Snow Blower Carb Issue

[kcflhrc]

So back in 2014 my wife bought me a very nice Cub Cadet Dual Stage Snow Blower. The first summer I had it I put Stabilized fuel in the gas tank. That first fall it wouldn't start. Took it back to the dealer and they said it was gummed up by the fuel, even though it had StaBil in it. So fast forward to the last 2 years. I started completely draining the fuel out of this thing and every fall now for 2 years I go to fuel it up for winter and start it and the O-Ring on the float bowl has dried up and leaking. So WTF. Do I have to remove the **** O-ring every year also and lubricate it? This is an OHV 208cc MTD Chinese built POS.

 

[RandyT]

You have found the dilemma with carbs. Leave the fuel in and it goes bad and needs carb work. drain the fuel and the carb dries out and you still have to work on the carb. I would also suspect that if you pull the fuel bowl gasket it will swell from the fuel and then will have to be replaced because it will not longer fit to reassemble.

 

[kcflhrc]

I also put stabilized fuel in my Toro Zero Turn with a Kawasaki motor and my Honda push mower and never an issue with either of these. I'm just thinking poor design on this thing.

 

[coolreinfarm]

I used stabil one time, had a **** of a time starting the engine, so for the past 6 years I added fuel shut off valves where I could and run the engine out of fuel. Next year open the valve wait a few minutes and start the engine, no problems. I leave fuel in the tank and run it out the following year

 

[kcflhrc]

It has to be the fuel causing the o-ring to get brittle and shrink. I leave stabilized fuel in it all winter and then drain in the spring. I also drain the bowl in the carb. My guess is the ethanol as long as it's in contact with the o-ring is fine but then it dries out the rubber when fuel is removed. That's my theory any way.

 

[Passattdi]

It has to be the fuel causing the o-ring to get brittle and shrink. I leave stabilized fuel in it all winter and then drain in the spring. I also drain the bowl in the carb. My guess is the ethanol as long as it's in contact with the o-ring is fine but then it dries out the rubber when fuel is removed. That's my theory any way.

It is the damned ethanol. Stabil works just fine.

 

[tomplum]

Your best protection is 1) use a good quality stabilizer constantly in your fuel 2) Run the engine once a month for 5 minutes to cycle fresh fuel through the carb. Leave the fuel in the engine.

 

[GregbkH]

I run 91 octane premium without ethanol in all my small engines and no stabil. Never had a problem.

 

[kcflhrc]

Replaced the O-ring last night, all is well again, probably until next year. I bought 2 this time.

 

[JRobyn]

You might try "Startron" stabilizer. It seems to have a bit better formulation than Stabil.

 

[teejk]

I'll vote for the ethanol problem. Stabil makes a $$$ product (green as I recall) for that so it tells me that the "pink" is not going to work. Years ago I started paying the extra for the premium fuel in anything running through an air-cooled engine and in my UTV. That was kind of a waste of money this summer since the ZTR was getting a re-fuel about every week but one never knows.

 

[drizler]

ETHANOL. Stay far away from regular gas unless it’s booze free. Usually hitest can be found without ethanol. I just picked up a whole brand new carb 2 weeks ago from eBay for a 2003 Toro with a Techumpsa 8 hp . $14 stuck it on and away it went. The other one is now a parts unit. Look up the PN on Jacks Small Engine then cross reference it to what fits on EBay/ Amazon. While your at it order a couple of those $3 shut offs and put one on if it doesn’t have one. Try to use it to leave the carb dry if you have to use ethanol gas.

 

[CalG]

I have way too many "infernal corn bustion" engines around the place. must be over 20. I put the seasonal spark ignition engines up at season's end with a 30:1 two stroke oil mix even if they are NOT two strokes.

Seems to work. I haven't had to tear down a carb since I revitalized the old McCulloch Mac-10