Snowblower

[Rob]

I have 10 year old Toro 3hp snowblower. It worked fine the first few times I used it this year.

Last week, it worked fine initially but started to sputter and come close to dying after about 10 minutes of use. It was much worse when the snowblower was not engaged with the snow and almost normal when snow was actually being blown. I managed to operate it this way for an additional

5 minutes and finish my driveway.

A few days ago, the same thing occured only this time it did finally die after finishing half the driveway without a problem. Impossible to restart.

There's a storm on the way tonight. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[Joe Bobst]

[just me]

My immediate reaction is change the plug, spray the plug wire with a water disperser, and if possible drain the gas tank, and check the fuel line to the carb and refill with fresh gas. A small amount of dry gas couldn't hurt. Usually what happens with water in your gas is it collects in the carb bowl, forms a gel like substance and eventually blocks the jets. No gas, no go.

[Frank]

Is there a choke on it? On mine, you need to adjust the choke depending on the outside ambient temperature and how hot the snowblower motor is. So, on a cold day you start with the choke full-on but then you need to back it off as the machine comes up to temperature or you get sputtering and maybe eventually even a stall.

[Hamilton Audio]

this sounds like a blower way out of tune. the choke should be used for nothing more than starting it up in the cold. if you require choke after the engine has been running for several minutes, even a little bit of choke, the carb is out of tune and needs tweaking.

most modern blowers don't have chokes anymore anyway....its all primer :)

b

[Hamilton Audio]

sounds like a carb problem bud. you say when blowing snow (under load) the engine would have run closer to normal than "unloaded", right? your engine has a load compensating throttle that "gives er gas" when becoming loaded. this gas is what kept it running.

I had a similar problem on my old girl...early 80's model 10 hp, 29" cut. VERY powerful, but one day would start but not stay running. starting fluid in the carb kept it going enough to load it up and get it serviced. turned out to be a pluged main jet...crap built up and finally choked it off completely. a carb cleaning (not chemical, but disassembly and manual cleansing) resulted in the best running snowblower I've ever seen....

good luck!

b

[m Ransley]

My new John Deere single stage has a Choke lever .

[Hamilton Audio]

wow...haven't seen that yet!! My old girl has a choke lever too, but she's circa early 80's I believe...easy 20+ years on her.

guess you learn something every day!!

b