I have a 7 year old craftsman snowblower that was working fine until today. It was seeming to lack power. Does anyone know what I should look for to fix the problem before it get worse?

MOWERMAN2468

This may not be absolutely correct. The carb can have microscopic particles inside, which can lead to problems. These microscopic particles can not be seen by the naked eye, but can cause severe lack in performance. And $76. bucks for a carb cleaning is a bit high. Cleaning of the carb is quite simple actually. And as for why I suspected the carb? Fuel is only recommended to be kept for 30 days by all of our engine manufacturer reps. Now, I didn't say it should only be kept for 30 days, I said all of our reps say that. But anyways, the fuel can become contaminated by various means will not being used for just a short time. Therefore, it doesn't take much to remove the float bowl of the carb and inspect the contents and this can lead you to whether you think it needs cleaning or not. And if you do a complete removal and teardown of the carb and clean it, you will have to readjust the carb and this would have taken care of the screw adjustment for you. And you do not need to set the rpms by "ear". You must use a tach adjustment tool to properly set the rpms to manufacturer specs. And yes I realize that engines have been set by "ear" for years, but this gives inaccurate results.

helpmefixit

It could be as simple as needing gas flow adjustments. They do tend to vibrate out of adjustment sometimes. When adjusting them - gently screw them all the way in, then 1 turn out at a time until you get it running. Then go back and readjust the low idle. (When you found out from the service department that the carb was cleaned and there was no need to clean it, why did they do the work?????) I WOULD NOT USE THERE SERVICE IN THE FUTURE! - Just some advice from someone who has made these kind of decisions in the past. I now tell the service dept what the symptoms are and let them trouble shoot it and fix it for me.