Snowblower won't start. Out of ideas.

skaughtz · Jan 22, 2024

Help me Obi-Wan...

I have a Craftsman 24" 208CC snow thrower (model number 247.881731) that I cannot get to turn over. She has both an electric and pull start. Last year I gave her a tune up but never used her because we didn't get any snow. I pulled her out this year and she just refuses to turn over. I managed to get her to do it briefly by squirting some gas directly into the intake, but she dies as soon as she burned that. Now that doesn't even seem to do it and that is after replacing the carburetor.

At this point I am out of ideas. So far I have:

- Drained and replaced with fresh gasoline.
- Drained and replaced with fresh oil.
- Replaced the spark plug.
- Replaced the carburetor.
- Ensured that both the choke and throttle are in the proper positions to start.
- Replaced the primer bulb and hose.
- Taught my dog some very bad words.
- Cursed the Gods and weather.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice I am all ears.

mk378 · Jan 22, 2024

Check for spark first off. Plug the wire onto a spare plug and hold it (by the insulated part) so the shell of the plug is touching a metal part. Crank and observe if the plug sparks. If it does, repeat the test with the plug that is in the engine. When you take the plug out check if it is soaking wet with gas, that means it is flooding out.

If there's no spark check the kill switch and the low oil cutout (if equipped). Both of these can be isolated by disconnecting the small wire that goes to the coil. When the kill wire is not grounded, the engine can run. Speaking of that wire, mice may have chewed it or the high voltage wire causing the ignition to ground out. Remove the air shroud to check that.

Dave Sherman · Jan 22, 2024

Start off simple, are you getting spark? Take the spark plug out, touch the body to the head, and see if it sparks. Squirt a little gas in the spark plug hole, put the plug back, and give it a whirl. Still nothing? Then start looking for things like a sheared flywheel key that has thrown off the ignition timing, or stuck valves. I'm assuming this isn't a pre-1980s engine that had points and condenser in it, is it?

oldgrayman · Jan 22, 2024

You said It's not turning over .

mk378 · Jan 22, 2024

It looks like a typical Chonda.

Stuck valves are definitely possible. Pull the manual starter cord slowly and confirm that there is a place where compression builds.

Watching the video again I see liquid gas coming out of the muffler, that is not good. Isn't this the one that after changing the carb it started flooding like crazy? You can try to clear flooding by cranking with the spark plug removed.

eljefino · Jan 22, 2024

Like everyone said, check for spark. How many safety doohickeys does this unit have? They all ground to one point, more than likely, and you can follow the wire from the low oil shutoff to that point. If they aren't grounded, it should spark.

My HF Chonda randomly decided to knock its valves out of adjustment. I did them "right" with feeler gauges and got nothing. So I got mad and tightened them some more and they work great.

350Rocket · Jan 22, 2024

oldgrayman said:
You said It's not turning over .

I think he is confused at what "turning over" means. A lot of people who don't understand engines say it's "not turning over" when it clearly turns over fine, just isn't firing.

tnt_motorsports · Jan 22, 2024

What @mk378 suggested, check for spark and then check your kill switch. My old Snow King wouldn't start years ago and somehow the "key" for the kill switch had been bumped. Pull it out and put it back in and try it again. It should "click" and stay held in.

Just my $0.02

John105 · Jan 22, 2024

tnt_motorsports said:
What @mk378 suggested, check for spark and then check your kill switch. My old Snow King wouldn't start years ago and somehow the "key" for the kill switch had been bumped. Pull it out and put it back in and try it again. It should "click" and stay held in.

Just my $0.02

I forgot all about that, good tip.

I have a 9 HP 2004 and it worked fine last Friday, starter broke many years ago. It went through a phase where it needed to be choked to run, not anymore. I know it's blasphemy I never maintained it. but I wonder. My parents have a nice Toro which stopped working after they got a "tune up." Mine's never been serviced other than changing the oil every 9 years or so. Gas is also at least 6 years old as I've never bought any since the pandemic.

Rudy1999 250 · Jan 22, 2024

i have that same engine ... that looks like it is on the same snow blower. I had the similar issue and what i did was run racing fuel in it and then hit it with some startig fluid. Also, the switch for the choke will turn down farther if you push it and that is how i had to start it sometimes.

skaughtz · Jan 22, 2024

mk378 said:
Check for spark first off. Plug the wire onto a spare plug and hold it (by the insulated part) so the shell of the plug is touching a metal part. Crank and observe if the plug sparks. If it does, repeat the test with the plug that is in the engine. When you take the plug out check if it is soaking wet with gas, that means it is flooding out.

If there's no spark check the kill switch and the low oil cutout (if equipped). Both of these can be isolated by disconnecting the small wire that goes to the coil. When the kill wire is not grounded, the engine can run. Speaking of that wire, mice may have chewed it or the high voltage wire causing the ignition to ground out. Remove the air shroud to check that.

I am going to have to get to all of this tomorrow, but when you say check the spark do you mean to pull the ignition coil boot off, stick a plug in it outside of the cylinder, then hit the starter to see if she sparks?

mk378 said:
It looks like a typical Chonda.

Stuck valves are definitely possible. Pull the manual starter cord slowly and confirm that there is a place where compression builds.

Watching the video again I see liquid gas coming out of the muffler, that is not good. Isn't this the one that after changing the carb it started flooding like crazy? You can try to clear flooding by cranking with the spark plug removed.

The gas coming out is almost certainly from me. After I replaced the carburetor and she didn't fire, I ran out and got a new spark plug since I was running out of ideas. After that didn't work, I squirted some gas into the intake to see if that would do it and it was apparently too much because gas started spurting out of the muffler a bit. After that failed I hit the primer again and tried different choke settings and whatnot and less gas was coming from the muffler.

John105 · Jan 22, 2024

not to state the obvious....needs that key, needs to be primed, needs to be choked, and then a lever is the throttle which needs to be moved up to run, and down to shut off. 4 things....

then now that mine runs normally, choke needs to be removed after it starts. But years ago, it needed the choke to stay running

Brons2 · Jan 22, 2024

I hit my Honda with starting fluid every time it's been sitting for a while with E10 in the tank, fires right off. If I don't do this it takes about 25-30 pulls to start. After I've run it at the start of the season once, it always starts easy after that.

However that said I would check for spark first, considering all you have done. And check your compression, you should be getting around 80-90 psi on cranking.

If you have both then try the ether/starting fluid.

Number_35 · Jan 22, 2024

My first thought, upon reading the title only, was stale gas, but it sounds like you've addressed that.

I was able to get friend's going years ago by moving into his house for an hour or so. After it warmed up, it started fine.

The suggestion by others to check for spark is a good idea.

benjy · Jan 22, 2024

do a general search on small engine forums, Chickanic is on smart pro repair site! i always give my seldom used small engined equipment a few pulls when in the garage, good luck!!

Rand · Jan 22, 2024

I had2 replacement carbs both didnt seal and would flood the cylinder (and oil eventually ) with gas when sitting.

Nukeman7 · Jan 22, 2024

skaughtz said:
Help me Obi-Wan...

I have a Craftsman 24" 208CC snow thrower (model number 247.881731) that I cannot get to turn over. She has both an electric and pull start. Last year I gave her a tune up but never used her because we didn't get any snow. I pulled her out this year and she just refuses to turn over. I managed to get her to do it briefly by squirting some gas directly into the intake, but she dies as soon as she burned that. Now that doesn't even seem to do it and that is after replacing the carburetor.

At this point I am out of ideas. So far I have:

- Drained and replaced with fresh gasoline.
- Drained and replaced with fresh oil.
- Replaced the spark plug.
- Replaced the carburetor.
- Ensured that both the choke and throttle are in the proper positions to start.
- Replaced the primer bulb and hose.
- Taught my dog some very bad words.
- Cursed the Gods and weather.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice I am all ears.

See if your engine has a low oil sensor circuit similar to what is shown in the video below. These sensors fail frequently on the Chinese Honda-clone engines and will prevent the coil from generating spark at the plug. Disconnecting it will prevent the coil spark current from shorting to ground.

jeepman3071 · Jan 22, 2024

Rand said:
I had2 replacement carbs both didnt seal and would flood the cylinder (and oil eventually ) with gas when sitting.

This. I've had carbs be bad out of the box especially from China.

I'm thinking this is a carb issue, since he was able to spray fluid in the carburetor and it ran until that fluid burned off. Definitely pull the float bowl from the carb and check for fuel flow before proceeding further.

zzyzzx · Jan 23, 2024