hard starting snow blower

V

Vermont woodsman

Joined
Jan 22, 2005
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212
I have a john deere snow blower thats a few years old, i do all the maintence and keep it in good shape, but when the temp drops into the single digits, its a bear to start. Anyone else experiance this? Could it be jetting? If i put it in the warm garage for a few hours it starts right up.
 
My first guess would be varnish in every portion of the carb, 2nd guess fouled spark plug. I worked in a lawn care shop for several years and those were the two most common problems you might get lucky using Gumout carburator cleaner to remove the varnish, Plugs can look perfect and still be fouled sandblasting will clean them but for the price just buy a new plug in the corrrect heat range.
 
Sounds to me like it's the cold temp causing the problem. My Arien 8526 has an electronic starter and a heater on the block that I plug in to keep it warm. it starts with no problems. You might try finding a heater that keeps the block warm. It should solve your problem. Below is a link to something similiar that I am talking about.

http://www.reiffpreheat.com/Motorcycle.htm
 
Vermont woodsman said:
I have a john deere snow blower thats a few years old, i do all the maintence and keep it in good shape, but when the temp drops into the single digits, its a bear to start. Anyone else experiance this? Could it be jetting? If i put it in the warm garage for a few hours it starts right up.
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Cold oil in the block.

That is why block heaters work so well.

I suggest keeping it inside if you can. You can also look in the owners manual, and change the oil, using the recommended viscosity oil for the average outside temp.
 
I keep mine in the garage for that very same reason.

Up here, it's really cold in winter :barf: I tried keeping it in the shed one winter and it was hell trying to get it to start reliably. Moved it back to the garage after the 4th snow storm and kept it there ever since.

Guy
 
I have a 3 year old John Deere 13hp blower. I use 5W30 synthetic oil and turn off the fuel supply and run the carb dry after EVERY use. Also I do not use gasohol (we can still get real gas here in MN) I don't even need to use the electric start in below zero weather and it starts on the first pull. Ethenol left in the carb/float bowl will clog the jets every time.
 
Probably not too applicable in this case but when I used to work on landfill sites we had to put burning rags next to the air intake to suck in hot air on the diesel pumps we used. Now they were a bear to start.

As suggested above, get some good synthetic oil. Cosco has Mobil 1 for cheap. If its a 2 stroke motor it will get cakked up easily. Somethimes the exhaust gets gummy, you can take them off and soak in Gas to get rid of the deposits. Or if possible just find a way to warm up the whole machine.
 
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