Erratic Engine Operation (I finally see why Tecumseh went belly up!)

Just a basic troubleshooting question: did you change the oil at any point since buying the snowthrower?

I know that won't address everything you mentioned, but hard starting and hard running can be explained by dirty oil, and the oil MUST be changed after the first few hours of use, and then every year afterwards.

Tecumseh was a U.S. Made Engine.

Are you saying you're happy to see another U.S. manufacturer go "belly up"?

So sad...

It's highly likely it is a carb problem.  I know you said you cleaned it, but i guarantee you didn't clean it enough.  Pull the carb off the snowblower.  disassemble *everything*.  Use carb cleaner to clean everything.  It's also best to use some tiny screwdriver bits to manually clean out the holes.  The high speed jet is always the "screw" that holds the bowl on the carb.  the low speed jet is on the side of the carb, usually covered by a white, grey, or black plastic plug approx 1/4" in diameter.  pull that low speed out and force carb cleaner into the carb.

When you are running on any choke, you're engine is starving for fuel.  Pending no engine problems (compression/valves/rings, etc.) you're merely looking at a carb problem.  Also, you can get gaskets at any small engine shop.  We have no problem getting smaller common parts for Tecumseh even though they're out of business.

Tom

Mr. Mobile Mechanic, Portsmouth, NH

MisterMobileMechanic.com

Thanks for the replies. I've really tried to take care of the snowblower. Oil has been changed every season (twice last year since it seen lot's of snow....). I'm sad to see American engines disappear however I'm also sad to see that American engine makers didn't do enough to compete with our foreign rivals and that's why the newest engines are made overseas. 

I have the three year warranty on the machine, a Sears "tech" will be at my house tomorrow to address the carb issue "again" (they were out in October to tune-up the snowblower....). I've been told these "late-model" Tecumseh's were sensitive to the "ethanol" blended lower octane fuels and caused a lot of carb issues even just leaving fuel in the system for 30 days! I think that's insane especially given these machines little use sometimes in the winter....

I'll post some more findings tomorrow and will try to have this "tech" take the carb off the machine and fix it along with the "kill" wire. 

JB, have you tried the $6 spark plug? It has a lucky horseshoe for a terminal.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_07133943000P?keyword=rj19lm&sLevel=0

Nope, just a standard Champion plug. The E3 does look interesting, reminds me of the "Split FIre" when they came out....I don't think any lucky charm based plug will help a bad carb....

Anyways...the tech fire it up and noticed the severe "miss" in the engine operation. He didn't bother trying to clean it...instead a $75 carb and $20.00 multifuction control handle (kill wire / throttle assembly) was ordered under warranty instead. Be here in 2 weeks....hopefully no big storms between now and then. 

An excellent set of small screwdrivers would be the model 41106 Craftsman 6-piece mini screwdriver set.

Although I'm sure they make excellent "screwdrivers", they also make excellent cleaning tools.

The flat-tips excel at scraping out dried ratchet lubrication "gunk".

The Phillips-tips clean out small orifices, like carburettor orifices.

The new sets feature black-oxide finished blades...

Ok, I'll keep that in mind when the snowblower is out of warranty. In the meantime I'm going to "take advantage" of the extra money spent when I purchased the snowblower back in 07. 

I do maintain my equipment otherwise. Have a '86 Lawn-Boy lawn mower that runs like a champ...bought it 10 years ago at a flea market for $10 bucks. It didn't run at the time(need some carb work done....). 

Well...it's been three weeks since Sears ordered my new parts....No carb yet!!! Apparently the death of Tecumseh has led to fewer parts being available. At least the snowblower has been running better as of late on 93 octane and me running the engine dry afterward to avoid any "stale" fuel. Still surges unless it's ingesting snow....

Also been making sure that the gas can stays extremely clean with no debris lurking at the bottom on my last fill up of premium....

Hopefully this week the carb can be replaced and we'll see how she runs afterward. 

jblajon, i agree you you 100% on all that you have said , i have the 277,28" blower and im on my second one this year. thank the lord i did not sell my old arien's before i picked this thing up. the first one i got i home put gas in it and did just as it say's to and  the motor went right to wide open no matter what i did it would not drop in rpm's reved right out. the light did not work right hand power steering trigger was missing. and oil was low to boot. they took it back but that;s not a good feeling when you spend that kinda money and that happen's now i see they dont even have them up for sale any more that's od? the one i have now started up good run's nice  i had to work on the shoot and joy stick my self and grease esc and this one the power steering only work's when it wont's to. like the old man say's why cant they fire them up before we take them home make sure all is well. im just glade i did not sell my old one alot better built,

 you would think sear's would do something to better their stuff . with all that people post on here and all the bad luck and i thought going to sear's would be a better choice theb say lows or depo i should have stuck with the one i have the old ariens a 1976 that is all still the same beside's the bellt's oil and spark plug last year the tire are al dryed out but hay they hold air  this new one is going in the uncle henry's just like all the other nice's new one's in thier.

Thanks for the vent snowman277....you get what you pay for when it comes to snow throwers. My girlfriends parents are on their second Ariens (2007 model like mine) and an older one from the early 80's. Both work great out of the box (the first one was bought new as well....). They're $500-800 more exmodel for model to Sears which is why I bought mine (given the "Best Buys" that these machines are suppose to be....). My parents have a couple Toro's that work great too, again their more expensive then Sears....

Outside of the chute problems and the still "unknown" Chinese engines...the newest Sears machines seem to be better built but I don't know if I would buy or trade up for a new one after my experience with this one.

JB, I've been having an issue getting Tecumseh carbs.  They don't have a manufacturer for a lot of the carbs...may local big supplier (out of mass) is on a 600+ backorder at their main distribution center.  and they don't expect new carbs to be shipped via a new manufacturer until feb-june 2010.  nobody knows.  now, if you get into a bad situation where you really need a carb, you may be able to retrofit an adjustable Oregon carb (a tecumseh carb clone practically), but those are getting hard to find.  something to keep in mind..

Tom

Mr. Mobile Mechanic, Portsmouth, NH

MisterMobileMechanic.com

JB. I've just bought an '09 Ariens 1332le with the Techumseh 13hp engine which the seller claimed only had a few hours on it and it really looked that way too! The new price was $1999.00 and as he only wanted $1350.00 I told him I would take it. His reason for selling it was because he bought a snow blade for his quad , which I saw. After going to pick it up and pay the remainder ( I had a friend give a $500.00 deposit) I asked the seller to start it and run all components and for\rev. speeds to make sure all's good. The unit had run for around 2 minutes and then it started to die which could only be rectified by operating it WITH THE CHOKE ON 1/4-1/2 and it sputtered and backfired continuously for some time and if you turned the choke off it would die.As I was in a hurry I told him to knock off $50.00 and I would try and fix it myself. After it dies it would not start no matter how much you turn it over. After waiting a few minutes it would start easily only to repeat the whole cycle over again. At first I thought it was that green wire shorting out as well, but by removing the plug right after it quits and turning it over, there was no question it was a fuel issue as there was plenty of spark! Then, after I got it started after a brief wait and as soon as it died I instantly turned off the fuel shutoff, depressed the float bowl drain valve and guess what? Only 2-3 drops of fuel came out. Presto! We've got a fuel restriction. Before taking the carb off I thought I'd try something simple like removing the line on the outlet side of the fuel shutoff... no fuel after turning the valve open so...I take off the fuel shutoff valve and... still no fuel...so I now think something is clogged up either in the short 2'' hose coming from the bottem of the tank or a restriction in the tank outlet itself. After removing the tank I placed it over a pail, removed the gas cap and to my delight gas started pouing out from the 2'' hose. After all the gas drained out I shook the tank and heard something bouncing around inside. Armed with longnose pliers and a flashlight I managed to remove a rubber gizmo that, after checking under another gas cap from another Techumseh powered snowblower, it was determined that the rubber gizmo was a critical component that offered venting for the fuel cap. It's ribbed design allows for expansion of fuel vapours and the necessary air flow for the whole shebang to function. Anyways, I fueled er up and blew snow for over an hour without so much as a single hiccup... of course now with the choke off.

Gerry

The Last Spike

Wow. Sounds sooooo similar to my problem! Well I know there's nothing shaking around in the tank as I do have great fuel flow to the carb from the fuel line (taking the line off was one of my troubleshoots before the first drop of snow even fell this year....), however I never tried to see if it would drain with the cap on tight! I guess I will need to look at the gas cap next. 

However, still no word from Sears on a new carb. It's already purchased on Sears end but the warranty department doesn't have an ETA....

Do you know if the rubber piece is a gasket of some sort (to keep the cap from closing tight on the tank or is it a piece that goes on the inside of the cap?

It looks like a quarter-sized black rubber funnel and attaches under the gas cap. I've seen them fall in the tank and block the fuel line too.

I was going to suggest that you have a tech come out. That's why I always suggest to my clients, "buy the warranty!!!!" If you don't and you go with the manufacturers warranty, then you still have to pay $90 service call for them to determine that it is a defect and not ware and tare.. Also make sure to put fuel stabilizer in the tank, and keep it in a dry area and covered.

Ah, ok. I was anxious so ran out to the garage to take a look. I drained the tank. Shook (nothing loose inside...) plus I looked on the inside of my cap (red cap) with a black funnel (rubberized) piece firmly attached to the underside. There's a red hole in the center of the rubberized funnel (I'd assume to allow the "air" in) and looks to be unobstructed. 

I refilled with fuel, fired it up with the choke full, then 3/4, then 1/2, then 1/4, then off (after bout 5 minutes to warm up) and with the cap on or off it still runs erratically (high/normal/high/normal/sputters/high/normal/backfires/sputters....). 

I'm thinking I'm back to a carb issue....

BlueCrewDiva10....I have the warranty...see my earlier posts on this....Still awaiting the replacement carburetor so the tech can come back out and replace the throttle housing (which I do have here awaiting replacement....). 

sears is great

sears is good

sometimes see them not you should! (yoda)

seriously if you need Tecumseh parts, you would be better off going to a small outdoor equipment dealer or parts house.