Trouble Ariens Deluxe 24 Snow Blower

[Astro_Guy]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Does the oil dipstick on your LCT engine show full and add marks? The stick on my ~2yr old Ariens SnowTek machine has no graduations on it what so ever. I don't recall if it had any oil in in when I bought it from Home Depot, but I must have gotten the level correct on mine (drained it and went by the manual). I did loose the primer bulb hose after one season. It cracked/split and the fuel shutoff valve is hard to turn and can leak.

Yes, it does. The problem in this case is that the color and texture of the dipstick make it very difficult to actually see virgin oil. I had another look after letting the machine sit for a week and it looked to me as if the oil was below the add mark. Laying the dipstick on a clean paper towel and then rolling it over revealed that it was still overfilled to a small degree.

The machine came with a warning tag on the dipstick indicating that it may or may not have been filled with oil at the factory. I saw no oil, so I added the prescribed 20 ounces. I think that in reality it did have a full charge of oil and i just did not see it. I still plan to visit the big box store to have a look at some other identical machines to see if that rubber hose coming off of the valve cover isn't supposed to connect to something.

 

[BrianF]

The rubber hose on the valve cover is an atmospheric vent. Mine is not connected to anything.

 

[JTK]

+1 to that. You'll find that for any OHV snowblower engine. On an engine equipped with an air filter, this hose would be routed downstream of the air filter element in the air cleaner housing.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: Astro_Guy
Originally Posted By: JTK
Does the oil dipstick on your LCT engine show full and add marks? The stick on my ~2yr old Ariens SnowTek machine has no graduations on it what so ever. I don't recall if it had any oil in in when I bought it from Home Depot, but I must have gotten the level correct on mine (drained it and went by the manual). I did loose the primer bulb hose after one season. It cracked/split and the fuel shutoff valve is hard to turn and can leak.

Yes, it does. The problem in this case is that the color and texture of the dipstick make it very difficult to actually see virgin oil. I had another look after letting the machine sit for a week and it looked to me as if the oil was below the add mark. Laying the dipstick on a clean paper towel and then rolling it over revealed that it was still overfilled to a small degree.

The machine came with a warning tag on the dipstick indicating that it may or may not have been filled with oil at the factory. I saw no oil, so I added the prescribed 20 ounces. I think that in reality it did have a full charge of oil and i just did not see it. I still plan to visit the big box store to have a look at some other identical machines to see if that rubber hose coming off of the valve cover isn't supposed to connect to something.


I keep a quart of royal purple or Valvoline vr1 on hand just for this reason. I add a few ounces to be able to see it on the dipstick. Royal purple is purple and vr1 is blue and it's much easier to see. I usually add 4oz and then top off with whatever else I'm using.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Originally Posted By: volk06
I keep a quart of royal purple or Valvoline vr1 on hand just for this reason. I add a few ounces to be able to see it on the dipstick. Royal purple is purple and vr1 is blue and it's much easier to see. I usually add 4oz and then top off with whatever else I'm using.

That's a great idea - thanks. It's hard to say if or when the oil might get dirty enough to see, what with all this global warming and what not.

 

[Duffyjr]

My mower has a yellow dip stick and is very hard to tell the level but I find if I tilt it until the light hits it just right the oil is shiny and the dip stick is not.

 

[Astro_Guy]

This snow blower got it's auger wet for the first time today with a heavy wet snow. It is still spitting out a little bit of oil when the engine is heavily loaded. Now that the oil level seems correct, this amounts to a drop here and there as opposed to a steady stream. Does this seem normal? Is there something else I should check, other than oil level?

 

[Donald]

Sounds like it's trying to breathe. Is the vent hose clear and not kinked?

Consider a leaking float in carb could dump gas in the engine causing oil level to rise and be overfilled.

 

[andyd]

The oil vent is into the top of the air filter housing on the Predator "chonda" I re-powered the Ariens with. What is an LCT engine? Everything else vents to the air.Donald could be onto something else to check too.

 

[JTK]

Andy, LCT is the brand name Liquid Combustion Technology. http://lctusa.com/

The breather hose on these comes of the valve cover and just routes straight down, basically onto the chassis of the snowblower. It's normal to get some oil wetness on/near the hose outlet. Constant droplets would indicate too full a crankcase, maybe a piston ring or valve stem seal problem causing too high a CC pressure.

 

[andyd]

THX JTK

 

[Astro_Guy]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Sounds like it's trying to breathe.


It was overfilled at one time, but no longer. What bothers me is that it only spits oil when the motor starts to bog down under heavy load. None of my other OHV equipped OPE have an obvious breather tube coming off of the valve cover like this unit does.

 

[VNTS]

I have a 2 yr old Deluxe 24 SHO with 306 CC LCT engine. Has the dipstick and it does have the graduation, full mark and add mark. It runs great, as I recall I think it takes 26 ounced, have to double check. Never noticed a breather tube, will have to look.

 

[JTK]

Breather tube is buried behind engine shrouding on LCTs.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Breather tube is buried behind engine shrouding on LCTs.

How about on Hondas?

 

[zrxkawboy]

I know others will disagree with me, but I sure would've run it on conventional oil for the first hour or two.