It’s time to change the oil and lube/grease my snowblower. My question is, should I do it now before I put it away, or should I wait until fall, or doesn’t it make much of a difference?
Well you should definitely drain the gas tank now – or use a product like Stabl to keep it from going bad. The same is true for any left over gas you have in a can. Put it in your car if it’s regular gas. If it’s an oil-gas mixture, put it in somethign which uses the same mixture ro give it to someone who will use it. Failing that use Stabl or some such.
You should clean the snowblower if it’s likely to have salt on it that may cause corosion. Probably just rinsing with water would be enough.
I don’t think it matters much when you change the oil. I always have it done in the fall by the store where I bought it, and they check it over at the same time.
Change the oil whenever you want.
But drain the gas and clean out the fuel line, filter and carb now so gunk doesn’t dry, solidify and harden over the summer.
IMHO screw Stabl. Over the years I’ve had more problems with mowers, blowers, and tillers that I used Stabl in than those I didn’t. Several of my friends agree with me on that, but YMMV.
Do the mantainance in late spring, when the snow is not going to happen again. Drain gas, fix broken parts, change the oil, grease the parts with grease nipples,and remove stuff wound around the auger. In the fall get it ready to run. It should take very little time.
Do it now while it’s warm and you’re thinking of it. This way, next winter, it will be all ready to go and you won’t be cursing while your fingers are freezing, working on an ice-cold lump of machinery.
Another good reason - snowblower maintenance stuff may be on sale now as the stores are making room for lawnmower maintenance stuff.
As for Stabil or not, I’ve been a “not” guy - if I think to, and have it handy, I’ll put a little slug of “Gumout” into the remaining gas and let the engine run itself dry.
Whenever you do it, just doing the basic maintenance will leave your neighbors astonished when the machine starts on the first pull, and they’re yanking and yanking and swearing at their machine with the varnished carb and gunked-up sparkplug.
My $.02:
The thing that causes carbs to varnish up is evaporating a whole tank of fuel. Drain the tank and drain the carb bowl now, and enjoy a nice starting machine next fall. Even Stabil won’t keep the volatiles in the fuel over the summer, and it is those volatiles that make for easy cold starting. Plan to buy fresh, winter blend fuel in the fall.
Half the time I remember to put Stabl in; half the time I don’t. This applies to my snowblower, my lawn tractor, my whipper-snipper and push mower. Not once in over 10 years have I ever had any problems starting any of these on the following season. I’ve heard gas goes bad, and that carburetors gum up, but have never experienced it.
I just changed the oil in my snowblower a month ago before i used it for the first and only time this season! I’m good for another year now.
The next question is what kind of oil, and how much, from what I can see, the manual doesn’t mention it
Warning, PDF
http://publications.ariens.com/manuals/00582400_eng.pdf
Yeah, don’t forget the carb bowl. Over the summer months anything in there can turn to gum. I got in trouble forgeting that.
Cute - it just says to see the engine manual since they use a variety of engines for this thing.
I’m guessing one quart of 10W-30 will be just fine, or whatever “small engine” oil they’re selling at the hardware store. It might be a bit less than a quart - you can judge that amount when you drain the old oil. Don’t overfill - that can be as bad as underfilling as too much oil will froth, rather than flow.