Saturday, January 08, 2011


step 1-drag 300+ pound not running snowmobile from garage
step 2-for no logical reason pull recoil starter 5-10 times to see if engine will start
step 3-look at snowmobile and wonder why engine won't start
step 4-pull recoil 4-5 more times
step 5-look at snowmobile and wonder why it won't start
step 6-remove spark plug and look at it
step 7-replace spark plug
step 8-pull recoil 4-5 times
step 9-spray enough starting fluid into carburetor to put and elephant to sleep
step 10-pull recoil 4-5 times
step 11-look at snowmobile running for about 10 seconds
step 12-look at snowmobile not running for about 5 minutes
step 13-remove carburetor to check needle and seat (this step takes a minimum of 20 minutes and requires a special box wrench that has been cut to fit carburator bolts just right)
step 14-replace carburetor using special wrench
step 15-pull recoil 10-15 times or until arm is tired
step 16-look at snowmobile for about 10 minutes
step 17-check gas tank to see fuel level
step 18-realize fuel pickup line has broken off and fallen into gas tank
step 19-remove seat and gas tank
step 20-try and pour fuel from gas tank into an empty gas can without getting any fuel on you
step 21-fail miserably at step 20
step 22-fish out broken fuel pickup from gas tank and replace with new one
step 23-replace gas tank and seat
step 24-pour remaining fuel from gas can back into gas tank on snowmobile
step 25-pull recoil about 10-15 times until snowmobile runs
step 26-ride and enjoy snowmobile
step 27-open hood of not running snowmobile and wonder why the engine has stopped running
step 28-tow snowmobile back to garage
step 29-repeat steps 2-6
step 30-look at not running snowmobile and wonder why it has gotten easier to pull recoil
step 31-remove cylinder head and discover blown head gasket.

Steps 1-25 takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Step 26 sholud last about 15-20 minutes. Steps 27-31 take about 30 minutes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachel thinks this post is really funny. It sounds a lot like boating fun to me.

Noah said...

I would say that overall it went pretty well. I hadn't used the snowmobile in over two years. I had a new/old head gasket in the basement. I was able to repair it today and ride again. Overall a successful and typical weekend of 40 year old snowmobile riding.