Help the Dunce -- Small Engine Problem (Snow Thrower)
 

So my little 5.5 HP snow thrower of last year proved itself pathetically inadequate to a serious New England snowstorm (or 3, or 4, or 5, like we had last winter) and so I sold that off and bought a big sturdy 10.5 HP that ought to be able to handle about the worst that New England has to offer.

We're supposed to get a bit of a storm tonight -- nothing too serious, but I might need it tomorrow morning for the first time this year. It's a 10.5 HP Craftsman with a Briggs and Stratton Engine. The thing has an electric starter, but I was unable to get it to work. :eek: I plugged it in, pushed the button and nothing happened. So my first question is this, does the electric starter thing need to be plugged in for a while to juice up? I would figure that like most appliances, etc., that it will work if it's actually plugged in when you go to use it, and that you only need to keep it plugged in if you want it to stay charged for a while.

That is a minor question -- the next one is far more important to me.

I ditch the electric start up and go for the manual one. Prime twice, pull once, and she fires up fine. Wait a bit, then turn the choke down to off. Splutter a bit, turn the choke back up a bit, wait a bit, turn it down, and then off.

10 seconds later the fracking thing starts to smoke. It's pretty cold here -- maybe 20 degrees, so maybe it's just steam, but it sure looks like smoke. Worse, the aluminum top of the muffler or whatever it is is hot to the touch. Like really hot. Hotter than I would think it should be, especially since it's only been running for like 30 seconds total at this point.

So I turn it off and go into hte house muttering to myself.

Random facts:

1. yes, I checked the engine oil, and it seemed fine.

2. damn thing doesn't have a throttle, at least so far as I could find.

Any thoughts/help???

Okay, this may sound a bit obvious, but did you read the instruction manual?

Try putting new gas in the tank..there might be water in the gas from the temperature changes...that would make it run rough...and..it's pretty frickin cold outside

Antifreeze. Sheesh.

Oh, and you could always use a shovel you big Sally.

I missed this..are you kidding me? ROFL

take the air filter off and look for the cable linkage to find the throttle..it's got to have a throttle..who did you buy this from?

My driveway is about 40 feet long and over 2 car widths wide. Tell you what -- you shovel it out and THEN call me a sally. I've done it the hard way and, err, it sucks.

It'd never been run before -- the gas I added was the first time it'd ever had gas.

It was assembled, for what it's worth, by the geniouses at my local Sears (it being a Craftsman, after all).

Yes, but there's a problem. Because I had it assembled, when I picked it up they inevitably lost the owner's manual. Gave me a number to call to get one. I had to call 3 times, and ultimately they sent me one for a slightly larger model -- an 11.5 HP. It's mostly a similar machine, but the engine is definitely fairly different.

Anyway -- I did what the OM said, and there's no troubleshooting for "it's smoking". :harumph:

Look at it this way: you need the exercise.

OH...It's brand spanking new...if you can find the throttle..try starting it up at half throttle for a while until it gets warmed up..sometimes you burn off excess paint and shit when it's brand new(maybe the reason for the excess heat?)..I would let it run for a while..but keep an eye on it..

Consider me as very "unhandy". I won't be removing any air filters or following cable linkages.

I can do research however, and if you Google "Briggs and Stratton" and "no throttle" you'll get plenty of hits, so apparently this isn't that weird.

So go from no exercise to shoveling eight million pounds of snow? I know you're just trying to kill a liberal voter, and it ain't gonna work. ;)

It's got a throttle, Amno. It has to have one. Be a man and take off the air filter!

I've had 90 inches of snow at my house since December 20, and I don't have a snowblower. And, my driveway's 25 feet long.

Shovel it. Your wife will like your new 'delts,' whatever that means.