Fixer

I am a first time poster. I have been searching the web high and low for a solution as i have the same issue with with a 536-881550 Craftsman snowthrower. I have tried the spark plug, drained and replaced the gas with fresh gas, removed the carburator and cleaned it. None of these solutions fixed my problem. I live in Minnesota and we just got 17" of snow last weekend and i was not going to have my snowblower watch me shovel the last half of my driveway. So I checked it for spark after the first time it died and there was spark. losening the gas cap and even replacing the gas cap didn't help. I was more frustrated than ever! This is when I tore into it and did the above mentioned inspection/ cleaning. This brought me to the potential of overheating causing the issue. I fashioned a heat shield out of some left over heating duct that i had laying around and placed it between the exhaust mainfold/ muffler and the carburator. And this fixed the issue for me. It seems that the muffler being too close to the fuel line was causing vapor lock (heat changing the state of the fuel from liquid to a gas) .  The heat shield I made is bent over the top allowing it to be attached using the thumb screws for the outer shroud. It extends from the top mounting bracket down to almost making contact with the engine block. it runs from the gas tank with about a 1" 90 degree return bend on each side going toward the muffler side of the snow blower and away from the carb.