Snowblower runs a few seconds after being primed and then dies

I have a Murray 2-stage snowblower with a 5.0 HP Tech, model HSSK50, on it. While using it yesterday I started to notice a decrease in power and in order to keep it running I had to add more choke. Now it will only run after the engine has been primed and for a few seconds. I have drained and replaced the gas in the tank and fuel bowl, and tried loosing and removing the gas cap. Nothing is working at this point. I’m thinking I need to pull the carb and rebuild. Any other suggestions.

Thanks for the help

 

Can you get it inside someplace warm to thaw out and then try it? I'm thinking you have frozen moisture either in the carb or fuel lines.

 

Not really, but I am going to pull the fuel line at the carburetor and see if I find anything. I did drain the tank last night and everything looked good at that end but it could be in the fuel line between the tank and carb.

 

Well I pulled the fuel line at the carb and everything looked good, no dirt or frozen fuel. Looks like I will need to pull the carb. Any tricks I should know about before I tear into it.

 

If you've never been inside a carburetor before then you'll need a great deal of common sense in the least and preferably a Tecumseh service manual. I recommend considering a local service center for carb work if you are unfamiliar with them. Bring the carb along with the model and specification numbers to your local Tecumseh shop. It will be piece of mind that the job is done properly and it should only cost you about $25 for them to recondition it.

 

As I said I took the carb off and did an inspection last night. Everything looked good up to the main jet. The float, needle and seat were fine. I removed the fixed main jet and found the problem there. The cross hole was fine but the center hole was plugged. I cleared the obstruction and put everything back together now the engine runs fine.

Just a note to anyone who might have this same problem, take the main jet out first and inspect it. If this is your problem, as it was mine, it will save you the trouble of removing the carb. The main jet is easy to get too from the bottom of the fuel bowl. Just be sure to drian the bowl first otherwise you will have a big gassy mess on your hands.

 

And don't smoke..