Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Snowblower won't start...flywheel not engaging

I have an older MTD Snow King with 8 HP Tecumseh engine. Has been running fine. I ran it this morning and then tonight it would not start. Pull cord moves without resistance. Plugged in starter and it started and then stalled. Now starter just spins and is not engaging flywheel? What should I do? We have had a lot of snow lately and more is coming.

Your pull cord (recoil starter) needs to be rebuilt. The dogs are not catching. The kit is around $10 and is easy to install.
The cup could also be worn, but that rare.
As for the electric starter, you need to remove the gas tank to get to the starter, and check the bolts that hold it on. They are most likely loose. The starter should be mounted solid to the engine. Seems like every snowblower that comes in my shop with a problem with the electric starter has to do with the bolts working them selves loose after a few years of use.

Seems like every snowblower that comes in my shop with a problem with the electric starter has to do with the bolts working them selves loose after a few years of use.

And then the starter gear and flywheel are bad too and need to be replaced. Bad design as far as i'm concerned.

Thanks for the information. I will go home after work and see it the starter is loose. Will also look into buying a recoil starter kit... THANKS AGAIN.

Thanks for all the advice. I removed starter and it looked fine. So I removed front cover and found dogs were hard to move. So I oiled them and put everything back together. Started on first pull. Ran great... faster than I ever remember. At end of driveway I noticed flames out muffler and muffler is glowing orange. I turned it off and pushed it back into the garage. I then shoveled the rest of the driveway. What did I screw up now?

What did I screw up now?
You didn't screw anything up, machine is running lean, when was the last time the carb was cleaned?

I wanted to say thanks for all the good advice. I removed the cover to see the linkages and the carburetor. Two problems... governor was stuck...wire cables were bent and stuck... unstuck them and straightened them out. This might of happened when I assembled the front cover after oiling the dogs. The bowl was also leaking gas...played with screws on bottom and leaking is less... able to start it up and have used it twice... working good. Thanks again.

This might of happened when I assembled the front cover after oiling the dogs. The bowl was also leaking gas...played with screws on bottom and leaking is less... able to start it up and have used it twice... working good. Thanks again.

I doubt it, taking the rewind starter off couldn't possibly mess up the carb linkage, they are behind the air box. Glad you got it working, they are finicky machines but once they are running they run well.