Hi. new here:

I have an older 8 hp Ariens with electirc start. It had a bad fuel line leak, needed a tune up and oil change when I bought it used at a flea market for $175.

I changed the oil and spark plug, and had a small engine shop replace tubes in tires, new bosch plug, and adjust carb and replace fuel line and add fuel filter (as it had no filter).

It ran great both of the last 2 times I used it this winter .  I put it back in the garage 2 weeks ago and haven't brought it out till today.. Today we got 1/2 a ft of snow and I tried my best to start it any way I could. Electrically and with the pull start. I then resorted to  reading the adjustment manual. I removed the carb cover, seated both idle and main jet adjusters, and backed both out 1.25 turns. Choke on, partly on, off. Doesn't matter. I spent 2 hrs out there trying to get that sucker to run, but no avail. I removed the spark plug and sanded it clean, tried a tighter gap, a looser gap. Nothing.

Any ideas before I drop it off at the small engine shop?

if you have the tecumseh engine i have the same machine but bought in 1986. the idle mix(bottom screw on side)initial adjustment is 1 1/2 turns out.the high speed jet(the one on the bottom of the float bowl) is also 1 1/2 turns out. both from lightly seated. this should get you running. to start my machine i put the choke on full,open the gas shutoff all the way to left,put the speed all the way to high,pump the primer bulb four times,and hit the starter if it's the first time run,or pull the cord if it's been run earlier.the first start of the season it takes the electric starter to get going.once the above is set accordingly you need three things to get it started.1.  a good spark  2. a good fuel supply 3. good  compression. to test for spark get yourself the right plug,gap it correctly and before installing it ground the base out on the engine and make sure there is a spark jumping the gap.before installing the plug if there is spark, lightly place your thumb over(not in) the spark plug hole and turn the engine over with the starter and see if your thumb gets blown clear of the hole.now for the gas part of this i would dump a teaspoon full of gas in the spark plug hole,put the plug in and tighten it to spec 14ft lbs,do all the above i listed for prestart procedures and see if it pops and then dies. if it does  and quits it is a fuel problem. i have listed on another thread just how to take the fast idle nut out and examine it as well as how to adjust the carb when you get done. but the short of it is there could be crude in the two holes in the fast idle nut. this is the brass nut the high speed jet screws into.it is located under the float bowl and unthreads turning counterclockwise.you can take it out with or without taking the jet out.once taken out get a magnifying glass and make sure all the crude, and specifically the two holes are completely clean.use a small wire cut out of an extension cord to insert and clean these holes.put the bowl back on making sure it lines up with the deep end on the float side. shallow end towards the  needle and seat end. make sure the rubber ring that seals the float to the carb is straight and in place. below is two  earlier posts  about carb issues. hope this helps.how to adjust the idle mixture and high speed mixture on a tecumseh carb                                                                                                                                             how does it start? if it starts easy your on the right track.once it starts you should within a couple of seconds have to reduce the choke some or it will kill.as you reduce the choke within 30 seconds or so of starting with no load it should stay running full throttle without the choke. if you need a longer choke period  to obtain the above the main needle is too lean. if the full throttle running with no choke is almost instantanious you are probably too rich. the initial on both needles is 1 1/2 turn out from lightly bottomed,however don't be alarmed if it's off as much as 3/4 to 1 full turn on the main.the idle mixture once fully warm can be adjusted as you have stated,somewhere in the middle of lean and rich stumble. the tell tail of getting close will be 1. when completely warm you can idle it down for 10 seconds or so and smartly advance it to full throttle and it doesn't stumble.if this is off too lean will just cause the motor to die completely,too rich and it will chug black smoke and cough and eventually go to full rpm. once you are close on the idle mixture and slow to full throttle without stumble the next test is under full load. i have found by slowly turning the bottom bowl screw out  1/8 turn at a time(richer) and trying it in a gear that puts the most load on the engine in heavy snow without stalling it out by overfilling it you will get the high speed mixture set for the most power.any leaner than this and you will get the symptoms you described in your post. if it cuts out under full load too lean will backfire through carb and too rich will cough black and choke out. these carbs are not mikunis and are not very sophisticated so they do not run perfect.the best you can hope for is 1. easy starting,2 no stumble going  from low speed to high speed ,and the engine pulls the load within reason at full throttle. if you can achieve these three settings you are in the ball park. i have found a little rich is better than too lean but if you get it too rich and it doesn't start with the first couple of pulls you can wet foul the plug and it will be difficult to start .  my slow speed mixture adjustment was very close to 1  1/2 but my high speed mixture was way lean at 1 1 /2 turns,it's more like 2 1/4 from bottom.you can open up  the link to BASIC CARBURETOR PICTURES  it has additional carb info also. let me know what you found. hope this helps. mkd

Maybe a dumb question but....did you shut the gas off when you put it away last time?  Three magic ingredients, fuel, air,spark

The first time or 2 I tried starting it on Sunday, It ran for 15 seconds then died. That was full choke, full throttle, 3 pumps primer. Fuel petcock is open, as I didn't turn it off when I put it away 2 wks ago.

Then I tried starting it to the point the safety cutout for the elec starter came on. No running, just tons of backfiring. So I took carb cover off and then pumped primer again to be sure fuel is flowing. Yup. If I pump it twice or more fuel drips out of carb mouth. Spark plug is new, but I dunno what correct gap is supposed to be, nor do I know for sure if it's the correct plug for this motor.  It was wet with fuel. I cleaned the electrode up with a little sanpaper. it had no deposits on it, but was black, i am assuming from running a little rich the last 2 times I used it (and those times it ran great).

To be sure I had spark, I unhooked plug wire and tried starting it. Nothing at all. As soon as I hooked plug wire back up and tried starting it, it began backfiring again while I try to start it, but won't start.  I searched online then, and found the settings for the jetting adjusters, and set them both at 1.25 turns out, then tried 1.5 turns out. Still wouldn't start. So I turned the throttle down, and choke to 3/4 closed. It started right up and idled low for about 30 seconds, then died again.

I tried again and again after that and it never started again.

So that's where I am at right now. I will check the comprssion like you said tmw, and try to restart it. I will add fuel line antifreeze to it to see if that helps, but I don't think it's frozen as my fuel lines are new (2 wks ago) and filter too, and they are all clear and I can see fuel flowing through them.

the diagrams posted above are what my carb appears to be (judging from the outside appearance of my carb-have not disassembled it yet to be sure), so that possibly will be my next step. Anyone know what Bosch plug I need for the machine? And the gap? Thx guys.

RJ19LM,  J19LM

If your pulling and pulling or using the electric start a lot make frequent checks for the plug being wet.  It should be wet with lots of start attempts so useless to keep trying until it dries out. 

If the plug is dry after lots of start attempts dump some gas directly into the pulg hole to fire up,  If you have spark then you'll have gas, air and should be compression so a start.

If you can get it going you can try pushing the primer to keep it going.  Sometimes it works and just another verification that the carb needs cleaning.

There are a number of gas/carb possibilities for your problem mentioned above and spark worth checking also.   If  you have spark and cleaned the carb then it could be a sheared flywheel key.   

Ke http://www.kedawei.com/snowblower.htm