Finally happened to me, dumb mistake

[svtrit]

We had a large snow event here in IA. I had started my snow blower around Thanksgiving, so I was not concerned about it.

So, this morning, I pull it out, and start pulling the rope, and no fire. It's dark out and hard to see, but I checked the fuel tank, and see reflection of wet, so I close it up. My assumption now is I flooded it, so I go to pull the plug. Funny, I used to have a plug socket that fit.....a little dremel work, and I can get a 22mm socket on the plug. It's now out, cleaned and put back in. No start. By now I took the extension cord from some Christmas decorations and am using the starter on it, as I am tired of pulling the rope.

Pull the plug again, check for spark. That's good. Pull the bowl on the carb and it had fuel. Of course I had to take a bunch of decorative sheet metal off to get full access. Still no start. I feel my inner Vice Grip Garage getting fired up.

I hate starting fluid, but I need to make sure the carb isn't clogged up. One shot and she fires up. It takes a couple squirts to keep it running, but, I got it! I let it run for about 5 minutes and then killed it to put it all back together.

Sure enough, no start. It pops with starting fluid, but won't run. It's now light out and my garage lights finally warmed up enough that I can see better so I once again I check the fuel tank......dry.

I really wonder what the issue was. I guess I flooded it to begin with and ran it out of fuel during my 5 minute warm up. It would have been smart to put gas in it first!

 

[DriveHard]

Sitting in Ames right now...I would not call this a "large snow event" I think NOAA said we got 2.0"

Silly mistake we have all made. I remember sitting at the dock with my boat full of guests trying to troubleshoot a no-start situation only to find out my toddler had flipped the kill switch while I was detailing the seats waiting for our guests...geesh did I feel silly.

 

[carviewsonic]

My 90 yr old neighbour across the street ran his out of gas the other day. I saw him trying to start it so I threw my coat on and went over to lend a hand. By the time I reached him he was removing the gas cap. We looked at the dry tank and he said "Darn, I coulda swore I filled this up last time I used it". Fired right up with a full tank.

 

[svtrit]

Sitting in Ames right now...I would not call this a "large snow event" I think NOAA said we got 2.0"

Silly mistake we have all made. I remember sitting at the dock with my boat full of guests trying to troubleshoot a no-start situation only to find out my toddler had flipped the kill switch while I was detailing the seats waiting for our guests...geesh did I feel silly.

I have a north facing house on the north end of town....lots of drifting that makes it more like 6-8 inches here. Welcome to Ames.

 

[levi]

Got the snow blower out yesterday. Oil was changed at the end of last season. Filled the gas tank which was drained out end of last season.

Plastic key inserted - won't start without it. Don't have to turn it, but it does have to be in place. Hit the primer bulb a couple of times or so. Set the choke.

Plugged in the extension cord to the starter. Does not use a battery. Hit the starter button. Spins great but no fire, no start. Re-check everything, still no start. Figured I flooded it with pushing the primer bulb and choke combo. Let it sit a while. Still no start. Monkeyed with the choke. Nothing.

Suddenly I saw my problem. Has a Stop/Run switch - was still in the Stop position. Switched it to Run. Started instantly.

DAA. Dumb Ash Attack strikes again. What's really sad, I think I remember doing the exact same thing last year. Pitiful.

 

[dbias]

 

[Lubener]

My 90 yr old neighbour across the street ran his out of gas the other day. I saw him trying to start it so I threw my coat on and went over to lend a hand. By the time I reached him he was removing the gas cap. We looked at the dry tank and he said "Darn, I coulda swore I filled this up last time I used it". Fired right up with a full tank.

Nobody 90 years old should have to clear snow. It was really nice of you to help him out....

 

[Cruzer4326]

Got the snow blower out yesterday. Oil was changed at the end of last season. Filled the gas tank which was drained out end of last season.

Plastic key inserted - won't start without it. Don't have to turn it, but it does have to be in place. Hit the primer bulb a couple of times or so. Set the choke.

Plugged in the extension cord to the starter. Does not use a battery. Hit the starter button. Spins great but no fire, no start. Re-check everything, still no start. Figured I flooded it with pushing the primer bulb and choke combo. Let it sit a while. Still no start. Monkeyed with the choke. Nothing.

Suddenly I saw my problem. Has a Stop/Run switch - was still in the Stop position. Switched it to Run. Started instantly.

DAA. Dumb Ash Attack strikes again. What's really sad, I think I remember doing the exact same thing last year. Pitiful.

That has happened to me on my wood splitter. Now, I try to remember to always leave the switch in the "On" position after I turn it Off.

 

[carviewsonic]

Nobody 90 years old should have to clear snow. It was really nice of you to help him out....

Thanks, it only took a few minutes. I can only hope to be in the same shape as him if I get to that age.

 

[tmorris1]

I went over to help my new neighbor who was struggling to start her snow blower started. I got it going and it ran rough and quit. I figured maybe old gas or dirty carb, so I got it running on kept it running on choke hoping it would snap out of it. Oil started pouring out the from what seemed like everywhere onto the floor, so I shut it down. I checked the oil and it was full to the top of the dipstick fill hole. She literally filled the engine with oil. I got a pail and drained out about 1.5 qts of oil to get it down to the full mark and it ran fine after a minute of smoking. She laughed and said she thought she needed to fill it up.

 

[svtrit]

I went over to help my new neighbor who was struggling to start her snow blower started. I got it going and it ran rough and quit. I figured maybe old gas or dirty carb, so I got it running on kept it running on choke hoping it would snap out of it. Oil started pouring out the from what seemed like everywhere onto the floor, so I shut it down. I checked the oil and it was full to the top of the dipstick fill hole. She literally filled the engine with oil. I got a pail and drained out about 1.5 qts of oil to get it down to the full mark and it ran fine after a minute of smoking. She laughed and said she thought she needed to fill it up.

Nice of you to go over and help! A lady across from me, who was fiercely independent, was struggling to get her blower to work. I was hesitant to go over, because she doesn’t need a man’s help, but my wife asked me to. I hate to come across offensive and didn’t want her to assume I thought she was a dumb lady. I just knew what was wrong.

The lady didn’t know where the throttle was, so I politely helped her. We always got along great after that.

 

[PontiacHO]

We had a large snow event here in IA. I had started my snow blower around Thanksgiving, so I was not concerned about it.

So, this morning, I pull it out, and start pulling the rope, and no fire. It's dark out and hard to see, but I checked the fuel tank, and see reflection of wet, so I close it up. My assumption now is I flooded it, so I go to pull the plug. Funny, I used to have a plug socket that fit.....a little dremel work, and I can get a 22mm socket on the plug. It's now out, cleaned and put back in. No start. By now I took the extension cord from some Christmas decorations and am using the starter on it, as I am tired of pulling the rope.

Pull the plug again, check for spark. That's good. Pull the bowl on the carb and it had fuel. Of course I had to take a bunch of decorative sheet metal off to get full access. Still no start. I feel my inner Vice Grip Garage getting fired up.

I hate starting fluid, but I need to make sure the carb isn't clogged up. One shot and she fires up. It takes a couple squirts to keep it running, but, I got it! I let it run for about 5 minutes and then killed it to put it all back together.

Sure enough, no start. It pops with starting fluid, but won't run. It's now light out and my garage lights finally warmed up enough that I can see better so I once again I check the fuel tank......dry.

I really wonder what the issue was. I guess I flooded it to begin with and ran it out of fuel during my 5 minute warm up. It would have been smart to put gas in it first!

Working in the dark anything can happen. I’ve pulled my generator (checking the plug, fuel, & spraying starter fluid) until I had to sit down and catch my breath. Checked the kill switch and guess what??

 

[Quantico]

Couple days ago started my 20 hp tractor and my 20 inch honda flapper and and 22 inch simplicity and ran all of them 5 minutes. All have at least half a tank. Makes it easier when your cold and tired and dont want to be outside. My walk behinds get run out of fuel with the gas valve shut off. So thats the only thing I need to remember.

 

[Kira]

When using the KILL SWITCH my procedure is to stop the engine then return the switch to "RUN".
The switch is in "RUN" 99.99999999999% of the time.

I let my OPE run until the gas tank is completely empty.
But just this Spring I pulled and pulled my lawn mower....only to see I hadn't put one drop of gas in the tank.
This was after squirting fuel in the carb's throat and getting it to fire.

 

[DwightFrye]

I serviced my Toro snowblower at the end of last winter according to the owners manual and that included running it until the tank was completely empty. I needed it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and filled the tank about 3/4 of the way with fresh gas, wheeled it out, crossed my fingers and it started on the first pull.

I'm up above 6000 feet and my driveway is about 30 feet long and slopes both lengthwise and crosswise. Good thing the Toro has powered drive as I'm getting too old to be trying to muscle that thing around. I'm hoping that over the long term it continues to be a reliable machine.

 

[svtrit]

Working in the dark anything can happen. I’ve pulled my generator (checking the plug, fuel, & spraying starter fluid) until I had to sit down and catch my breath. Checked the kill switch and guess what??

The manual for my snow blower says to put the throttle up to full after shut off, that way it doesn’t freeze in the off position. It has a key that stays in it at all times, like the one mentioned above, where it kills the engine if pulled out.

My generator always is switched back to on after the engine stops.

 

[PontiacHO]

Smart next step. Thanks.