Toro Snowthrower Hunting

[Dale_W]

Model 38584
Serial 280003422
engine is Briggs 084233-0199-E8, two stroke

Neighbor brought this over complaining it would not start. I could not start it either. I gave the carburetor two cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner, rinsed, blew out water.
Started nice on the first pull. But even after it warms up, it hunts. Not a quick small-variation hunt, but it runs good for a bit, slows way down, then speeds back up for a bit. A much longer and more drastic cycle than I often hear.

I gave it two more cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner. Same hunting issue. I cannot believe the carburetor is dirty.
And get this: for grins I primed it during a slow cycle. That did not help, but leaving my thumb on the primer to plug the hole smoothed out RPMs. It ran poorly and slow, but it did not hunt.
Could there be a leak in the primer hose or bulb?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Dale

[KE4AVB]

I don't know if this is the problem but IPLs shows a choke style carburetor and not a primer version. The Toro IPL shows the choke lever and no indication anywhere of a primer on that Toro serial number or for any of the 38584 Snow blowers.

From this I gather someone has modified the setup.

[Dale_W]

Right you are, choke lever on carb. and cover plate on body to match. The primer bulb is near the key and has stickers .
You had me worried. I double checked the toro site for this model.
The illustration for the shroud and control panel assembly shows primer bulb part number 66-7460. Ref # 3.

This make me think the engine/carb has not yet been 'fixed' by bubba.

[KE4AVB]

No problem Dale. Glad you double checked me as I am not familiar with snowblowers at all and things can easily be missed when you're not familiar with a product. I was primary looking at engine setup.

Its just I haven't seen a carburetor that had both a primer and choke at the same time. But I know I haven't seen everything either just like I probably will never see a snow blower in my shop. Just too far South for enough snow that lasts. The last big snow here was back in '92 when we had 13 inches. We had 6-7 inches earlier but it was gone the next day. It was the ice that was left that was the problem for few more days.

You might have float needle that is ringed or at it is worth checking. I had several last to cause intermittent problems.

[Dale_W]

Thank you sir!
I did note this had the rubber tipped float needle, but I did not inspect it. I will let you know what I find.


Dale

I will count my blessings. We've had precious little snow in SE Wisconsin this Winter.
The men that plow snow are not happy, but city and private budgets are happy.

[38racing]

I once has a push mower that surged unless I pressed and held the primer. way back but likely on the forum . I recall that it was a blocked air bleed.

[plotthound]

see if it runs with gas cap removed.the tank vent might be plugged.

[Dale_W]

Thanks for the input. To be honest, this has taken a back burner.
I had run this using an auxiliary tank (thinking maybe filter was plugged), and the hunt cycle did not change.
Back to plugged primer, I also ran it with primer unplugged from carb (no change).
The hunting did stop when I pressed and held the primer. It ran poorly, but the hunting stopped.

I will monkey with it when I get time and post the results for others.

Dale