[Bahia578]

I have a Craftsman snowblower (Model 31A-3bde799 with 5.5HP Tecumseh motor) that starts easy, but won't stay running longer than a few seconds to a few minutes.

I bought it used this past August and the guy had to fill up the tank to start it. The snowblower has not been started since then, but tonight, the tank was empty. I remember my garage smelled like gasoline this past summer, but I couldn't locate the source. I'm assuming now it was this snowblower and it has a gas leak somewhere.

I'm not mechanically inclined. Is there an efficient way to find and fix the leak? Is this likely to be a carburator issue? A gas line problem? Help.

[KISS]

The carb needs cleaning or rebuilding. Most likely the fuel valve in the carb is sticking. This will cause severe flooding.

The cause is not using Fuel stabilizer such as Sta-bil in the gas. Gas gets gummy after a month or so. The stabilizer must be used with new gas. It won't rejuvinate old gas.

It's a good idea to install a fuel valve on the line feeding the carb and turn it off and wait for the engine to die on it's own when putting it away.

A carb rebuild kit is about $15.00. Carb cleaner another $8.00 or so. You may not need the rebuild kit.

Tecumseh shut their small engine business in December 2008.

You should be able to find diagrams at Parts & Accessories | Shop & Find Lawn & Garden, Appliance Parts at Sears PartsDirect | SearsPartsDirect.com. Find the snowblower and then the engine model and look up the engine model. I didn't try to look it up.