billin

FrankMA wrote:
Seconded - do not wait to fill it with oil+gas and try it out. I also recently got a 221Q and had trouble starting it up initially - you can read about it here:
http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/48798-0-1.html

I would not have been happy if I'd had that experience with a foot of snow waiting for me on the driveway.

Personally, I used the Amsoil Saber Outboard synthetic oil which was recommended as a good, low-smoke TCW3 oil. Now that I have the 221Q starting up properly, it seems to run just fine with that oil at a roughly 1:66 oil-gas ratio.

superbuick wrote:
Thanks for the advice, superbuick! For what it's worth, I tried it again this morning with the regular two pushes of primer, and it started up after 4 pulls, so it's definitely getting better with each subsequent startup. Maybe next time it'll only be two pulls! I will definitely give it a try later without priming to see how it goes.

Just to finish out this thread, for posterity... Got the Toro 221Q running a few days ago with the very patient help of the guy at ValleyPower.com, where I'd ordered the snowblower from. The key points:

1. He told me to lift up the handle so the snowblower was standing up 45 degrees on its auger, then slam the wheels down a couple of times. He said this was to shake loose a possibly stuck needle in the engine(?)
2. Thinking it might be flooded, he told me to turn the choke all the way to the left, i.e. have the choke totally disengaged so that it's not choking the air supply to the carb
   
3. He had me pull 20-25 times

After 15+ pulls, the engine started to sputter a bit, which encouraged me to keep pulling until it started up proper on the 20-25th pull. He'd warned me in advance that it would start smoking like a pig, and, indeed, it did. After working with electric equipment (I had an electric PowerCurve 1800 before this), the snowblower sounded very loud to me, so I shut it off only after a few seconds - it was early and I didn't want to anger the neighbors.

A couple of days later, I got a chance to try it again, and this time I started it up as per the manual's instructions. It took me about 10 pulls, but it started up again, and this time I let it run for a few minutes. The copious smoke cleared away after a minute or two, and maybe I was just more used to it, but it didn't seem to sound as rip-roaringly loud as before. I pulled on the handle to engage the auger, and everything seemed to be running just fine. 10 pulls to start up the blower still seems excessive, but I trust that it will take less pulls as the blower breaks in a bit.

The 221Q is, as people have said, very manueverable, and I have to say that the Quick Shoot, which I initially thought gimmicky, is looking more and more like it'll be a real back saver. The 221Q fits perfectly in my garage and is now ready to go. Looking forward to the snow!!

DavidNJ wrote:
re: clearing right down to the pavement, the auger on the single stage blower actually comes into contact with the pavement, which you can kind of see in this picture:
http://www.toro.com/home/images/sn_38584_l_xl.jpg

As for less maintenance, superbuick obviously knows vastly more on this than I do, but I know that for 2-stroke engines, the oil is mixed right in with the gas. As such, there are no oil changes needed - the oil is consumed along with the gas, as opposed to 4-stroke engines, where the oil is in a separate chamber and needs to be drained and replaced every so often.

superbuick wrote:
Thanks, superbuick!! Your video was quite helpful and clearly showed how accessible the spark plug is. Eight screws, take off the shroud, then take out the spark plug with a socket wrench. It might just even be simple enough for my level of mechanical ineptitude.

I tried again to start the snowblower last night, and it still refused to start - didn't even begin to catch this time around. My first step's going to take it to a Toro service center, since it's brand new and covered under warranty. I don't want to replace the sparkplug only to have Toro refuse warranty repair because I opened the machine up, but if Toro can't come through, I'll give replacing the spark plug a try.

Thanks again!!