Why is oil coming out of snow blower tube?

[raymondjiii]

I have an Ariens snow blower that has oil dripping out of the rubber breather tube. I believe that that is what the purpose is for - let oil out. But it seems to be a significant amount. Any idea what would cause this? Oddly enough I checked the oil level and it is still at the fulll mark despite losing what looked like a lot of oil dripping out of the tube and down the side of the unit. I can't say if this has ever happened before. I've only used this thing a few times over the past few years. I would see a very small amount of oil on the floor after using it but I never really worried about it.

I guess it's possible that the oil drips down and mixes with the melted snow and gives the "impression" of a lot of oil and maybe it's not that much. But I am still suspicious. Anyone have any knowledge about what is actually going on inside the engine that causes this?

[ransley]

You might have a stuck float flooding the motor and crankcase diluting the oil with gas, check the oil to see if its thin and smells like gas. I just saw a motor fully load with gas so it would not even turn over, in removing the plug and turning it over gas shot out 15ft

[raymondjiii]

It seems to start fine. It does not use any excessive gas. I heard that if you tip the unit during operation this will happen. My driveway is on a hill but not a massive hill. Every other snowblower that I've owned (they were all much smaller) never had this problem that I could see. I'm wondering if this breather valve was installed backwards or upside down???