Its time to wake up your snow blower!
ember finishing off the last snow fall, running my machine into the shed, filling up the gas tank, and promptly forgetting about the machine until now. First 8" of the white stuff brought me back to my senses; I better go check on my snow thrower and revive it for this season. Its a small unit I dont remember the name brand only a 24" mouth but an 11 HP motor, the biggest one I could buy for a small machine. Before starting the machine for the first time I usually put an electric heater in front of the pull start side of the engine and throw a tarp over the whole thing while letting the Engine Oil warm up and the humidity that accumulated during the summer, burn off. Once everything is toasty usually a few pumps on the primer ball and a couple of tugs on the starter cord are all it takes to get things running, not this time! Big engine requires big pull; I ended up with the pull start handle in my hand and broken starter cord, confused I hooked up the extension to my electric starter and gave the starter button a push. Starter engaged but couldnt turn the motor. Now I knew it had seized up during the summer. High humidity will do it even a perfectly good engine can go bad during a prolonged lay-up. I knew I wasnt going to do any snow blowing until I got this thing freed-up. I had a choice of dragging the snow blower to the local SME shop or giving the Engine and Engine Release treatment right in the shed where it had died. Dragging a dead blower and then loading it into my pick up was not an option for me all alone. Engine Release is a releasing agent for engines off all types that have seized up during storage, the perfect solution to my problem! Knowing that my engine was good and that it had not suffered a lube oil failure, I decided to proceed with an Engine Release treatment. Instructions were easy to follow and detailed. The Engine Release kit came with a handy injector bottle with a flexible nozzle, making injecting Engine Release into the cylinder bore easy. Following the instructions a few days later I removed the four bolts holding the pull start mechanism onto the engine. Now the large nut holding the cooling fan and fly wheel was exposed. As the instructions explain this nut is what you put your socket and impact wrench on to free up the engine. Short bursts on the impact will do it. Vibrations from the hammer in the impact shake loose the corrosion crystals that have formed between piston rings and cylinder wall making the engine easy to free up once the Engine Release had time to soak in and dissolve the corrosion in the cylinder. Got myself a new starter cord changed the engine oil and Im back in business. Most Engine Release treatments end this way. As long as humidity was the reason for the Engine locking up a few Engine Release kits and a little patience are all it takes to get a good engine freed up. www.enginerelease.com 35 years in the Heavy Equipment business. Started off as a welder Moved on to Mechanics helper Went on to construction as a sub-contractor doing welding on The Montreal Metro, James Bay Power Project, Many piling jobs in Montreal Proper as well as Marine work. http://www.enginerelease.com