TroyBilt 2690 XP Snow Thrower Will Not Start

Hi Everyone,

I have a hand-me-down TroyBilt 2690 XP Snow Thrower with the 208 cc engine which will not start.

The problem is likely because of old gas - my sister did not drain it for over a year despite me telling her to do so many times .

Anyway, I drained the gas from the tank / carburetor and primed in a bottle of Mechanic in a Bottle into the carburetor and let it sit for about two days.

I then filled it with fresh gas and tried to start it with no luck. I checked the spark plug and was getting spark, but replaced it anyway for good measure.

The engine will crank (via the starter cord or electric start), however it will not turn over.

I have a feeling it may just be that the mechanic in a bottle didn't clean it out (though gas drains from the carb when I take the bowl off, and stops when I press up on the float), but I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas.

If I have to buy a new carb I will do that, however it is burried under the shroud and looks like I will have to take the entire machine apart to replace it. If that is the case, is there anywhere to get repair manuals for these machines?

The snow thrower was used maybe 5 times and is otherwise brand new.

Thanks!

 

First start of a season can be tough with old fuel residue in it. What I usually do, if spark is present and the machine had ran well before the idle period is take the plug out and spin the engine over a few times to clear out the old fumes, etc. Do this with full throttle and no choke and the fuel to the carb shut off.

Then, with the fuel still shut off, put a small teaspoon of gas directly into the plug hole, put the plug back in, and with full throttle, no choke, spin the engine over until it fires. I t should run briefly on its own power. When you get this firing, turn the gas back on, and with full throttle, half choke, see if it will start.

No reason to buy a new carb.

 

Please put model number of engine on your next post so we all know what you are working on. If engine is cranking it is turning over, with that said sounds like it just isn't starting. If mechanic in a bottle can get IN the carburetor it will do it's job. I have had pretty good luck with that stuff, but sometimes it may require carburetor to be taken apart and cleaned really good. Good luck with this.

 

marbobj - Unfortunately it does not have a fuel shut off. Can I try this method with an empty tank and pour gas in once it starts?

Also, I am unclear as to how this would help if the carb is in fact the carb is clogged?

mowerdude - I'm not near the snowblower but will post the engine model on it once I am (next week). Once I do, is it possible to get a repair manual if I need to replace / clean the carb? It's really packed in there.

The mechasnic stuff was coming out orange running out of the carb when I took the bowl off so I assume it got in there.

Edit - the old gas was milky so I think it was really really stale and hydrated.

 

Yes taking the gas out of the tank adn carb would do the same thing.

The issue may be a clogged jet or you may have a flooded engine due to residue of the old gas plus the richer mixture of a cold start. This happens with the first start after an idle period. If you have used the cleaner, the chance is greater the latter is the case.

What you're doing with the procedure I described is circumventing the carburetor. If you get it firing with the fuel added through the plug hole and in turning on the gas to the carburetor you still get nothing, that leaves a plugged carb jet and you go from there.

If it fires and tries to start it will clear out the residue and flooding fumes which is often the problem with first starts of the season.

 

Cool thanks, I will give that a shot!

 

The model number of the engine is 31BM73Q3711.

I will try the gas in the spark plug hole this weekend but I have a feeling I may need to take out the carb. Anywhere to find instructions on how to get to it? It is burried under the framing.

 

Thanks marbobj!

I ran through the procedure and was able to get it to turn over after I put a few cap fulls of gas in the cylinder. It would only run for about 2 seconds so I decided to put some gas in the tank (despite not having a shut off valve).

It took a few tries but it kicked over with a big puff of smoke and ran until I shut it off.

To make sure it wasn't an anomoly, I let it sit for a day and was able to start it right up again.

Can you explain exactly how this worked? I imagine if the carb was clogged it would not have kept running (no gas getting to the plug) but the big puff of smoke leads me to beleive that something was clogged.

In any case, thanks a million as you saved me from having to tear it down or buy a new carb

 

Your particular issue wasn't clogging, but rather old fuel residue. It's really common in hard starts after an idle period, but it's not always there.

An engine can only stand so much fuel vapor in the air it "breaths". And that fuel vapor has to be fresh and highly combustible. As fuel ages the highly combustible vapor disappears and the "sluggy" vapor fills the air for the engine. Think in terms of the way gasoline is produced. A vat of oil crude is cooked and the top stuff, being the lightest and most combustible is made into gasoline. The next layer down is made into diesel, and so forth to the bottom of the vat where you get bearing grease.

The grease will burn but it won't ignite like gasoline vapors. Your engine had something like grease vapors in the air for the engine to try to combust, which is difficult, So you clear those out of the combustion chamber and replace them with highly combustible gasoline vapors through the plug hole. When those ignite for the couple of seconds until they burn out, the ignition also burns out the heavy vapors and it's ready for the carburetor coming back into the equation, providing it isn't plugged.

Yours wasn't plugged and it fed fuel through normally. Now you're in business. Future starts should be better.

A good idea for you now is to put some Sea Foam in the gas to clean up the fuel system. You can get that at auto parts stores or Walmarts, etc. It's not expensive and goes a long way and is fast acting.

Glad ya got it going. Take care.

 

Thanks for the explination. It makes sense that the mechanic in a bottle didn't get it started as it doesn't appear that the carb was clogged (though I'm sure it could have used the cleaning). Interestingly, I found green residue in the bowl after I ran this last batch of gas out (not sure what that was).

Moreover, it sounds like if I went though the trouble and expense of cleaning the carb it would not have helped which would have had me pulling my hair out.

I treated the gas that I used with StarTron instead of Seafoam as I have recently switched to this as reviews have stated that it is very helpful with negating the effects of ethanol. Would there be any issue with adding some Seafoam to it as well (I have this on hand)?

Any opinions on one vs the other? I used to treat all the gas I used with Seafoam but have started moving over to the StarTron.

Thanks!

 

The Star Tron I can't comment on. I don't know anything about it. Maybe some of the other guys here have experience with it.

I've always used Sea Foam and, to me, it does everything as far as cleaning the fuel system that I could want. It seems to work very fast and effectively.

That's not to say the Star Tron isn't just as good.