it's a briggs and stratton 305 cc

Put fresh gas in this morning. Engine wouldn't turn over at all. Electric starter would make a klack like metal hitting metal, then a buzzing noise. I figured it might be stuck so I hit the starter button in short bursts, but didn't help. I tried the pull cord and it wouldn't budge at all.

I figured the engine was seized up so I took the plug out, and sprayed some wd40 in the hole to loosen it up. Didn't have enough WD40 so I gave it a good squirt of starter fluid and let it sit for a while, bumping the starter every couple of minutes.

Still no go, so I brought it inside the house, and let it warm up, then tried bumping it again. After warming up for an hour or so, it started to budge, and after a few more bumps with the starter, the engine turned over.

I held the starter down a couple seconds to blow the cylinder clean. Bunch of brown stuff came out of the exhaust. Put it back together, went out and cleared the driveway. Runs good now.


I had took the cover off the starter, to see if it was turning. The cogged wheel on the starter was lined up with the flywheel on the engine, and every time I hit the starter button, it would wiggle a litte.. I didn't think anything of it, but when it started to loosen up, the starter pin slid back into the starter, and then a couple more bumps on the starter, the engine started to turn over. So I'm wondering if it's the starter that was frozen, and not the engine? Can the engine turn freely with the pull cord if the starter pin is lined up with the flywheel?

I never had this problem before. Last year before putting it away, I put some red fuel stabilizer in the gas, then let it burn up the rest of the gas and put it away. But when I primed it this morning, I was getting frustrated and primed it a little too much, this orange/yellow gas started leaking out. I primed some more, and got more yellow gas. Kept priming, till the gas wasn't so yellow anymore. It's got a full tank of fresh gas and I ran it about half an hour on the fresh gas.

I have to keep my snowblower outdoors, i keep it covered with a tarp, and I have an extension so I can start it. It wasn't even that cold out. Maybe -5 Celcius. That's 23 fahrenheit according to google. I'm wondering what caused this and how to avoid having it not start.

 

Sounds like a combination of frozen condensation and a little rust. Not uncommon for any engine sitting for a year or more. Keep it well covered when not in use and it should start all winter now. There is some stuff for outboards made to spray down the intake when running to coat the cylinder to keep rust form forming when stored. It's called Fogging the Engine. I think Sea Foam as well as others make the stuff.

 

I did about an hour of snow-blowing. The machine did well. Then stopped it for about an hour to go inside and deal with my insurance company. When I went back outside and went to start the machine, the starter wound up, but didn't make contact with the flywheel right away. Like it's sticking a littlle.

 

Sounds like the starter need dissembled, cleaned and lubed.