Run It Out Of Gas

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i had was talking to my dad yesterday he was having snow blower problems
he filled the tank and tried to start it then realized there was gas driping fast from the carb he couldn't get it started

so i asked the question have you been turning off the gas and letting it run dry each time

it was a shamfull No

so he was off to take the carb off and get the rebuild kit

i have also found my tecumse snow king engine starts much easied if i remember to shut the gas off and run it dry each time

so a simple snow king tip (snow king by tecumse is the most common engine found on 2 stage snow blowers)

when you are done moving snow turn off the fuel and let it run dry


i have had mine 2 years but it is 20 + years old i bought it second hand from a freind who moved to arizona who had had probelms with it for the hole time he owned it about 3 years i wonder if he ever shut off the gas an ran it dry.
it works so much better if you do.

the differance on mine is 3 pulls vs over a minute standing on the electric starter (it would be over a 1/2 hour of pulling as i tried it one time when i had left the gas on and the electric start had come out of alainment).

i had a freind who used to do this with all his atv's and dirt bikes to it kept him from spending every vacation rebuilding carbs when he wanted to be riding

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

by the way it was officaily 16 inches of the wettest snow of the year

but i don't think that acuratly calculates the hours of rain that fell ontop of the snow


by wet i mean water content per cubic foot i say this because otherwise one of you will say a pound is a pound

[arbutus]

Just to be contrarian, I use and wholeheartedly recommend keeping the gas ON and using fuel that was stabilized when purchased. I say this because in MI and WI we get wild temperature swings that result in condensation - which will also lead to water in your gas tank, gas lines, and carburetor, and you will be rebuilding it anyway.

With my snowblower, I will park it in the garage and let it continue to run for five minutes or so after clearing the driveway. This helps remove the snow that gets sucked into the carburetor.

The only really frustrating experience I had with my snowblower was when there was apparently a WHOLE LOT of snow that got sucked in, and one of the valves froze open - no compression when I pulled the starter rope. I shoveled the drive that day and on a warmer day it fired right up.






Edit - The post about outboard engines below reminded me that because I use my motorboat very infrequently (1 or 2 times a year) I run the gas out of the engine after each time. That was also my great grandfather's and my dad's practice (they owned the boat before me) and the engine is still running strong after 25 years.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

my dads snow blower made it 21 years on this first carb following the run it dry method anytime it was going to be more than a few days between uses
you know as well as i do living in michigan that it can snow and snow then stop for weeks


i do know that mine starts much better if the gas was off but i do like to run stablized gas and he probably was not

[rambler]

Never heard of such a thing. I would think the gaskets & seals would dry out & leak with your method. It's awful to try to restart our blower when you run it out of fuel, the routing of the fuel line doesn't let it prime very well at all if it goes empty. 1/2 hour job to get it fired up again.

Never ran a lawn mower out of gas either, or the tiller. They seem to fire up by the 3rd pull whenever I get to them, depending on how I prime them.

Mostly B&S tho, maybe it's a Tecumse thing.

--->Paul

[foxtrapper]

I generally agree with you on this, particularly for long term storage. Works well. Some carburetors are more sensitive than others. Little 2-stroke motors for example tend to have very sensitive carburetors when it comes to stickyness and buildup. Running them dry eliminates this.

But there's always the mysterious variabilities that come into play. One of my snow blowers wouldn't start this month. Investigation showed the carburetor was gelled. Never ran into that one before. The other blower was fine, and the tank of the one with a gelled carburetor was fine. Go figure! And I do mean gelled, not varnished or such.

[dcross]

Buddy of mine is an engine engineer for Kohler, says "There's nothing better than no gas in the carb for storage."

I run my blower(Tecumseh) dry in spring, found out the bowl holds a little even then, had to clean it up last fall.

[Ed Norman]

My dad ran his mercury outboard dry every time we used it. It always worked from the early 60s to early 90s. I just got a boat with a 40 horse Evinrude this weekend, I plan to run it dry.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Originally Posted by dcross

Buddy of mine is an engine engineer for Kohler, says "There's nothing better than no gas in the carb for storage."

I run my blower(Tecumseh) dry in spring, found out the bowl holds a little even then, had to clean it up last fall.

the freind that drained his motorcyle and atv had some screw he turned on the carb that let the last of the gas out of the bowl

i think it may have been somthing specific to those carbs

i suppose it would be to much to ask to have a drain valve on small engine carborators