How Not To Start Your Snowblower Engine

With the possible exception that the ignition of excess fuel was just a coincidence, I have no idea why this worked.

I've got to ask this. Despite the probable embarrassing moments, don't you wish you had a video of this to review now?

Personally, I do not need the video. I have a photographic memory, I never forget a photograph. That said in jest, the entire experience is forever planted in the void between my ears. As for the excess fuel that thought crossed my mindless but it should have shown on the plug.

I clicked on the link hoping there was a video!!!

Your logical deductions are perfect. I fully agree with the conclusions.

you were haft right as far as draining the gas out, but you always have some gas in the fuel bowl. drain the gas then remove the carberator fuel bowl retaining bolt. remove the fuel bowl and shoot carberator cleaner into all the orfices. check that the float needle valve is'nt stuck in it's seat. the float should raise and fall under it's own weight.. be delicate when lifting and lowering the float. let it soak for a few hours. dump a small amount of gas in the tank..gas should flow freely through the float needle vale. sew it back up. [i suggest a teaspoon of injector cleaner in the first tank of gas]. this normally works as long as you have good spark. never use old gas.

use a gasoline stabilizer next year.

You obviously either didn't read the first post, or didn't comprehend it.

I have no idea, but it's a damn fine story.
It could only be improved if the engine had somehow started to run as a pulsed jet and shot off down the road with a long tail of flame from the exhaust.
I'd suggest this addition in any future telling
Del

Thank you all for your responses. The good news out of all of this is there was no apparent damage to the engine and it ran fine all of last season, started up immediately this year and already got used once this past week. The suggestion about fuel stabilizer is valid for all small engines and I always use it when buying gas that may sit around for a while in a plastic jug.

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

Pray, how does a moron know, whether he is a moron or not?

It is written: Tis nobler to keep one's mouth shut and allow others to consider him a fool rather than to open it and remove all doubt!

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

Someone tells him, so he believes it?
Del

If he is married I can assure you he will not be in doubt for long,

BAB

Well said, mate.

Ohhh I forgot one thing, add some dry gas to the stale gas prior to initial start-up, so as to soak up any water in the gasoline!

Or maybe not! Drygas is alcohol. The gasoline already has alcohol in it. Too much and the engine will not start until everything is cleaned out and fresh gas put in. My snowblower and lawnmower almost always start on the first pull after having been run dry the season before and fresh gas put in when the next season comes around. Drygas used to be a useful product but today's gas formulas do not need it.

you beat me to writing the same comments

draining fuel out of the tank and carb allows risk of rust growing in the tank and corrosion in the carby bowl

so yes . add a little oil to both .

as for answer to OP , guessing he might have had some water in the fuel making it hard to start then leading to flooding which was burned off by the "external afterburner" applied.

plus of course the ghost in the machine got warmed up and said " i will start now or this guy is gonna burn my ass"

Four years ago I bought my first ever snow blower. At the end of the season I followed the manufacturer's instructions for storage. I ran the engine until out of gas, removed the spark plug, shot a little engine oil into the cylinder, and cranked the engine over a few times.

The next November, I changed the crankcase oil and filled it with fresh gas. It would not start with the manual pull cord and it took a half hour before it finally started using the electric starter, but would only run on full choke. When the first snow storm came, it would not run at all. Fortunately there is a small engine repair shop some five blocks from my house, all down hill. I was able (barely) to push the blower to the shop and $150 later had the carb rebuilt; it was totally gummed up.

I learned my lesson. From then on, at the end of the season, I run the engine dry and then fill the tank with fresh gas with a liberal dose of stabiliser then restart the engine and allow the carb to fill with the fresh gas, give it a shot of oil in the cylinder and put it away.

Since then it will start on the second or third pull. I have not had to use the electric starter unless the temperature is below zero.

That's how I have always done it. After reading about "what I was doing wrong" from others here, I decided not to post!!!!

But seeing as how you do it too, I have to say that "YOR THE MAN!".

What may have also been something to do with the original problem, is possibly that the spark plug is relatively old and warming/drying with a hair dryer before trying to start might have helped. I often really warm it up with a gas torch, but then its difficult to handle.....

Or just swapping the plug with a new clean one that had not been stored anywhere cold and unheated......

Deposits on plugs can often soak up enough moisture to effectively short out the plug for HV.....if it is the original plug after several seasons of dirt etc.......once it has run and got properly hot, generally it will work a whole season.....

Warning:

Don't use starter fluid. It contains no lubrication at all. Use Carb & Choke cleaner instead for starter fluid.

I also agree - engine was flooded. The fancier terms work too.

All the comments have good technical bases; but the only thing that has changed is the age of the engine. It may have lost some compression over the years making it more difficult to start. However this looks rather improbable since the B&S engines are built for long life. If this was the case, the heat added by the flame heated the cylinder a little thus making it easier to ignite the fuel/air mixture.

The second option is the excess unburned fuel that flooded the engine with the first attempts to start it. I had this problem some years ago with a pair of motorcycles and it took a carb overhaul on each one to avoid over-rich gas/air mixture.

Oh, I forgot another change: the age of the snowblower owner. Perhaps your arm is not as strong as before to make a quick pull... HAHAHA

1) over winter, some lubricant could have aged into sludge and bound things up just enough.... Cranking a couple of times would have gotten things moving again but I carb cleaner is a good idea still. You might also want to change the oil before the season is over if this guess has any validity at all.

2) after cranking several times, the engine could have flooded. I would check the air filter and fuel lines too for age and build up.

3) removing the spark plug for examination allowed some excess vapors to leave. Depends on how long you had it out. In addition, the cranking could have warmed things up just enough that the heat "got" to the cold greasy deposits during the delay between the last crank before the spark plug was examined and the successful crank.

4) the flame 4art showed that you DID have excess fuel.

Warner Brothers cartoons come to mind of the chase character getting cinder burned due to just missing the quarry because the ROCKET STARTED!! For your parental "father can do no wrong" image, I hope your son wasn't there for the fireworks!

As mentioned earlier the engine had been cranked quite a bit. It was also cranked without the spark plug installed so I could see if there was a spark across the electrodes which was present and substantial. More cranking had taken place after the plug was reinstalled. It was after that the flame was added to the equation, my son was quite impressed with the flame and the resulting running.

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

I have heard of guys after trying to start a car to no avail (back in the days when you crank tham by hand) to kick the car and have it take off running down the road.

I had an 8 hp B&S that sat for about 5 years.The tank was emptied of gas, and the cylinder was coated with 30w oil before storing.

When I decided to put it back to work, I installed a new plug,about a teaspoonful of oil, and a shot of starting fluid in the plug hole., and new crankcase oil.It started first pull.

The old engines seemed to endure storage better than the new ones do.And 8 hp meant 8 Honest horsepower.

I have seen an old 5 hp outperform any of the new 8 hp engines.Somebody has changed their hp rating systems somewhere since the 1970's.I had a 36 inch cut, 5 hp that would conquer the tallest grass with ease.Single speed+reverse.

I upgraded to an 8hpTecumseh ,3 speed,(Sears)and it did not perform any better than the basic 5 hp.

I now have a 27 hp Kohler, twin cylinder, and it performs about like an old 16 hp single cylinder Briggs.Actually,it cannot handle as wide of a cut through tough grass.

I have an old single cylinder 16 hp(MTD) that will drag the 27 hp(Poulan) all over the place.They are both garden tractors, both hydrostatic drive.

So much for progress.

Possible that the exhaust valve was stuck open, from having been held in that same position coupled with any moisture/rust, and the ignition at the exhaust backed into the cylinder, "blowing" or nudging the valve loose and freeing it to operate normally.

Just checked and the Hour Meter shows 24.7 hours. Not even broken in yet for this engine. As for the "Age of the owner", I may be a bit older but I can press that start button as well as someone half my age!!!

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

This little exercise proves, once again, that we are an opinionated bunch who believes that, "my way is best, do it my way or else".

I smile with each new revelation of "this is the only way to do it".

Just proves to me that no matter how bazaar the shutdown procedure is that we use, they all seem to work.

I run my chain saws dry then put them on the shelf till next time, without any further preparation. Hedge trimmer, too.

I don't do anything to my weed eater, but throw it in the shed, gas and all. Never replace the gas, just add more to the old stuff left over from last season. Lawn mower, too. Hedge trimmer and one chain saw are over 10 years old.

I do live in the desert, that helps keep the fuel moisture free.

Happy blowing!

I would never drain the equipment dry as any residue will gas off and leave a sticky residue to cause problems. 1/4 to 1/2 tank with good quality stabilizer and run it for 5 minutes to circulate the stabilized fuel. This will also keep the gaskets in carb and fuel system moist. When you go to start it after storage top up the fuel with fresh and it should work just fine. Always keep a spare spark plug handy as they can be trouble. Shoot some oil down the plug hole to lube the cylinder is also safe bet. This has been my protocol for 40 years on garden equipment, chain saws, outboard motors, and classic vehicle storage. Never had any issues on start up. Some times the little plastic lines they now use become brittle and develop air leaks in or fuel leaks out.

Just wondering.... During the initial 'cranking' portion of this exercise, did you confirm that the ignition system was in fact producing a 'spark' to the plug?? Sometimes these bigger engines have an oil pressure / oil level switch that must electrically close before ignition spark is produced. Low engine oil level or extreme cold may cause a no start.

Valid points. In this case the oil was filled & there was spark.

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I'm not one of them)!!!

You are lucky you didn't blow off the muffler.

I have a 30+ year old rototiller with a 5hp B&S engine. I never run it dry, and never pour out old gasoline. I have never added stabilizer or oil to the gas and never taken it to a repair shop. It never started on the first pull, but it has always started. For the past 5 or more years I have had to run it on low throttle for the first half hour or so because there is a bearing that will scream louder than a school girl until it gets enough lubrication. Tipping the tiller on each side for a few seconds seemed to help this year.

Buy Non-Ethanol fuel and add Sta-bil...

Ethanol fuel destroys the seals, etc from small engines...

With the Snow on the ground i went to start my Bike (i am that Mad ) the battery wasn't at it's best and my Booster was in the workshop which was Miles away so to facilitate starting i tipped three kettle loads of boiling water over the engine (not the HT leads) to warm the cylinders a bit.The thought was along the lines of Heat and Energy in the system as it were.The Engine then fired up a lot easier than it did without the heat .I would imagine heating the pipe got some heat into the cylinder and eased the starting process.

You could also use some hot water to heat up the battery!

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

I just love all of this "shop talk". Would have liked to see a video of #6. That would have gotten quite a few hits. Glad you did not blow yourself up!

btw - luv your tag line, common sense is a thing of the past!

Thanks! The tag line is part of my lumber yard sense of humor...it's warped.

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

The "many inches of flame" would lead me to believe that your cylinder was flooded, and the exhaust as well. You burned it (well, afterburned it) and that cleaned out the unburned fuel, as well as assisted in drawing some fresh fuel in. Sounds like a winner to me!

common sense starts to bloom after your grandchild burns himself on a stove after you've warned him it is hot.

you probably used gas with ethanol? Ethanol is corrosive and probably had something in the fuel system plugged

possibly could have pressured back thru the fuel system.

As stated earlier, when the previous winter season had ended I ran the fuel system dry. Since the engine was running until it was starved for fuel the system must not have been blocked. The following fall, (about a year ago), the tank was filled with fresh fuel including Stabil and that was when it refused to start until the flame was added to the equation. Aside from this one incident, the engine had always started easily and continues to now.

Common sense is an oxymoron and the world is full of morons! (I am not one of them)!!!

My snow blower runs poorly. Could it be the carburetor that causes it? Or have bad fuel in the float bow. Any help from you would be great.

My theory is:

During storage, a dirt dauber built a nest in the exhaust,restricting the exhaust.

When you ignited the exhaust,there was enough fuel/air present to explode,clearing the exhaust port.

The wasps are quite common down south,and will plug any hole available with hard mud.

Do you have any of the black,non aggressive wasps in your area?

I had this happen to a weedeater exhaust once.

After over-wintering in the shop,it would not start.

It kept blowing raw gas back out of the carb,and a little out of the exhaust.

Had good spark,good compression.

I rebuilt the carb,same problem.

I removed the spark arrestor/muffler:Found the nest obstucting the exhaust.

Removed nest,problem solved.

A dense spider nest or regular wasp nest could also do the same thing.

An interesting theory but in this case abundant exhaust was flowing out the muffler.

So here we are several years after I originally posted this story. Thought it was time for an update. Every year since, as I always have, I ran the engine till it died of fuel starvation and put it in storage for the summer exactly the same way, in the same storage shed. Yesterday I took it out of storage, filled the tank with gas left over from the mowing season, pressed the prime bulb 3 times and hit the start button. The engine fired up immediately...as it should. The problem never reoccurred. (If it had, I would have set up the video camera before getting the lighter out)!