Snowblower is "surging"

[Beetle-Kill]

I noticed this last year, said to self-"Self, fix that this summer." Well.......you know how That goes. So I finally had to break it out and use it a couple of days ago. It was funny, forgot to use the primer, yanked away for 20 min., then had that "Oh yeah.." moment. fired up on the first pull after that. But it surges, unless under a full load. Then it kicks in and shoots snow 50'. What should I look at first, and do I need to plan on re-building the carb.? The blower is a Husqvarna 1130SBEXP, w/ the Tech. Snow King. Thanks, JB

 

[velvetfoot]

When mine does that, I move the choke lever over a little.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Tried that, doesn't help. I think I have a vacumn port clogged, but not sure.

 

[hh3f]

I had a snowblower that did that and it was a cracked fuel line and primer bulb. Something to start with.

 

[mainemaul]

i have a john deere with the same engine. had the same problem. had the carb cleaned and it runs like new

 

[blel]

I had a generator that did the same thing. Cleaned the carb and no problems.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Sounds good, thanks. carb. it is.

 

[gpcollen1]

Often just the fuel jet needs to be cleaned out.

 

[Flatbedford]

Often just the fuel jet needs to be cleaned out.

That's what I was gonna say.

 

[thinkxingu]

Local wrench said the new machines' jets have been manipulated to serve EPA requirements and that they easily clog, causing surging. Those jets can be replaced with 'standard' versions for cheap $. He quoted me $40, with labor, to replace them in my Craftsman 9hp Tecumseh snowblower.

S

 

[thinkxingu]

By the way, I've seen lots of people say these issues get cleared up with a tank of Sea Foam.

S

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Thanks, gonna try the jets, then Sea Foam for the next tank. may be a bit, no real snow until next week at least.

 

[brad068]

If you are capable of disassembling half of the carb soak it in simple green. By far the best carb cleaner I have ever use. Works better than any store bought carb cleaner.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

This is a first for me, never heard of using "Simple Green" for that. Yeah, I can get it apart, but putting it back together....? how many pocket parts are acceptable? :lol:

 

[WhitePine]

Sometimes a shot of compressed air into the carb's air passages works wonders.

 

[ironpony]

on one of my small engines it was the spring for the govenor
bumped the bracket and the spring was pulling to hard
tweaked the bracket back and it smoothed right out

 

[blades]

Depending on your carb, if you have a bowl well a metal can or something like that at the bottom of the carb there is a float in there which is connected to the little needle that controls fuel being allowed into the bowl from your tank. 3 things can happen here. the float has developed a leak, not floating properly, crud has congealed in that area causing a hang up of the assembly, or the valve pin and seat have either become gummed up or are worn. With todays gas it is not uncommon for the fuel supply line to rot from the inside out. Gets all gummy inside and that gets sucked into the carb jets and will cause this problem. The line can get soft enough without leaking that it will collapse under vacuum depending on the type of carb. I have a 5hp Tecumseh that happened to last year (fuel line rot), still trying to get it clean, might just have to buy a new carb assembly if available. As someone else mention cracked prime bulb is another classic for this surging problem.

 

[Ratherbfishin]

My Craftsman was doing the same thing and after running 2 tanks of fresh gas through it it cleared itself out and now runs just fine. I did put a new plug in it when it first started doing it but that didn't help.

 

[Later]

I use START and it seems to clear up the surging problem.

 

[charly]

By the way, I've seen lots of people say these issues get cleared up with a tank of Sea Foam.

S

I'll second that!

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I can rule out Ethanol degradation of the fuel line, E-10 is not common up here, much less E-85. Age of line may be a different story, but the lines looked good when I drained it. I not finding my Seafoam, just everything else I thought I lost. I'm gonna clean that sucker up after work tomorrow. I still have about a week before the next snow. Gotta live by my motto- Procrastinators unite........tomorrow.

 

[kenskip1]

Something that has not been mentioned is that water or snow in the gas will make it's way down to the main jet and will eventually freeze. This will cause some problems.Ken

 

[gpcollen1]

By the way, I've seen lots of people say these issues get cleared up with a tank of Sea Foam.

S

I'll second that!

If it just 'gummed' up, the sea foam will help clean it when mixed with the gas...