Greg 72 ---message for you..

[diesel4me]

Greg:

I got your PM the other day about your snowblower...
I tried replying by e-mailing you but you may not have gotten it?..

My membership expired and my PM box is now maxed out,so I cant reply to you that way...I wanted to renew my membership but see no way to pay it other than paypal..I dont have that or any credit cards--only cash...and now that I got my property tax bill,I dont have 100 bucks to spend now either...looks like I'll be only in the "Garage" for however long now..

Your snowblower sounds like it might have sheared the flywheel key,if it even looks "stepped" instead of square it'll throw off the ignition timing and wont run,or it might kick back when you try pulling the rope,throw a flame out the carb or exhaust,etc...some of the newer B&S engines with OHV have the rocker arms come off or the pushrods bend too..
let me know how you make out with it...

 

[Greg72]

Robert,

Thanks so much for the advise... I did get your original message and meant to send you a reply, but things got crazy over the last few days.

I'm not sure what happened. Yesterday I went out to hand-shovel the remainder of the driveway and figured I would at least TRY to see if the snowblower would start or not. Remarkably, it fired right up and it ran perfectly for the 30 minutes it took me to finish the driveway....

I have no idea why it stumbled and puked so bad....maybe I'm still running through some bad gas in the tank?? Somewhere I read that small engines run better on the lower octane fuels (87 or 89 octane) which is what I typically use, but if you think there is some value to running it on 91 or 93 octane I can give that a shot.. it's only a couple bucks extra per jerrycan and it beats shoveling by hand!!!!

I know that this isn't "Garage" topic, but I'll leave it here for now since it's the only place you can reply.... I'll get in touch with Steve Fox today and see if we can get your membership issues worked out.


Thanks again!

-G

 

[eagle mark]

You may have picked up a puddle of water from tank. Drain it and use Non Ethanol and never have the issue again. All small engine shops recommend it. Ethanol fuel attracks moisture and all these small engines have vented tanks.

 

[magik235]

I have too many small engines. A snowblower, lawn mower, garden tractor, lawn vacuum, 2 roto tillers, 2 chain saws and a log splitter. I have had issues with carbs in the past so I started using Sea Foam on a regular basis and it made a significant improvement.

 

[sweetk30]

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275286&highlight=lawn+mower

 

[diesel4me]

I forgot about that thread SweetK30 posted the link too...the ethanol is a bane for small engines--I think vehicles with carbs dont run well on it either myself...ethanol not only attracts water,it burns leaner and hotter and only new fuel injected engines that can advance the timing with the computer seem to run on it worth a darn..

I own at least a dozen small engine powered things,and have had the same thing happen as Greg described--its like they get hot,then the fuel vapor locks and they'll stall,yet the next day or after it cools it will re-start and run OK again..I think they dont regulate the amount of alcohol in the gas well enough--I'm betting some batches had 25% ,instead of 10 or 15%...along with water and other crud it loosened up from the bulk tanks and trucks that delivered it..

Some newer small engines have faulty igntion module/coils that crap out when they get hot,or just feel like not working,and can come back to life like magic and let it run perfectly again...another reason I like old tractors with points and car type coils!..magneto coils can be fussy too,and do much the same...

Newer OHV engines seem to like to blow head gaskets and the rockers and push rods fail often on B&S engines...the cheap "Predator" engines that are clones of Honda;s that are sold by Harbor Freight seem to hold up well though,but can be hard or impossible to get parts for,at least for less than another engine costs...some honda parts fit and work--some dont..

Anyway Greg,I'm glad it ran again and it was not the flywheel key or a valve issue..I hate the newer small engines--just like modern vehicles,they are built of cheap die cast crap,everything is buried under plastic covers and harder than ever to fix,and easy to ruin..

I prefer old cast iron engines,but unfortunately those are the ones that run the poorest on todays gas..if you can buy ethanol free fuel I'd definately say to use ONLY that,if not,the Seafoam or Star-Tron additives do seem to help offset the issues ethanol causes...and dont leave any ethanol gas in the tank or your gas cans more than a month or two or you'll definately regret doing so..

 

[Greg72]

Thanks again Robert...... I'll try some Seafoam in my jerry cans from now on. I've been using Sta-Bil when I put my stuff away for the season, but didn't realize that the ethanol fuels required even more effort to keep small engines happy.





(p.s. you are now free to move about the forums!)


-G

 

[wasted wages]

but didn't realize that the ethanol fuels required even more effort to keep small engines happy

This is what ethanol fuels will do for you on small engines..

long story short... This is the fuel screen out of my Yamaha Grizzly 660...
After rebuilding and cleaning the carb twice,, then replacing the Carb,,,adjusting the valves,, replacing fuel lines...swearing/screaming/cursing the Gods of internal combustion...

I found this floating around in my fuel tank.....

According to the techs at Yamaha,,,due to the ethanol in today's fuel,,when you leave the tank partially full and the screen is not covered in fuel,,the plastic dries out due to the ethanol and begins to fall apart.

I jacked with this problem for a few months before I ever knew ( my own fault) that ATV's even had a screen in the tank (on the petcock) ...

26.00 later and a trip to Yamaha,,, a new petcock was installed,, the carb cleaned for the final time....and now it purrs like a kitten....

One of life's hard lessons learned...

 

[tRustyK5]

You have a pet cock?

 

[wasted wages]

You have a pet cock?

yup.....

a big 'ol two headed one too.....

 

[sweetk30]

I had to replace the one on my atv 1 time it got to HARD to turn ON/OFF

 

[eagle mark]

This is what ethanol fuels will do for you on small engines..

long story short... This is the fuel screen out of my Yamaha Grizzly 660...
After rebuilding and cleaning the carb twice,, then replacing the Carb,,,adjusting the valves,, replacing fuel lines...swearing/screaming/cursing the Gods of internal combustion...

I found this floating around in my fuel tank.....

According to the techs at Yamaha,,,due to the ethanol in today's fuel,,when you leave the tank partially full and the screen is not covered in fuel,,the plastic dries out due to the ethanol and begins to fall apart.

I jacked with this problem for a few months before I ever knew ( my own fault) that ATV's even had a screen in the tank (on the petcock) ...

26.00 later and a trip to Yamaha,,, a new petcock was installed,, the carb cleaned for the final time....and now it purrs like a kitten....

One of life's hard lessons learned...

AND use non ethanol fuel. It's really not that much more money even if not considering the damage when not used. Same for small engines. I only have need to keep one 5 gallon gas can with non ethanol for my needs.

Last spring I went to the dump every week or twice a week and got one year old lawn mowers, just kept fixing and up grading, then when a neighbor came by for me to fix their lawn mower I'd just give them a new one, unless they really wanted their old one back...