Snowblower: Putting Away For The Season ?

[bob_villain]

I knew what you meant...I'm old too!

[Stormin Mormon]

Won't be the first time someone typed the wrong wierd.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Paintedcow]

I agree with most of this, but you dont need to replace the spark plug every year on something that is only used for a few hours every year. The average person probably only puts about 10 hours or less of use on a snowblower each winter. And even less than that on a garden tiller. I'd inspect the spark plug, but you should only need to replace it after 4 ir 5 winters. Even lawn mowers, which get more hours of use per year, dont need a new spark plug that often.

I would NOT spray WD-40 in the cylinder. Use motor oil ONLY. WD-40 is just kerosene with some additives and it will evaporate in a very short time, AFTER it washes away all the oil on the cylider walls and piston rings. Just put in a few squirts of motor oil, spin the engine so the piston goes up and down a couple times and replace the plug. That's it. (Of course this is after running it out of gas).

[clare]

No, in this case unless you have a very rare "regulator" carb with diaphragms instead of a float you WILL lose the bet. Guaranteed. The presense or lack of a vent on the fuel tank has no bearing on the results in this case.

[bob_villain]

...and your expertise is computers?

[clare]

One of my expertises. I spent the first 25 years of my working life as a mechanic working on small engines, ag equipment, cars and industrial equipment as well as teaching auto mechanics at the trade level - so yes, I know what I'm talking about. I left the auto mechanics trade for computers due to physical challenges.and have now been about 26 years in the computer hardware business.

[Wade Garrett]

I see your point re: the WD-40. I wonder though if motor oil in the cylinder will eventually succumb to gravity, drain off the walls, piston, et. al., and pool in the lowest point. What about other sprays like Breakfree CLP, etc. I wonder if they'd cling better.

On the plugs, I think it's more difficult than it seems to get all the combustion residue out without damaging/wearing the thing, especially if the engine has been running rich. Some mfrs recommend against using those grit-spraying plug cleaning machines as stuff can get wedged/lodged up inside and gets blown into the cylinder.

The time-honored wire brush method has its detractors too, especially if you're using an old brush with a bent or nicked bristle being more likely to break off and remain in there too.

Hell, I'm a big hitter and I'd just pop for the $2.99 and stick a new one in there!

[Ralph Mowery]

I am with you. For just a couple of bucks you can get a new one every 3 to

5 years. May not even need it. I have a weed eater that never has had the plug changed in about 10 years. I probably run it for about 10 to 20 minuits every week or so during the mowing season. I usually pull it one time and it sputters, then take it to half choke and pull and it starts.

I don't know why,but for some reason I change the mower plugs every year. It usually runs 2 hours each time I mow. I guess I got in the habit when I had a POS John Deere mower and bought the service kit every year that had plugs, oil and filters in it. Got rid of it a couple of years back due to the transmission going out. Found out that model was only good for a couple of years if you had any hills or pulled very much.

[clare]

You are overthinking it. Engine oil has been used for devades to preserve engines in storage. You can use heavier oil if you like but it makes it harder to start the engine when you take it out of storage. As for the plugs, NO sand blasting!! It used to be a normal way of cleaning plugs - back when plugs were expensive and were easily fouled with lead. Today a quick bake" with a torch will remove duel and oil fouling - if a plug needs more than that, put in a new one.

[Ralph Mowery]

Wasn't it that plugs only went about 10 to 15 thousand miles, now the cars get around 100 thousand or more out of a set of plugs ?

About the same with oil. Maybe a thousand or two miles between oil changes, now 5 to 8 thousand is the normal, more with the synthetic oils.

[bob_villain]

I asked a friend who worked for Mercury Marine as and engineer and manufacturing manager. He said you were correct...excuse my ignorance.

[clare]

forgiven.

[Diesel]

What exactly do you mean by computer hardware business?

[clare]

Computer sales/service and repair - as compared to computer software /progreamming business. I have 2 major contracts that keep me busy about 30 hours a week, plus some smaller jobs

[Wade Garrett]

Nice troll-- I hope ;-)

[Diesel]

I understand the comparison. I'm a certified PC technician myself. It's why I asked what you meant by the initial statement. On paper, for official 'legal reasons' in this area, I'm not allowed to count my experience level prior to the age of eighteen. So, I just tell people who don't know me that I've been in the business of IT (computer support/service/networking, etc. custom built clones if the client wants it; technical support of whatever 3rd party product they bought if they don't) for just over twenty years or so now. Despite the fact I actually have copyrights to software that's a bit older than twenty years. Software was far easier to get into when I was a kid, costs were relative to nothing compared to hardware. :)

It's not something I fell into due to an inability of working in my previous field, either. It's something that I learned how to do as a kid and I kept with it. Some kids mowed yards for extra money during those days, I went and fixed POS (point of sale. lol) machines at the local retail outlets. My first actual contract work was when I was fourteen. I wrote (from scratch) a new POS package (and provided supporting hardware to boot) for a local Ace hardware store franchise.

When you mentioned a computer support/technical background, I thought we might have something in common; which is why I asked you about it.

I am curious though.. what sort of work do you do that's under contract that requires so much of your time and never seems to have an end in sight? Are you babysitting servers or something?

Thanks for answering!

[Diesel]

Uhh, No.

I freely admit to being an outsider for the purposes of this newsgroup, but, i'm far from an outsider in the IT world.

I have a bit of a dark past, but, I've been around awhile. I served (lol, humour) two years with Malwarebytes as an expert Malware Researcher. Prior to being recruited by them to work for them (I didn't reach out to them about any job; I didn't even know they were hiring) I was developing and actively supporting my own tiny antimalware scanner known as BugHunter. (five out of five doves award from completelyfreesoftware.com)

Prior to that, I released some shareware/freeware legit apps and some not so legit stuff from hpavc scenes; that I originally grew up in. Back when the BBS scene was alive and well. The BBS documentaries DVD actually discussed three boards up north that I was more than a regular user of. Read: Co-SysOp

I've built and supported my own gear since I was a teenager and my comptia certificate is so old, I'm grandfathered in. I couldn't tell you without looking if the certs I have from HP and xerox are still grandfathered or simply expired now. A former employer thought those certs would look great for company advertising, etc. I personally didn't see the point, but, I wasn't the big chief in charge either.

Despite the fact I consider IT to be an ongoing life long thing. Always an opportunity to learn something new. Be it new hardware or something spectacular visible from an IDA pro window (a kickass commercial/limited freeware functionality) diassembler.

I've been dealing with computers in one way shape or form for over thirty years now. As I can't claim first hand knowledge of them prior to the age of eighteen years old on advertising materials (for the purposes of experience), I state from eighteen years old onwards. Placing me at the twenty year mark, officially. Although, as I said, my hands on experience from the software and hardware side is a bit older than that.

I don't know the regulars of this newsgroup yet. It's not a place I frequent so much. So when they mentioned computer hardware business, I was naturally curious to know more. I'm not trying to troll anyone. The statement was so vague, Several different things could cover it and they'd all be right. Examples: a former radio shack franchisee owner, geek squad associate, etc.

[clare]

You sound like my nephew.

I do a bit of server babysitting, but less than I used to.We have a " network specialist" looking after that now so when a server goes down or files aree lost it's not my responsibility any more..I don't have to agree with how that's done any more - iwhen (not if) it breaks now it's their problem. I also look after about 40 PCs and 40 some printers and the phone system - , moving workstations,- I'm basically yhe "help desk" and all kinds of other miscalaneous tech maintenance.

- that's the 5 morning gig.. Have 5 new PCs to set up and put in place in the next week or so. Install all the sofrware, transfer files and settings etc. I also do some internet stuff for them - somewhere around 100 domains (I don't do the website design stuff any more either -handed that off to a younger guy - but I still end up doing the trouble-shooting when something doesn't work.) The 2 afternoon gig is similar, with about 30 PCs on the plant floor, plus the office and shipping/recieving. Will be replacing 25 plant machines as soon as the software guys are ready to move to Win7 from XP. Works out to between 5 and 8 hours a week on that one right now. Getting ready to slow down a bit and move towards retirement slowly. "I'll fix anything but the crack of dawn or a broken heart"

[Diesel]

:)

Thanks for the detailed and friendly reply to my query.