Hi all,
I posted a little while back about my given to me free MTD Snowblower. I got rid of the old fuel, new spark plug and correct gap and a shot starter fluid for good measure. I picked up a bottle of carb cleaner from home depot that says to pour into the fuel tank and prime the carb and let it set. It was mechanic in a bottle Fuel system cleaner
I thought it was worth a shot. Unfortunately no matter what it seems like it won't even catch or try to fire. A new carb was quoted at $98 from mtd directly. Any thoughts. It's a tecumseh engine. My Briggs and Stratton powered push mower starts year after year.
MTD Snowblower issues
- Thread starter 97prizm
- Start date
If it won't even kick with starter fluid, then I suspect it's not sparking. One way to check is to pull the spark plug, connect the ignition wire to it and with the curved electrode touching bare metal on the cylinder head, pull the starter rope. You should see the spark jump.
My mtd blower is from the 90s and the carb sucked (no mixture adjustments) so it ran poorly. The 2nd or 3rd year got tired of it and got a carb with the adjustable mixture screws and has been running like it suppose to at full power.
Now you know why Tecumseh is no longer in business. Are you getting any spark at your plug?
A replacement Chinese carb is $20 but, like others gave said, make sure there's spark first.
And fuel flow to the bowl...
I have a chinese carb on my tecumseh rototiller. (I keep the engine because it has the rare backwards pulley for reversing.) It has no choke, just a primer, and I have to start it with starting fluid every darn time.
I say take apart your old carb. Start by ramming some thin wire, like found in a bread tie, up the main jet. If you can actually get the jet out, yay, more examination and cleaning can happen.
Pull plug and inspect, smell for fuel, check for spark.
Also, how much cleaner is in there? Drain and add fresh fuel, ensure it's got spark and not flooded.