Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Tecumsen 9.0hp snow blower starting problem

Guy's,
I have a 9.0hp Craftsman snowblower with a tech engine.It ran fine last week.Now today we ran it for sometime shut it down for supper.Went back out to finish the work and the engine hard to start.And quits when you engage the auger.It will sputter out and die.:alarm: Please help as my wife is doing the work because of a shoulder surgery.It does has electric start.Could it be just a bad plug?I do see some backfire in the muffler,some flash every now and then nothing big though??Thanks so much :wall:

You probably have an iced carburetor issue. By design, snow throwers do not have air filters (because they would just freeze up) so the carburetor is exposed to the elements and water ingestion is common with all the snow dust floating around the engine. First, if you don't get a warm spell today, where any ice in the fuel bowl would have the chance to melt, add two ounces of isopropyl alcohol to the gas tank then you should take a hair dryer and direct the heat at the carburetor bowl. If my diagnosis is right it should take about five minutes of heat directed at the carb bowl in order to melt any ice in there. You can then run the engine and see how it goes and be sure to use two ounces of isopropyl alcohol each time you fill up the gas tank. If you got an unusual amount of water in the carburetor you may need to remove the bowl nut (main jet) and allow the water to drain out. Since water is more dense than fuel it will be the first to come out once removed. Just use a coffee can to catch the fuel/water that comes out and allow it to drain for only a few seconds and then reinstall the bowl nut.

Thanks so much:I did all of the above and it seemed to work.Also put a new plug in to.:coffee: I went to the repair center he tried to get me to bring it in for a valve job :eek: The machine is only two years old and has maybe 12hrs use on it.The plug was black (carbon) But is this normal Am I doing something wrong??Please help.Thanks again.
Rick

The plug was black (carbon) But is this normal Am I doing something wrong??Please help.Thanks again.

Black electrode on spark plug (some call it "coked") means high operating temps. This is pretty common when working at or near freezing temp because the air is not cold enough to efficiently cool the engine and to make things worse snow is heaviest in those conditions. High operating temps accelerates engine wear. You can alleviate this by slowing down the pace and only clear half-width paths on each pass.

Another cause for high engine temps is the use of the air filter. During retail assembly dealers are instructed to make sure the air filter housing does not contain a filter but sometimes some miss it. Snowblowers do not use air filters because they aren't exposed to dust during operation but they need cold air running freely through the (empty) housing for cooling/fuel mixture purposes. A friend of mine had overheating issues with his new machine for months and couldn't figure out what the problem so he took it to the dealer... who opened the air filter housing and found some rags and a few tools had been stored in there by my friend who had thought the housing would make a handy on-board toolbox. His machine was a Honda so the visit to the dealer was a costly lesson since rags stuffed in the filter housing is not covered by the warranty. The machine was not damaged though and the flashes went away.

Could someone tell me the correct operating temp would be?I have a infared temp gauge that I could check it with.And I am looking at the manual and do not see even a housing for a air filter?But I will try to clear less snow though.Great tips! Thank you.Because we have a dandy coming this sat into sunday ! Will this machine need a valve job maybe sometime down the raod.This is a almost new machine.I hate the thoughts that I damaged this unit.:wall:

As far as you needing a valve job, no. I have a snowblower that is 12 years old and it runs great. What the dealer should have recomended, from your posts, is a carb cleaning. Today's gas is good for only about 6 weeks before it starts to turn to varnish. Your plug is black indicating it is running rich and the carb air jets are most likely plugged with varnish. This is common on seasonal equipment. I suggest when you put it away this spring, add 2 oz of Stabil to the gas, run it for about 5 mins, then shut off the gas and let the engine die.
Snowblowers do not (except for Honda) use an air filter.
They do have a "heater box". This is the box over the carb. It gets heat from the muffler, heating the carb.
Another snow game for the Pats Sunday.

:gmorning:
I feel like a idiot at times when this thing does not run.I hope to make it though the season.I will take the carb off in the spring and give it a cleaning.Can you clean these when they are still on the unit :alarm: Thanks again,
Rick

You could try adding about 2 oz of liquid Gumout carb cleaner to the gas. It may or may not work, but it is worth a shot. About $5 and better than shoveling if it does work. It could take a while for you to notice anything as the gas has to run thru the carb to clean it.

yes,
I will try this also.But the dry gas and the new plug seemed to do the job for now.But will need a very good cleaning at the end of the seasson.If it makes it that far.:wall:
Thanks again,
Rick