On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:08:36 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Can anyone pass on some ideas on troubleshooting? Thanks!


Use the correct oil:fuel ratio.

My earlier post elsewhere.

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:11:35 -0600, "S. Barker"
wrote:

too much oil makes them run lean. the oil takes up space that would
normally be occupied by gasoline in the mix. a very interesting
demonstration by the stihl people one year at the kansas speedway .
involved a bunch of infared thermometers and little engine dynos and the
like.

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:17:45 GMT, PaPaPeng wrote:

My Toro snowblower needs a 50:1 fuel oil mix and it felt too lean in
my estimation. Like what someone said a bit more oil would seem a
harmless idea. So I used guesswork to do my mixing and inevitably the
oil ratio crept up. I had three seasons of increasingly difficult
starts and difficulty to keep running including the necessity to run
it on full choke. It was an old machine I inherited from my brother
so I thought it was showing its age. I took the carb apart and later
the engine apart too a number of times each season to service it. It
would work okay for a few jobs then would stall again. It seemed
mechanically okay and there wasn't much else left to fix. That left
only the oil fuel mix to check up on. Sure enough that lean 50:1
ratio fixed the problem. I can now start my snowblower with a few
pulls even in the coldest weather. I need to be very careful to prime
the engine with only three squirts of gas. Start with a full choke
for the first two or three pulls then half choke. The first sputter
and I have to open the choke fully to start.

The engine runs smoothly, no smoke and really sips gas. I use less
than a liter where before I would use 2 liters. I mix gas only as
needed using a 2 liter pop bottle and a dollar store graduated bottle
for dispensing 40 ml of oil. The snowthrower tank is topped up after a
job so there is very little gas in the pop bottle (minimal fire hazard
and cold in winter anyway.) My lawn mower is 4 stroke and needs
straight gas that I can use from the gas tank thereby avoid storing
gas in multiple containers and having to remember which tank is for
what. I need to store only a 5 gallon tank of gas.