I hope someone can help me out.
I recently purchased a used Jacobsen Homelite 420 snowblower with electric start (Model UT35016/Serial #SH2940162) for $80.
The previous owner said it wasn't used in a few years so I drained the old gas/oil mix, replaced the sparkplug with a Champion EZ Start plug (#5843) from Walmart, and replaced the broken primer bulb.
After a few presses of the electric start button she fired right up. However, since I bought the snowblower used I don't have any documentation/manual for the snowblower and have a few questions:
1.) What is the correct gas/oil mixture? I am currently using 32:1. Is this ok?
2.) When I replaced the sparkplug I noticed the carb didn't have an air filter. Do snowblowers come with an air filter?
3.) This snow blower is very loud. It seems much louder than my neighbor's snow blower? Is there anything I can do to reduce the noise?
4.) Lastly, while using the snowblower the motor increased in RPM all of a sudden and got even louder after about 15 minutes of use which I attribute to the engine fully warming up. Before the increase in performance it was lofting snow about 5-10 feet away, but after the RPM/sound increase it was lofting snow about 20 feet away. There's no throttle control from the handlebar so is there anyway for me to get my snowblower to perform like that consistently?
oil mix is ok, snowblowers don't have air filters, they can get soggy, causing poor performance or even cut it out, and the water can freeze (like some say, cold air is clean) for the noise, it probablly needs a new muffler, old one probablly is rusted out some, though comparing it with your neighbors, they are probablly totally different, they will sound different. as for it jumping in rpm, it could have been that it got warmed up, they run better when warmed up, everything, rings, cylinder, piston and carb has expanded with the heat, cold contracts metal. as for it having no throttle control, some have em, some don't, so the ones without run a constant speed. thought it couldv'e had one, removed by the last guy.
The 420 has no throttle control. I highly recommend using synthetic oil for the mixture, mixed at the oil manufactureres recommended ratio...not necessarily that of Homelite. You really should get the same performance at start up as you do when warm, although you always want to allow 3-4 minutes of warm-up before tackling the snow. You may find you'll want to recondition the carburetor to help in the performance area. Another thing to check is the belt. It could be glazed and once warm (tacky), it grabs better and thus throws the snow better.
I called Homelite on their 800 number and they e-mailed me the Operator's Manual and the Parts List in very nice PDF files that printed great.
The oil mix for the UT-35016 and UT-35017, is 16 to 1.
UT-35016 = Jacobsen 420
UT-35017 = Jacobsen 420E
I do not recomend using the manufacturers mix ratio on the older models. Up until about 1975, regular motor oil was used as special 2-cycle oil was not yet available.
I recomend using 50:1 mix. It smokes less, does not foul plugs, starts easier. I use 50:1 in everything I have that is 2-cycle: weed wacker, chainsaw, snowmobile and never had a problem with any of them. If anything was going to blow, it would be my snowmobile as when I ride that, I never ride less than a 4 hour ride, I run it hard (9,500 rpm at times). It's a twin cyl.,fan cooled engine and the snowmobile weighs in at 600 lbs. dry.
I see you bought a primer ball for your 420 is it solid or does it have a hole in the middle. If it is solid (no hole) were did you get it? I can't find any.help!
Tags: questions, jacobsen, homelite, snowblower, throttle control, electric start, feet away, Jacobsen Homelite, lofting snow, lofting snow about, recomend using
