Carburetors

FC · 02-14-2021, 05:24 PM

OK, so this is not car-related, but it's "wrenching"-related.

My Ariens snow blower, sorry, "thrower," was bought in late 2004. it's been great. Five years ago, I gave it a well-deserved, epic maintenance - belts, plug shoes, scraper, hardware, even bought official Ariens paint and touched it up. It kept on working like a charm.

In the Dec storm we had, I noticed that after a long stretch of use it shut off on me as if it were out of fuel. Checked it had fuel. Pulled to start and it fired up again and finished the job and I forgot to investigate. Forward to the good-sized, heavy, wet snow storm we had in late January and this time the same happened, except more than once and after the 3rd time, I could not get it to fire. Luckily I was >95% done and I finished the job with a shovel.

I suspected it may be carburetor-related since it had never been serviced in 16 years. I just never had to. Luckily, it started and worked for the last two light snowfalls as I waited for service parts. It took forever to find the proper kits, gaskets, etc.

Today I got to work. I figured the gaskets would surely be a dried-up, deformed mess (and they were), but I also expected to find nasty, gummed-up internals. To my surprise, all looked pretty damn clean. I still cleaned the bejeezus out of it with Carb-cleaner replaced all sorts of seals and gaskets, reinstalled it, and it works well.

I am just left wondering what it could have been? I suppose some of those small orifices may have been partially blocked in a way I could not see by eye. But that would be odd IMO, since all else looked in excellent shape.

Thoughts?

02-14-2021, 05:24 PM	#1
FC Solving problems Join Date: Oct 2003 Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4 Location: Metro Boston Posts: 25,260	Carburetors OK, so this is not car-related, but it's "wrenching"-related. My Ariens snow blower, sorry, "thrower," was bought in late 2004. it's been great. Five years ago, I gave it a well-deserved, epic maintenance - belts, plug shoes, scraper, hardware, even bought official Ariens paint and touched it up. It kept on working like a charm. In the Dec storm we had, I noticed that after a long stretch of use it shut off on me as if it were out of fuel. Checked it had fuel. Pulled to start and it fired up again and finished the job and I forgot to investigate. Forward to the good-sized, heavy, wet snow storm we had in late January and this time the same happened, except more than once and after the 3rd time, I could not get it to fire. Luckily I was >95% done and I finished the job with a shovel. I suspected it may be carburetor-related since it had never been serviced in 16 years. I just never had to. Luckily, it started and worked for the last two light snowfalls as I waited for service parts. It took forever to find the proper kits, gaskets, etc. Today I got to work. I figured the gaskets would surely be a dried-up, deformed mess (and they were), but I also expected to find nasty, gummed-up internals. To my surprise, all looked pretty damn clean. I still cleaned the bejeezus out of it with Carb-cleaner replaced all sorts of seals and gaskets, reinstalled it, and it works well. I am just left wondering what it could have been? I suppose some of those small orifices may have been partially blocked in a way I could not see by eye. But that would be odd IMO, since all else looked in excellent shape. Thoughts?