On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:09:32 -0500, "Existential Angst"
wrote:

Awl --

Always the carburetion, it seems.

Last snow, a month or so ago, ran fine, a Sears "6.0 hp" ditty.
Today, it would run for only 10 sec, and would have to constantly be
re-primed and started. Choke is OK, full gas. Once in a blue moon it would
run for a minute, but not under load.

I could actually sort of see the primed gas spill out of the carb, which
would apparently fuel the engine for a while. Seems that the running engine
couldn't draw it's own gas.

Idears?

Any links for how-to's on small gas engine repair? I won't be rebuilding
innards, but I would at least like to know when/how to fix "the fixable",
and when to just give up.

I gave away a fairly expensive Ariens, with carb problems... the local tool
rental place, that fixes small engines all the time, couldn't get that thing
to run right....

Yet, I saw a guy today, with an Ariens that was so smooth I thought it was
electric, from a distance.

Buy a can of "sea foam" fuel conditioner and follow the instructions.
Might be a good idea to start with a fresh tank of fuel - preferably
ethanol free (Shell Ultra in Canada is ethanol free)