Questionhello michael,
i was wondering if you can give me any direction as to what to do with my snowthrower. It has failed me many times and i think i should buy a new one and scrap that one.
To begin, it is a 8HP 26" clearing width, electric start, two stage 12" impeller Yard Machine powered with a Tecumseh engine. I have owned it for less than 2 years and i bought it brand new from BJ's.
Towards the end of last winter's season, the augers grabbed a piece of rebar and mangled it up causing hte engine to shut down by itself. After that, i haven't used it until this season when i used a dremal to cut the bar into pieces to clear the housing. after clearing the augers, i started the engine and it worked fine. after my first use of it this season, i changed the motor oil and filled it with a quart. i used it again and it was fine. the next time i started it up afterwards, the engine started smoking (muffler) and seized up locking hte hand crank. i had a small engine company unseize it using lubricants and it started up again. it ran okay for one storm after the unseizing. i used it last week and it starts up okay, but it runs erratic and appears to be revving- rooom! upon hitting the throttle control or powering up hte augers to spin, hte engine loses significant power and desends into a putting and dies eventually. it happens everytime i tried it afterwards. Now i'm just scared to start it fearing it may blow up or i am reluctant to bring it back to the place that unseized my engine becuase they said that i was suppose to be able to get another 7 years out of the snowthrower. at any rate, i have spent altogether, over $1000.00 buying hte snowthrower, maintainance (shear bolts, oil, lubricants...) that i am sick of spending more money on. i consider this investment a failure because i only used it a few times this year (we got no snow last season) and now, i am being hammered with so much snow that i have given up as to where to head in with this machine.
MTD who owns the company tells me that i need to consult a place to works with Tecumseh, but i already brought it there once, and i don't trust them! {i dont trust them because they said my snowthrower seized the first time and started smoking because there was no oil in the engine. Provided with this, they told me it doesnt cover the 2 year warranty. I know i added at least a quart of synthetic mobil 10-30 grade motor oil. apparently they told me that after running many times, hte engine dissolves it and it disappears. i know for sure that there are no leaks in the engine housing.
Do i need to adjust the carburator, fuel/air ratio, clean out the pistons on the insides, or is it because of that rebar that got in the way? I don't know?
Please help. any reply would be appreciated and i thank you for your time.
AnswerHi Howard,
A complicated issue. The stalling from the rebar may have caused internal engine damge but not likely. The seizing cause is a mystery but THAT could have done damage. The poor running might be caused by a gummed up carb. You could try disassembling the carb and cleaning it out.
Good Luck,
Michael
