snow blower sudden stall and no start

[Lubener]

Good news is that when sprayed the starting fluid in the throat, it fires up and runs for few seconds. That rules out all the major problems such as sheared flywheel or weak coil or no compression etc.

So now it is just matter of draining the stale gas and checking the bolt main jet holes and the float etc

With those findings, I would just get an overhaul kit for your carb.

 

[ZZman]

A splash of Berryman's works wonders on keeping things clean and running.

 

[B6_Dolphin]

OP - it's likely you have dirt clogging the carb jets, which prevents the fuel in the bowl from getting to the carb throat.

On one of the YT channels I follow, it was recommended to clean the tiny jets in these power equipment carbs with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Storage-High-Speed-Jewelry-Plastic-Rotary/dp/B000SKVF8I?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

For my formerly high-power surging Northern Tool Pressure Washer w/Honda GV160 engine, I ended-up using the .0135 (smallest in the kit) drill bit to clean-out a couple of the jets, as their diameter was that small! Worked like a charm. YMMV.

 

[Lubener]

A splash of Berryman's works wonders on keeping things clean and running.

Since the engine won't run, that means no gas is flowing through the carb. Adding a cleaning agent likely won't accomplish anything. The additive needs to be used as a preventive when the engine actually runs. The carb. needs to be taken apart and serviced.

 

[Vikas]

Removed the pilot jet behind the rubber cap. It has big horizontal through hole. But the small one vertical does not come out all the way to the horizontal hole. I have pushed as much as I can with right size wire. Is it supposed to?

 

[Vikas]

Buttoned it up and started. Now it idles at lowest settings! But I feel that idle speed is quite high but I am not going to open it any more.

Should I confess as to what was really wrong? Naaa, it forced me to open it up and clean the main and the pilot jet. If it had not died on me, I would have not opened it up to fix the idle problem.

Oh well, I just rewatched 2minute mark and looks like I was not able unclog that pilot jet. I wonder if that is why it feels as if it is idling high

I had soaked that in carb cleaner for 15 minutes but even then I was not able to push the wire through using "unclogging" force. It felt as if I was hitting solid metal resistance instead of a clog. I wonder if the actual passageway is smaller than the hole and I should have used extremely think wire to push through like I did to the main carb bolt.

 

[Vikas]

After completing the snow cleaning and while bringing it back to the garage, it stalled out of nowhere. I restarted it and it lasted for about 10 seconds. Restarted again and lasted 2 seconds. Could not restart it and had to push it in the garage. There is still ample gas in it. I have used it for 4 or 5 times this season. It has never idled well for years but I had been able to get the job done and did not want open it up.

Mental exercise:- It is behaving as if it suddenly stopped getting fuel. One would think fuel related issues would be somewhat gradual. I understand what I need to do to systematically debug this but given the symptoms I am wondering if anybody can logically come up with the exact cause,

Snow King LH318SA Craftsman 247.887900 28" Snow Thrower

You think so? How do you know? Because you see gas splashing in the tank? Do you know where is the fuel pick up is located on that particular tank? Why do you assume that the pickup point will be in the bottom of the tank? What if it is on the side and little up?

These are the questions I should have asked myself when it died. But I didn't! At least when I discovered there was no gas pouring out of the carburator when I took the carb bowl nut out, I did not assume the fuel line clogged and started disassembling everything around it!

Oh well, it did force me to do the much needed maintenance on that carburator.

 

[Vikas]

RE: " I wonder if the actual passageway is smaller than the hole?"
It only cost me $6.99 but yes, the passageway is tiny compared to the hole.

 

[John105]

Dunno if your unit has a choke—mine is 21 years old. For a while it would not stay running unless choked, and now, it’s totally normal, Choke to cold start, take it off quickly once started. I don’t know what’s attributable to the change, so I would not worry about your sudden change. If you have one, I’d play with the choke. Or, even the key. Meaning to reseat.

 

[Vikas]

aaarggggggg; I found the bowl gasket on the floor under the machine. For some odd reason, the diameter of it small and it is floating in the bowl instead of acting as a gasket between the carb and the bowl. I can smell the gas even when it is not running and can feel the dampness around the bowl. I have ordered the gasket. I am getting really tired of having to re-open this multiple times. I hope new gasket fits correctly around the edge of the bowl. I am wondering if the needle and seat are damaged as I can't see how the bowl gasket would cause the gas seepage outside

 

[mk378]

Stretch the gasket around the base of the carb then put the bowl on over it.

Normally the level in the bowl is below the gasket. If fuel drips out while sitting still that means the needle is not closing and it's overflowing. The bowl gasket is important to keep fuel from splashing out while it is running.

 

[Vikas]

Opened it again and put the gasket back. Also adjusted the orientation of the bowl to match the float pin. Verified that gas does not drip if I hold the float horizontal. But I feel very slight dampness to the bowl after 24 hours. I mean the needle/seat might be sealing only 99%? I will leave it alone until the weekend and see if I can see a real drip or at least a drop of gas on the floor before doing anything. I understand that when it comes to leak, there is no such thing as "slight" leak. Leak is a leak and not like "slightly pregnant"!

 

[Vikas]

Looks like I have bowl orientation off by 180 degrees. How critical is that? I wonder if that will hamper the high speed under load operation as the bowl will not be able to drop all the way, at least theoretically. Is that correct or in practice it does not matter?

How could I have missed this important detail? I think working on the underside, there is a strong possibilty of disorientation and I failed for that.