Annual "Guess what my snowblower doesn't work" thread

5 days ago, my snowblower worked.  This is because I had it serviced at the end of the winter season.  I checked it monthly and did all of the things I was told in snowblower owner's school to do.  

This morning, I started up my snow blower and it doesn't work.

This is why snowblowers are man's most awful invention.

yesterday I broke the cord as I was test starting mine. Eventual retreaded the cord and fixed it. Today the carb started leaking fuel, now fixed outside in the snow. Wondering what tomorrow will bring  

Took 5 tries to get her started yesterday. Unfortunately we forgot about an extension cord on a pathway at the back of the house. Thank goodness we were able to get it repaired. Whew!

I did everything you're supposed to do over the summer (except bring it in to P&P).  Then I tried it out Friday with new gas, to be sure in advance of the storm.  It didn't start.  I called P&P and the guy who answered asked if I'd primed it.  (Yes 3 punches as suggested)  He said no, put it on its back and prime the s**t out of it.  Well, that's not something people usually tell me to do.  But I tried it and it worked.

So thanks to P&P, and I guess I owe them now and will bring the bulky machine there this year, as originally recommended.

Those folks at P&P know their stuff!

I had mine in to P&P last October so I HOPE it's going to be OK when I try to start it tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.  I did not know there was something I was supposed to do in the meantime.  I obviously need to go to snowblower school.  Can anyone give me some tips? 

I broke a shovel but fortunately I have 2 back-ups.  My concern is if the engine quits.

These are the times that try wives' souls. Particularly those wives who said, in November, "We should have the snowblower tuned up to make sure we're good to go when the snow arrives." And heard crickets in response.

Mine actually worked, but it really isn't big enough to handle this much snow.  It was a struggle, but I managed to use it to clear most of the driveway, and when we were almost done, something got jammed in the blades.  I need to send it to P&P before the next storm, because I'm not going to take it apart myself and repair it.  But I'm guessing they are flooded with work this week.  Good news is that there is no snow in the 10 day forecast.

My snowblower worked like a champ and made it through.  Then as I went to widen an area -- bam.  a metal piece broke loose, got caught in the impeller, and the transmission casing broke.  Part alone over $300.  so its toast. (12 years old).  

Alas -- no luck finding a new one in this area!  (any leads?) 

thx/p

Ours broke down part-way through yesterday.  It's probably something very simple, but we don't know enough to figure it out.  (Motor still runs, but blade stopped turning.)  P & P is coming tomorrow to pick it up for service.

Fortunately my blower got my driveway and front sidewalk done  before it stopped going forward ( or back).  I stopped at P &P this am and met a whole gang of snow challenged guys. ( with a variety of snow blower problems) They are picking up mine tomorrow or Wednesday. And as of this am they had a number of ready to go very nice looking brand new Snowblowers  

sac said:

Ours broke down part-way through yesterday.  It's probably something very simple, but we don't know enough to figure it out.  (Motor still runs, but blade stopped turning.)  P & P is coming tomorrow to pick it up for service.

It may be a shear pin broke off.  Easy fix.  Google it.

Steve said:

sac said:

Ours broke down part-way through yesterday.  It's probably something very simple, but we don't know enough to figure it out.  (Motor still runs, but blade stopped turning.)  P & P is coming tomorrow to pick it up for service.

It may be a shear pin broke off.  Easy fix.  Google it.

A few years back my husband sucked up my mother's welcome mat with the snowblower. He was able to get it out and by luck had one extra sheer pin on hand. Ever since then he makes sure to have a few extra at the start of every winter.  

My snowblower was like the little engine that could. I had it tuned up at P&P back in October so it was in good shape to start.  But it was not big enough for this much snow; we found ways to use it, sometimes having to shovel off the top layer first.  At one point it started overheating.  Hopefully no serious damage was done and it will be ready for the next round-if we have one.  Is there anything I should do to maintain it in between storms?  

like any engine, make sure the oil level is topped up with the correct grade of oil (mine takes 5w30). There are two different schools of thought on long term storage (more than 3 months):

1. Siphon out gas and run motor until it runs out of gas

2. Fill gas to (almost) top and add Sta-Bil gas preservative.

I do the second, so that I don't have an unpleasant surprise of an empty tank the next time I go to start it.

ml1 said:

Mine actually worked, but it really isn't big enough to handle this much snow.  

Us too. We used good old hand shovels to clear a great deal of the show then the blower to clear the paths. Our blower alone couldn't handle it.

I gave away my blower during fall cleanup ... regretted it this weekend

I had to borrow starter fluid from one neighbor and enlist the help of a second neighbor who knows a LOT more about engines than I do, but mine eventually started. Smooth sailing after that. When I got mine, I deliberately bought bigger than I thought we'd ever need. For this storm it was just about perfect.

marcsiry said:

like any engine, make sure the oil level is topped up with the correct grade of oil (mine takes 5w30). There are two different schools of thought on long term storage (more than 3 months):




1. Siphon out gas and run motor until it runs out of gas

2. Fill gas to (almost) top and add Sta-Bil gas preservative.




I do the second, so that I don't have an unpleasant surprise of an empty tank the next time I go to start it.

Thanks, I think I will do the second also since I have no idea how to siphon.  Where do I buy the Sta-Bil?

pretty much any store that carries car goodies will have sta-bil -- kmart in WO has it in lower level car section, as do all Autozones/Advance Auto stores. And you can even get it at http://www.amazon.com/STA-BIL-22214-Fuel-Stabilizer-oz/dp/B000B68V6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453837007&sr=8-1&keywords=sta-bil with prime delivered on thursday.

I use it in my motorcycle for the winter always and never have an issue in the spring.

nan said:

marcsiry said:

like any engine, make sure the oil level is topped up with the correct grade of oil (mine takes 5w30). There are two different schools of thought on long term storage (more than 3 months):




1. Siphon out gas and run motor until it runs out of gas

2. Fill gas to (almost) top and add Sta-Bil gas preservative.




I do the second, so that I don't have an unpleasant surprise of an empty tank the next time I go to start it.

Thanks, I think I will do the second also since I have no idea how to siphon.  Where do I buy the Sta-Bil?

They have the fuel stabilizer at P & P. (Or have in the fairly recent past, at least.)

Our snow blower was by far the best investment that we ever made, bar none. 11 years and counting. Works out to about $55/year. This last storm would have cost at least $150 to have shoveled.

Steve said:

sac said:

Ours broke down part-way through yesterday.  It's probably something very simple, but we don't know enough to figure it out.  (Motor still runs, but blade stopped turning.)  P & P is coming tomorrow to pick it up for service.

It may be a shear pin broke off.  Easy fix.  Google it.

Sadly, it was not that easy.  Just got a call from P&P and something in the gears is broken.  The good news is that they have the necessary parts on hand, but it is not a minor repair.  They did mention that one cause of our problem is often use of the wrong shear pin, but that was not the case for ours ... it just happened but they can't say why.  

I do plan to make sure we have some spare shear pins of the correct type for the future, though.

After chewing up an extension cord and getting it back up and running, a belt broke. This was 15 minutes into snow clean up. Borrowed a neighbor's but hera had a flat tire that wouldn't take air. Asked another neighbor across the street and not only did he lend us his big one, he brought over a second one to help out 

Picked up BOTH belts first thing Monday Now to get them on...

Sounds like it's a choice between spending time shoveling snow and spending both time and money maintaining a snowblower and blowing snow.

I'm sticking with the shovel as long as I am able.

@jimmurphy, that's absolutely not the case. A thread about broken snowblowers will attract a disproportionate amount of stories about broken snowblowers.

I've had my Yard Man 357cc blower for 5 years, and all I've done is put gas and oil in it. It's save me at least 5-6 $300+ snow removal bills (large corner lot, long semi-circular driveway with carriage house in the back, long walk to the front stairs). Each time I was done in 1-2 hours vs. being out there all day with a shovel. 

Last week, I noticed my neighbor shoveling out his driveway with a shovel, and walked it over when I was done with mine. He returned it an hour later and said, "you just saved me two hours of work!"

My snowblower has worked like a charm for 11 years. I have maintained it myself, including cleaning and oiling chain, changing oil and spark plug, etc. I was able to use it to clear the driveway and a neighbor's driveway last week, though it has now started to leak fuel. We're going to have P&P pick it up and repair. I presume it's the carburator and would fix it myself if our garage had heat and power. It's just too much to replace the carb in a cold garage.

richiekess said:

My snowblower has worked like a charm for 11 years. I have maintained it myself, including cleaning and oiling chain, changing oil and spark plug, etc.

How do you store it during summer? Do you drain all the fuel or do you keep the tank filled full with stabilized gasoline? If you do drain the tank, do you also drain the fuel from the carburetor?

Mine was great this storm too, with caveats:  I started at 9 am and after a half-hour I stopped to clear the steps with a shovel, then the snowblower wouldn't start, I guess something was frozen.  I put it in the garage to thaw out, and I tried again at 3 and it was fine, cleared everything once again.  Good thing I did it in stages -- next day I tried to get neighbor snow, which was now 20 inches, my snowblower was no match for the snow.  

These comments do make it seem like a snowblower is more trouble than it's worth, but absolutely not.  I had to do the driveway apron by hand b/c of snowplows, but I'd never have made it if I had to do the driveway by hand as well.