I have a pretty new Craftsman snowblower with electric start. Has always performed like a champ; only a few years old.

Yesterday I was using it and accidently ran out of gas. I put fresh gas in it and it will now not restart...just cranks and cranks.

I went so far as to syphon all of the 'new' gas out and put brand-new out of the pump gas in it this morning; still won't start.

Just 'cranks and cranks" when I press the start button. Now it's sitting outside smelling like gas because out of frustration I pumped the red bubble too many times.

I miss the days of having access the carburetor and spraying a shot of starting fluid into it.

Not sure what else to do but maybe change the spark plug, but I've only used it a dozen or so times.

Any ideas?

Would it help to remove the spark plug, spray a shot of 'starter' in there and put the plug back before I try starting?

I'm not a small engine expert, but, I just went through something similar with my not often used snow blower.

Personally I would start with your suggestion of removing the spark plug, cleaning it, and then spraying starter fluid.

If that doesn't work then what may have happened is by running it empty "varnish" may have come loosed and plugged up the carburetor.

Find a utube video for instructions and take it apart and clean up the carb. I was amazed at the small amount of varnish that kept it from running.

It probably sucked something thru the filter and clogged a port in the carb body. If you're mechanically inclined, you can remove the carb, and use canned compressed air and carb cleaner to blow out all of the orifices in the carb body, and jets. Wear safety glasses! Check and clean out the bottom of the tank, and change the inline filter, and you should be good.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Would it help to remove the spark plug, spray a shot of 'starter' in there and put the plug back before I try starting?

Definitely works. Small amount, screw the plug back in quickly and try it

Is your kill switch off? Pull the plug and ground it to the block still hooked up to the wire. Pull the rope and see if you have spark. Should hear a snap and see a nice blue spark.

If you take your carburetor off, be careful with the gaskets. They may need to be ordered and who knows how long it will take. Most likely the main jet is clogged. When disassembling, count the number of turns it takes to come out. Clean the holes with a stripped bread tie. The wire type or a torch cleaner if you have one. Spray it out with carb cleaner, starting fluid, or brake clean. WEAR GOGGLES WHILE DOING THIS!! You know, safety third and all. Reassemble, remember to count the turns back in for the needle and mount the carburetor. You should be good to go. Hopefully.

Thanks for the tips so far guys.

I'm going to try cleaning the plug first.

I'm just mechanical enough to be dangerous, but getting at the guts is a freaking pain in the ass...a lot to remove before you can even get access.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
I have a pretty new Craftsman snowblower with electric start. Has always performed like a champ; only a few years old.

Yesterday I was using it and accidently ran out of gas. I put fresh gas in it and it will now not restart...just cranks and cranks.

I went so far as to syphon all of the 'new' gas out and put brand-new out of the pump gas in it this morning; still won't start.

Just 'cranks and cranks" when I press the start button. Now it's sitting outside smelling like gas because out of frustration I pumped the red bubble too many times.

I miss the days of having access the carburetor and spraying a shot of starting fluid into it.

Not sure what else to do but maybe change the spark plug, but I've only used it a dozen or so times.

Any ideas?

Would it help to remove the spark plug, spray a shot of 'starter' in there and put the plug back before I try starting?

I found your problem.

Actually, some good suggestions so far.

Does it have a manual choke? maybe not drawing gas?

Have you let it sit for an hour or so?

Just checking... but is the key turned to the 'on' position? Perhaps you turned it off to refill it and forgot to turn it back on. I've done that before and it 'cranked and cranked' until I realized my mistake.

I vote for crud blocking the jet in the carb. Sucking the tank dry will do that.

Just made a couple of bucks fixing a Cub Cadet blower with exactly that problem. Bunch of snot in the jet orifice.

Check and change the fuel filter, I would do this far sooner than yanking the carberator off. I agree it probably picked up some crap, but might be as simple as the filter is clogged.....how does the primer bulb feel when you press it? If it takes longer than usual for the bulb come back out it is definitely the filter.

Key is pushed in

Choke is on

Bulb is good

I pulled the plug and it had a ton of carbon buildup on it.

wire brushed it off and replaced, almost turned over a few times but just 'sputtered'.

Going to give it some time and try one more time, then replace the plug before I start tearing the damn thing apart.

Thanks guys...

To add....a few years ago when I still worked for Sears I picked up this set of sockets that are called 'deep' sockets. They are designed so that any socket can go as deep over a spark plug (or bolt) and still function...very...very cool.

Remove plug, reconnect plug wire, lay spark plug on cylinder head and crank engine and look for spark. If you don't have spark, that is your prolem. If you have spark, the electrical system is working. Move on to the fuel system. With fresh gas in tank, remove fuel line at far end of filter from the gas tank and check for fuel flow. If you have fuel coming out there then put a small amount of gasoline, like 1/2 teaspoon in the spark plug hole, reinstall plug and crank. If it fires a little, the problem is probably in the carb. Starter fluid is good for engines that are flooded but gas or carb spray works well on engines that are starved for fuel. Starter fluid is very hard on two stroke engines and probably not good on four stroke engines. If you can get to the carb air inlet behind the air filter, you can also squirt carb cleaner in there and try to crank. If it starts you can keep it running on carb spray for a few seconds and sometimes this will correct a fuel flow problem.

I was typing while you were posting. Heavy carbon build-up on a snowblower plug is unusual on an engine with low hours. Get a new plug and make sure it is the correct one. If it was putting while you were cranking, the electrical system is probably working. Basic requirements for any engine to run are spark, fuel and compression. Lose any one of these and you are out of business. Spark is easy to check so that is the starting place. Compression loss is the least likely but can happen. Fuel is probably the most often encountered problem on small engines these days thanks partly to ethanol gasoline. Try that new plug and hopefully you are ok.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Check and change the fuel filter, I would do this far sooner than yanking the carberator off. I agree it probably picked up some crap, but might be as simple as the filter is clogged.....how does the primer bulb feel when you press it? If it takes longer than usual for the bulb come back out it is definitely the filter.

I seriously doubt it has a fuel filter....

Thanks again for all of the feedback guys.

I think we are on the right track with the plug. Cleaning it gave me progress....it wants to catch but just doesn't.

Off to get a new plug.

If your Craftsman has a Briggs and Stratton engine, check the coil. Pull the plug wire and hold it near the spark plug tip then crank the engine to see if there is a spark. Easiest to see when it's in the dark or in a shadow. For goodness sake, don't get the connection near your finger when you do this.

B&S engines blow coils like a nerdy girls blow bubbles.

Here is what I've learned about small engines used on winter outdoor power tools, such as snow blowers.

#1 - Don't use ethanol-adulterated gasoline. Ever. Period. And, no: Fuel treatments won't save you if you do. Can you get away with it? Perhaps.

#2 - Go easy on that primer bulb and the choke. It's very easy to over-do one, the other, or both and flood the carburetor so badly you actually soak the air filter.

#3 - Summer-ize it. When you're certain the last snow is long gone: Fire it up, shut it down, remove whatever fuel you can, then fire it back up until it stops for fuel starvation. (If I'm close enough when that happens I'll choke it to get the last fumes.)

#4 - It's not a bad idea to fuel it up and get it started once before it gets too bitterly cold.

#5 - If you've ever had it serviced, check to make certain it has the correct plug. When ours was last serviced, in preparation for putting it up for sale after we'd acquired its replacement, I was informed the plug that had been installed at some point was not the correct plug and ran colder than the correct one. This, naturally, will lead to premature fouling.

We've a 15-year-old Toro with a Suzuki 5HP two-stroke that gave me nothing but grief for years. Once I finally learned all the above (ironically: after I'd already bought its replacement), it hasn't given me a lick of trouble. (I kept it because it's smaller than its replacement. Handier for smaller spaces.)

Btw: Ever since adopting #1 for our snow blowers, I've now done the same for all my small engines. I've got about ten gallons or so of ethanol-adulterated fuel to use up in the generator and summer gear. When that's done: No more ethanol in small engines for me!

FIXED!

It was the spark plug. Which surprises me because it's not very old. Oh well.

To answer a few questions....

Yes, I always use the non-oxygenated gas on my small engines....although it is a bit of a search to find in the Minneapolis area.

And yep, I always treat my gas for the winter. Glad I did not throw out the stuff that I emptied from the tank.

Thanks to all at SigForum for your assistance; very much appreciated!

Glad to see it runs now.

I was going to suggest using WD-40 sprayed into the cylinder through the spark plug hole as a safer alternative to the ether in the carb solution. The propellant in WD-40 is propane which obviously burns, the oils lube the cylinder a bit and are combustible as well.

It’ll light off and run a couple seconds if you have spark. It may continue just fine if the problem is the diaphragm in the fuel pump is starting to get too stiff. If it won’t fire at all you’ve probably got spark troubles.

I maintained about 30 small engines in a former life. Mostly crap, all loaned out to farmers (arguably worse than rental). Quick and dirty repairs were the norm in season.

Good to see it was an easy and cheap fix.