Our ST824 / 924050 has been having major issues with running lately. tldr at the bottom.
To preface: when we bought it used, the instructions from the previous owner said to turn the choke knob to full, prime once, engage electric starter, then switch the knob to "choke" and idle for a minute before switching to "off" and having at it. And for four years, that worked flawlessly every time. (This is also similar to the original manual, only that indicates to prime twice.)
But this year, we started having issues. Sometimes it would stall immediately on turning the choke off. Others it would still run, but then stall the second you engaged the clutch handles. And other times still, it would be good for a few passes before stalling. And maybe, just maybe, it would actually do the whole driveway. And once in a very great while, it just wouldn't even start.
So we had it picked up and sent to a shop, and...they called to say they had no trouble with it. Kept it for a few days. Threw a ton of snow with it. Would let it idle for half an hour at a time with no sputtering. So we got it back.
And right away, it wouldn't even start. We called them up, and they came by. They said that at the temperature we had that day (right around freezing, maybe a hair above), priming and choking were unnecessary. So we let it sit for half an hour after the failed prime / choke startup attempt, and tried starting it right from the "off" position - and it worked just fine. The new instructions we got from the repair place was that it should only be primed / choked below freezing.
A few days later, my dad was using it as a far while my wife dealt with work things, and he didn't realize until he was nearly done with the driveway that he'd never turned the choke off, so he flipped the knob and immediately it stalled out.
And now, as of yesterday, my wife was once again unable to start it at all. It was in the low 20s or high teens, so she tried priming and choking before starting, and it wouldn't start at all. So she gave it half an hour, tried starting it again without choking, and....still nothing. Can't get it to start.
tldr: This is all a very long-winded way of asking: does air temperature have a drastic effect on operation? And does it help indicate what the problem might be? I'm gone for work and won't be back for weeks, and she's both far too busy and not mechanically minded enough to try to take anything apart, so attempting to fix it ourselves isn't really on the table. But can anyone help me understand just what the hell is going on? We keep getting wet heavy snow (we've beaten last year's total snowfall by 30% and climbing) and her back simply can't handle shoveling it all the time. But given that the shop couldn't replicate the issue when they had it the other week, I'm worried that sending it back to them yet again will just result in another "we don't really know, sorry".
To preface: when we bought it used, the instructions from the previous owner said to turn the choke knob to full, prime once, engage electric starter, then switch the knob to "choke" and idle for a minute before switching to "off" and having at it. And for four years, that worked flawlessly every time. (This is also similar to the original manual, only that indicates to prime twice.)
But this year, we started having issues. Sometimes it would stall immediately on turning the choke off. Others it would still run, but then stall the second you engaged the clutch handles. And other times still, it would be good for a few passes before stalling. And maybe, just maybe, it would actually do the whole driveway. And once in a very great while, it just wouldn't even start.
So we had it picked up and sent to a shop, and...they called to say they had no trouble with it. Kept it for a few days. Threw a ton of snow with it. Would let it idle for half an hour at a time with no sputtering. So we got it back.
And right away, it wouldn't even start. We called them up, and they came by. They said that at the temperature we had that day (right around freezing, maybe a hair above), priming and choking were unnecessary. So we let it sit for half an hour after the failed prime / choke startup attempt, and tried starting it right from the "off" position - and it worked just fine. The new instructions we got from the repair place was that it should only be primed / choked below freezing.
A few days later, my dad was using it as a far while my wife dealt with work things, and he didn't realize until he was nearly done with the driveway that he'd never turned the choke off, so he flipped the knob and immediately it stalled out.
And now, as of yesterday, my wife was once again unable to start it at all. It was in the low 20s or high teens, so she tried priming and choking before starting, and it wouldn't start at all. So she gave it half an hour, tried starting it again without choking, and....still nothing. Can't get it to start.
tldr: This is all a very long-winded way of asking: does air temperature have a drastic effect on operation? And does it help indicate what the problem might be? I'm gone for work and won't be back for weeks, and she's both far too busy and not mechanically minded enough to try to take anything apart, so attempting to fix it ourselves isn't really on the table. But can anyone help me understand just what the hell is going on? We keep getting wet heavy snow (we've beaten last year's total snowfall by 30% and climbing) and her back simply can't handle shoveling it all the time. But given that the shop couldn't replicate the issue when they had it the other week, I'm worried that sending it back to them yet again will just result in another "we don't really know, sorry".
