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.

That happens to me every few years with my Toro. I pull the carb and
take it to the really-good hardware store in New Brighton. They clean
it and rebuild it for 20 bux more than the price of the "kit" and set
it correctly. Pick it up next day. When I bolt it back on, it starts
on first pull and will continue to do so for another 5 years or so.
Just did that last month.