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.

Well..I use commercial Toro snow blowers with Briggs engines..and every one of them have throttle cables..sorry..the only ones without throttle cables I've seen are the little 2 cycle ones..but..since you checked the oil,I know it's not 2 cycle..sorry dude ROFL only trying to help.;)

Let's assume for the sake of argument that I take off the air filter and follow the cable (like I'd know which one to follow) and find the throttle. The thing has no external throttle control, so what's the point of htis exercise in the first place?

Seriously -- there are only about 4 things on the engine total, so I'm pretty sure I'm not just missing it.

There's an on-off switch

There's the little electric start set up

There's a choke

And other than the gas and oil access points and a separate dipstick for the oil, that's about all there is to it.

It probably has an inline switch/valve for the fuel. Like motorcycles do. Make sure it is in the on position.

:shrug: I appreciate the help. I gladly admit I'm not pro at small engines. My parents never had anything with a small engine. Manual lawn mowers (i.e. people power to push), no chainsaw, no gas equipment of any kind other than the car. :shrug:

I can even tell you exactly which engine it is. I'll try to post hte picture, as I found it on the B&S website.

Have Tom Brady fix it for ya-he is not going to be busy this Sunday.

Try and post the pic dude

I work on cars at my dads transmission shop and I work on everything of the sort. Vos definetely knows what he is talking about I would find the throttle and let it run for a while at half throttle there is a lot of crap that could take a bit to burn off like paint and stickers you dont see. If its bran new it shouldnt have any real problems unless manufacturer defects.

Actually, I'm just seeing if I can set you on fire.

Anyway, why not just let the fucker smoke for a while? If it's running, let it smoke. It'll clear up.

The only assembly done by Sears employees is to tighten a few wingnuts on the handle after they put it in an upright position. You can't blame them. LOL

Couldn't paste it in for some reason. Here's a link. It's the first one (top of page, not bottom).

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/dis...sp?docid=98287

Yeah, I called him, but he said he was planning to nail Giselle Bundschen while the Bears were nailing his buddy Manning. I offered him some Sam Adams Winter Lager, but I couldn't really top what Giselle had to offer could I?

Also note that on the webpage I posted, the one on the BOTTOM does have a throttle control. The little description says so (unlike for the one on top, which is the one I have).

I need a pic of the entire blower,if you can find it..it would be more helpful

Seriously Amno, go fire that thing up again and let it smoke. It will stop. These aren't exactly precision motors.

I agree with Donger

\


This is it:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

If you let it run as suggested and it continues to run like shit you can call 18004myhome or something like that and they will send a service guy out. You have a large enough engine to have a free service call at your home instead of having to bring it back in.

For real?

Holy sh*t. That fucker weighs 290 pounds?

Do you really think I'd give poor mechanical advice to a fellow history buff?

ROFL That thing is huge..it's going to sound rough starting it up for the first time in the cold....let it run for a while...

Could be. It's fracking heavy, I'll tell you that. My buddy and I manhandled it up into his pickup truck using a couple of slats of wood and "walking" it up. We were more than a bit nervous that the wood would slide or whatever, which would NOT have been a pretty picture.

I think he's trying it.

* Getting marshmallows and popcorn *

The noise didn't bother me. The engine didn't sound that bad.

It was the fucking smoke that disturbed me, and the rapidly heating aluminum cover.

But if you guys say so....

My main worry is that, like me, while you could name 20 significant historical figures and write a 500 word essay on each about why they were important, without breaking a sweat, your technical knowledge barely goes beyond flicking a light switch. :)

Check to make sure that there aren't any stickers or anything that would burn on it..you should be alright.

You suck. ROFL

Seriously, I've packed it in for the evening. I'm about to hit the sack. I'll see if I can't burn the house down tomorrow. My wife tells me the storm is missing us, but next week could be a whopper coming in. Too early to be usre.

Been a very dull winter, actually, for these parts.

Can you shovel a little and fire it up on the driveway? Just in case you're about to give the matches to the pyromaniacs?

I come from a long line of engineers, believe it or not, and I know my way around engines. The goobers who put it together probably "lost" a washer or something putting it togther, or it's burning off some sealant.

I'm no RadarChief, but if you can get it to run, let it run.

You're a thrower tease. I can't believe it. Amnorix is a THROWER TEASE!

probably one of them light bright thingys on the news. Poke it off with a stick and light it on fire.