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

I'm looking for help diagnosing and correcting a problem I'm having with a Toro Power Clear snowblower.  The unit has a Briggs and Straton 141CC two stroke engine that stalls out after a few minutes of run time.   The problem started a few days ago and might be related to something I did a few days earlier.

The pull cord broke so I opened the unit and removed the recoil starter mechanism to fish out the remaining cord.  There was enough cord left to start the motor with a short pull so I simply retied the it to the pull handle and reassembled the unit.  Either I forgot to reconnect the tube running from the carburetor to the primer bulb, or it came loose while I was putting the "skins" back on.  In any event the unit ran fine for several hours, maybe up to 4 hours afterwards, but it did on occasionally sound like it was about to run out gas.  I didn't think much of that because when the unit is not under load the engine revs up and down a bit.

I put the unit away for a few hours then topped off the gas tank and started blowing snow again.  After about 5 minutes the engine died and would not restart.   Since my gas can was almost empty when I topped of the tank I suspected water might have gotten into the fuel line and frozen, so I put the unit in the cellar for a few hours to warm it up.   A couple of hours later I pulled the cord and the unit started right up.  A few minutes later it died so I returned it to the cellar, disconnected the fuel line and drained the carburetor bowel. That's when I noticed that the primer tube was not connected.  I reconnected the fuel and primer lines and the motor started after a few pulls.  It died a minute or so later.

I then drained all the fuel out of the tank and carburetor and put it fresh gas.  That didn't fix the problem the motor still stalled after a few minutes.

I've dropped the carburetor bowl and it looks like the float is moving freely and am stumped as to how to proceed.  Like I said, after it stalls I can get it restart it if I drain the bowl but it only runs for a minute.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
bob

Try loosening the fuel cap when it starts to begin to stall.  See what that does.  The vent in the fuel cap may be blocked or defective.

Let us know how it goes. 

Thanks Borat.  I loosened the gas cap and let the blower idle for 10 minutes, which was much longer than it had would idle previously.  I then tightened the cap and let it idle for another 10 minutes.  I haven't run it under a load yet but I'm hoping it was something like Ice or a little bit of dirt blocking an airway.