Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I just bought a used ariens snowblower yesterday...The guy told me that it was running fine last year and that he used it once this year but that he was not able to start it twice. the motor was turning free by hands so i bought it thinking that it was a carb broblem, I cleaned it completely,replace the needle, verifyed the spark plug to see if it was doing spark and it did...But still wont start... the gas arrive without problem and the spark is there to but it does'nt start. Any suggestions??? (maybe a timing problem ???)

Thanks.

kremack wrote:
Make sure the spark plug fires with a "hot" blue spark which means that the coil is working perfectly, condenser is good, points are gapped properly and there is no insulation leakage. An old timer on another site pointed out that not all sparks are good sparks. He made a test plug by grinding off the outside grounding terminal. If the plug sparks with that ground piece missing, then you have a good spark.

Make sure flywheel key is not broken which will knock your timing way off. (My 2 cents)

Have you tried a new spark plug?  This is a rare occurrence but I've had a spark plug that would spark nicely outside of the cylinder but when put back into the head it wouldn't spark enough to enable combustion.  Try a new plug. 

Know what.....I will try that first thing tommorow.

Thanks,

for anything you want to know about thig engine go to www.smallenginesuppliers.com. they have a complete service manual for all tecumseh horizontal shaft that you can download.. does sound like timing to me, if your engine is a h60 or h70 series, find top dead centre of piston, then turn crank back counter clockwise 7 degrees(looking fron ignition end of engine )remove the wires off the points, loosen the two bolts holding the breaker plate, connect a ohmmeter. one lead to the motor frame the other to the poihts(where you previosly remover wires) slowly move the breaker plate until the meter drops to 0 ohms and tighten the breaker plate bolts. this shoud get you very close  ps. if your motor is a h70 orh60 series, can you tell me where the governor spring attaches to carb?  hope is helps good luck   colin

kremack wrote:

Just wanted to add that you can't really tell by "looking" at the piston/cylinders. You need to check compression with a tester. They aren't too expensive, or maybe you could rent one from an auto parts store. If the compression is low, it might be a bad head gasket also.

I'm in agreement with newjerseybt  "Make sure flywheel key is not broken which will knock your timing way off."

Dave Wilson