When the snow season wraps up, I top off my snowblower with new gasoline and add Sta-bil fuel stabilizer and run it for about 10 minutes. I also only buy gas with no ethanol added to run in my small engines as it burns at a cooler temperature. I bought my snowblower in 2005 and never had it not start. I also start it up a few times in the off season and run it for about 5 minutes.

Congrats, glad you got it running. Brutal day to have a breakdown. I ended up getting the end of 3 neighbor's driveways this morning because of broken snowblowers or their batteries died.

I am very proud of you. Not being sarcastic.

a trick to not have old gas in it from the previous year. Drain the gas at the end of snow season, Then run it, until it runs itself out of gas completely. THis will keep you from having to rebuild the carb every year. Also use the non ethanol gas, as it doesn't gum up like ethanol stuff does.

also, just because it's premium, doesn't mean it doesn't have ethanol in it. Has to say specifically that there isn't any in it on the pump.

you do not want gas in it at all. You want to drain it dry and leave it. todays gas turns to varnish in about 3 months with the ethanol in it. Non ethanol versions last a lot longer.

like neo said, no gas is better than gas with stabil.

Nice work!! Pinball is very much a jack-of-all-trades hobby, a lot of useful life skills learned which translate well into other aspects of life!

Feel the pride in your post title

Congrats!

As someone that has rebuilt 100s of carburetors, that one is pretty basic and simple, but now you are ready to move onto the quadrajet in your Chevy. lol.

As others have said, get rid of the gas at the end of the season. I even let the carb on my mower run dry each time I use it.

Good work. I was a small engine mechanic a few decades ago in my previous career, and old fuel varnishing up in carburetors was the number one thing that we saw. I rebuilt a lot of carburetors!

Personally, I typically just add Sta-bil to my stuff at the end of the season and usually don't run them dry, and I do even use gasoline with ethanol.

Even if you do run things "dry", there's always going to be a very small amount of fuel left in the float bowl, so unless you are going to remove the bowl and wipe it and the float dry, it's not really benefitting you all that much. Sta-bil will help more overall.

Good to hear you got it going. My Toro has sat the last couple years as my friend procrastination has not allowed me to fix it.

I must admit, I have enjoyed shoveling with wide shovel despite the last snowfalls heavy wet snow. I believe I am at 13" 14" total snow fall so far.

i just got back in from snowblowing. I was rewarded to find out that my reverse doesn't work anymore in mine. And my snowblower feels like it weighs about 500 lbs. so that was a treat.

If you have a Husqvarna, it's just a simple adjustment of one of the control rods. I had to adjust mine at the end of last year.

Had a garage door opener acting up last year. Would randomly stop part way when opening and closing.
Sometimes had to open and close it manually. Looking for a new one and decided to take it apart to see if I could find anything first.
Found a cracked solder joint on a pin on the circuit board. Reflowed the solder and has worked great since.

Would have never known had I not ever worked on a circuit board on a pinball before.
Pretty simple fix and satisfying to be able to repair things yourself.

I started fixing things real young out of necessity. I was about 6 when I dropped an HO train engine that didn't belong to me. I found screwdrivers and some model glue and got it all back together before the guy showed up that owned it.

Then almost 30 years as a mechanic specializing in tune up and electrical made working on pinball machines a piece of cake. Kinda reverse order there. But YouTube is a great resource these days for fixing just about anything.

I still use it because even something simple like removing door panels in a car can destroy stuff like fasteners if you've never done that one before. I had to go to YouTube to replace the back deck speaker covers on my daughter's Camry as that was some involved procedure with hidden screws and everything.

Wait a sec, you're not gonna tell us it was Taryl?

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Nice job everyone! You hit all of the key points.
There are a few other minor items that also may be helpful:

1. The carburetor float bowl, which is most likely inverted, should have a drain valve and tube off the bottom. If so, you don't need to take the carburetor off at the end of the season, and take the bowl off to drain. Just open the drain valve. If there is no drain tubing, you should be able to add to the end of the drain valve, which makes it easier to drain to a can. More gas is stored in that bowl than you think.
2. If you add the Sta-Bil to your gas (recommended if you can't buy ethanol-free), then, if I remember correctly, the Sta-Bil label says it remains stable for 24 months. So technically, you don't need to drain anything at the end of the season. I haven't, when I use the Sta-Bil additive and have not had a problem. Make use you buy the additive for Ethanol stabilization.....there are other types of gas additives.

Good luck!

My tip is that I add Star-Tron stabilizer every time I fill my 2 and 5 gallon gas tanks. Usually one bottle of star Tron per year ($8). Gas is always stable and I run my equipment dry every year for storage. You could probably get away with leaving a full tank of the stabilized fuel in the equipment after running it through the engine, but I just run it dry.

The necessity to use ethanol-free gas can't be overstated. My mother's lawn mower needed a new carburetor about 15 years ago. We never figured out why it was always hard to start and the beginning of the spring season. It continued to do this after every winter even after it was serviced with a replacement carb. A couple of years ago I then came across Tim Gross's channel, Taryl Fixes All. He has owned his own small engine shop for many years and 2 of his sons work with him. It was by watching his videos that I learned about E10 gasoline and what it does to small engines. I never knew this. The switch to what was known as "gasohol" in the 1970s and '80s replaced 10% of the gasoline with ethanol derived from corn, which not only contains less energy and is less efficient to produce but also attracts moisture. It's this moisture that causes rust and corrosion to small engine parts, particularly the carburetor.

The ethanol content of E10 blended gas destroys rubber fuel lines, grommets, and plastic parts. My mom had this leaf blower from 1997 as well that has not been used since 2005 because it stopped starting. I gave it to an older guy who is much like Taryl, loves to fix anything that runs on gas. He was able to get it going, and told me the fuel lines and primer bulb were so petrified from the ethanol everything literally fell apart in his hands. I also rebuilt the carburetor on a 1985 John Deere mower that wouldn't stay running. That too was running on E10 fuel for most of its life. It's back to 100%.

I now of course use ethanol free gas on all small engines including my generator. Not only does that same mower start on first or second pull now every spring, but the fuel from the previous fall doesn't even need topping up with fresh gas to get it running, no additives used. A change for the better. When I was a kid in the 1990s I don't remember my dad having these kinds of issues getting stuff to start in the spring. Now I know why.

Yea.....ethanol is fuel manufactured from corn.
Just look at corn when humans are finished processing it!!
(mainly because humans don't have enzymes to break down cellulose)
..but hydrocarbon based gasoline doesn't like it either........it's not natural.....

I remember years ago it was in the news that farmers in Mexico were protesting growing corn for ethanol production, when all those thousands of acres could instead be used to feed millions. It's like stuffing a hamburger in your gas tank and wondering why it stops running.

It all started back in the late 70's....during the Carter years......when there was an oil embargo. People were standing in lines at the gas stations.....then they set days where you could only get gas on odd & even days based on your license plate.
Ahhh......the good ole Carter days!

Anyway....while all the chaos was ensuing.....the US government was funding new ways to manufacture alternative fuels. My chemistry professor, back in the day, was part of this funding effort and was telling us all of the stories. Very interesting. He was part of the team who helped develop a lot of the alternative fuels we have today. Smart guy......he only did what they paid him to do......now we are stuck with it.

That's awesome OP! This hobby will make you a lot braver, and willing to put in a little effort to save a lot of bucks.

Pinball saved me around $800 because it taught me how to solder and use a multimeter. When my mini-split wires got chewed up I figured why not try to mend it myself? Admittedly, the first time I called a pro, which is how I know a new wire harness plus labor is $800.

Glad you've done repairs and know about storage for next year.

Small engine home repair is easy with old Tarryldactyl in your pocket! It’s always the carb. You don’t need a new one every year, but they are dirt cheap. It’s just gunk in the jet (little needle thing). Push a wire thru it and clear out them holes. Voila. No air filter lets every little piece of dust right into the carb.

In the past five years I’ve used my snowblower 2-3 times, we just don’t get that much snowfall here anymore. A big change from when I was younger, chalk it up to global warming I guess. I’ve thought about selling my snowblower as it just takes up space and never gets used, but the one time we get 6-8 inches of snow and I have to shovel it by hand will be day I stroke out.

What's keeping you from using the electric start? My Craftsman fires right up every time using an extension cord.

Luckily today with our super dry snow we got I was able to clear my driveway with my battery powered leaf blower. Leaf blower for the win.

Congrats! Feels good, doesnt it?

Many of us have used pin-related skills elsewhere just like you.

Last time my lawnmower conked out, the rebuild kit was like $3 less than an entire new carb, so I just replaced it. At the end of the season, I let both the mower and snowblower run til empty. Fill up w FRESH gas in the spring (or fall), never a problem. Never used Stabil.

Damn near impossible to get E0 gas anywhere near me, couple places down near the beach and a few closer places in PA sell racing gas in 5 gallon increments. So I am in the Sta-Bil and run it dry in the fall camp for now but may take a 5 gallon can south next time I go which may be just enough to get me through an entire yard care season.

https://www.pure-gas.org/