Starting a Snow Thrower.

[PaPaPeng]

Earlier this year I was having a problem starting my snow thrower and then to keeping it running. I had already changed the spark plug, cleaned the air filter and carburetor. To start I had to use a paint stripper heater to warm the cyliner head. To keep it running I had to run at half or at full throttle. Surely there isn't much to a two stroke single banger that can go wrong. Anyway a month ago I had a similar problem with my weed whacker. On this one I even stripped and rebuilt the engine. Didn't improve much. The only variable left was the two stroke engine oil ratio. Sure enough. In my effort to minimise polluting the atmosphere I had added engine oil on the thin side and this must have caused the engine to seize somewhat. A richer oil to gas ratio fixed the problem. Its late October and we already have our first snowfall. Keep this oil-fuel mixture ratio in mind if you have trouble with a two stroke engine. A little rich on the oil might improve your engine reliability.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I don't have any problem starting 2 cycle engines(snow thrower, weed eater, chain saw, yard vac.) Using correct oil with corect mix ratio? Using choke properly? If it gets really cold here(read minus 30C and down) I have to pull a few times but like today, minus 12C with bad wind/snowing, Toro thrower startd on the second pull. Once it starts wiat a while until engine warms up. To minimize pollution? Using engine oil is totally wrong! You have to choose right 2 cycle oil which produces least ash. Read the label on the bottle.

[Toller]

How would destroying your engine minimize polluting the atmosphere? Don't you think there would be emissions when they make your new one?

[PaPaPeng]

I wish these manufacturers would all agree on a single ratio for all two stroke engines. Won't happen. I think the weedwacker was 1:25 and the snow thrower 1:40 or something like that. I don't have the specs handy and I can't remember the correct mix for different engines. This bring up a wish list item - a Dollar Store squeeze bulb metering syringe marked with the ( two stroke oil) volume needed to add to a gallon of gas to make a specified ratio. To mix five gallons of gas just use that syringe five times. This beats guesswork using the barely visible window strip on the plastic oil container or using a lab type measuring cylinder.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I buy high quality 2 cycle marine engine oil and so far never had any problem.

[trader4]

And if you're worried about emissions, then why have a 2 stroke snowblower? Until now, I didn;t even know they existed. And it's hard to imagine screwing around with the mixture ratio from the manufacturer's recommendation is going to make any big diff in how much emissions it puts out anyway. Nor is the emission from this one unit going to change the environment. On the other hand, if he keeps doing this, he will reduce the engine emissions, when it quits for good.