Nobody thinks it is green! It takes more energy to grow the corn and turn it into alcohol than is contained in the alcohol.
It is purely and simply a subsidy for farmers. We would all be better off if we just gave them money and stopped ruining our gasoline; but you know Washington.
(If I wanted to be charitable, I would say that the program was just a prototype for when we can make alcohol out of agricultural waste; but that day may never come)

It actually works well in Brazil where they make it cheaply out of sugar cane; but you can't grow sugar cane in the US unless it is heavily subsidized.

[Myk Rian]

The evaporating gas leaves a deposit in all the tiny passages in the carb. I always remove the gas from all my equipment (snow blower, mower, tiller) at the end of the season then start it and run it untill it stops when it has used up the gas left in the tank and csrb bowel.
I have yet to use a stabilizer. I just siphon then run the gas out and store the machine. Been doing it that way for decades.

[Barry McFadden]

I have a Sears /Craftsman snowblower that I bought about 30 years ago. Every spring I empty the gas and run it until it quits. In the fall I change the oil and spark plug and grease all the fittings and fill with gas and stabilizer. Starts first push of the electric start every year....hope I don't jinx it by saying this!!!!