# Old Toro Snowblower (Tecumseh)



## The Gopher (Oct 9, 2011)

Hello, a few years ago i inherited a toro snowblower with a 5 hp tecumseh engine. we had our first significant snowfall this year and when i went pulled it out of the garage it started on the first pull! nice suprise! after using for a few minutes it starts to falter and struggle to keep up. at first it only happens going uphill but eventually will get worse and will falter all the time until it conks out. It acts as if it is running out of gas but there is plenty of gas. It will restart just fine right after conking out. So it seems like there is a fuel delivery issue? where at? thats where i need help. is this just a carb tuning issue, plugged fuel line? 

Also, i'm guessing this is unrelated but you never know. at some point the muffler rattled loose and is now just kind of bouncing around, that shouldn't make a difference should it? 

thanks, Dan.


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## OptsyEagle (Jul 17, 2007)

I've never owned a snowblower but a couple of quick things to rule out might be to run it with the gas gap off to rule out a gas tank venting problem. The other is to verify that the fuel filter is not clogged up. It sounds, from your description, that it runs OK until you put a load on it and require higher RPMs, which of course requires larger amounts of fuel to flow. It also requires more air so check the air filter as well.

After that I would think carburetor. Perhaps a jet needle that needs adjustment. From my experience if it is a needle and the motor is dying under load it usually is a symptom of running a little too lean. You could find the high speed jet and see if a 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn counterclockwise, helps at all. After that, if she is still causing trouble, you would need to disassemble and clean out all the jets with carb cleaner, a small piece of wire and blowing everything out with compressed air.


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## paulr44 (Oct 14, 2008)

OptsyEagle said:


> I've never owned a snowblower but a couple of quick things to rule out might be to run it with the gas gap off to rule out a gas tank venting problem. The other is to verify that the fuel filter is not clogged up. It sounds, from your description, that it runs OK until you put a load on it and require higher RPMs, which of course requires larger amounts of fuel to flow. It also requires more air so check the air filter as well.
> 
> After that I would think carburetor. Perhaps a jet needle that needs adjustment. From my experience if it is a needle and the motor is dying under load it usually is a symptom of running a little too lean. You could find the high speed jet and see if a 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn counterclockwise, helps at all. After that, if she is still causing trouble, you would need to disassemble and clean out all the jets with carb cleaner, a small piece of wire and blowing everything out with compressed air.


What he said. (Good answer!)


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## geogrubb (Jul 28, 2006)

Some Tec engines have a bell attached to the fuel cap, it can come off and will eventually float over the fuel outlet in the tank, the suction from the fuel flow will hold it in place and it will shut off fuel to the engine, when the engine shuts off the pressure is released and it floats away, it can drive you nuts, refer to the pic below for reference. Have a good one. Geo


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