Congrats on the new blower. I just purchased the same one myself. I seem to remember reading that the aluminum bore was better for cold weather (heated up faster or something like that...somebody help me out on that one). I have an Intek I/C engine on my tiller and it's a bear to start in cooler weather. I'm sure the I/C is a more expensive engine too. I think I've also heard that the durability of the I/c engine over the aluminum bore isn't as much of an issue since snow throwers generally operate in a "dust-free" environment and don't get a ton of hours on them.
Are you located in the U.S. or Canada or anywhere else?
You're probably right about running cooler due to the heat dissipation qualities of the aluminum bore and as you say, limited use will certainly contribute to engine life. As far as your tiller engine goes, there should be no difference in starting ability between either engines if the key operational aspects are similar (fuel and spark). If you're having starting problems, check to see if you're getting enough fuel to the engine. If the engine has a primer, check to ensure it's working properly. If you're getting fuel and still have trouble starting, go over your electrics starting with your spark plug. Also, how's your air cleaner? From my experience, hard starting engines is almost always caused firstly by insufficient fuel and secondly bad spark. I'd look at the primer first thing.
Not to start an oil war but, what's the general consensus of engine oil? Primarily synthetic vs. mineral? When I went to pick up the new snowblower, I noticed the (very young) technician doing an oil change on the machine because it had spent almost a year sitting unused. He drained out what looked to be perfectly good oil and when I had returned to load the machine, he advised me that he had put in 5W30 synthetic. Not sure what the attitude of this forum is but, just about everywhere else, the belief is that engines should be broken in with mineral oil. I told the kid that and he replied that the manual recommended synthetic oil. I gave him my views on engine break-in using mineral oil and he said he'd never heard of it. I said that might have something to do with being only eighteen years old. He asked me what I wanted him to do. I told him to just load the machine onto my truck and give me the bottle for the synthetic oil. I'll change the oil again when I get it home. So, when I got it home, I put the dino oil back in. I have nothing against synthetics other than unnecessary cost. I never use it in anything and, in all of my years of owning and operating lots of engines, many of them fairly old, I have never had an oil related issue. The primary advantage of synthetic is extended periods between oil changes. I don't believe in extended periods of oil and related contaminants being in the engine. To me, clean oil of the proper viscosity is a better choice. Particularly when the cost of synthetic is weighed in on the decision. So, what's the view of other motor/gear heads?
