AFB problems on my SW48

Well this is the first time using my plow on my SW48, started good at first but I would have thought this 6 banger would have been a little more "alive" then it is, when pushing snow (with a V blade) it seems to be sluggish, carb has been rebuilt and I turned the screw out 1 1/2 turns and haven't changed it yet, well the other day I was to put it back in the shed, wouldn't start even on starting fluid. I had some gas and dumped some of it down the carb and she started, but seemed like the choke was closed (manual choke) while warming her up, I moved it in 1st gear and then shifted to 2nd and she died, well the wind was blowing bad at the time and I really didn't have any tools nearby, but managed to find some gas and I tried again but this time failed miserably.

What could be the problem here, even starting fluid doesn't make it "pop" anymore, gas tank is full (always been garaged so no water in gas). I hope I flooded the damn thing but haven't tried it for a few days either. I just don't understand why this motor doesn't have more power, when it idles it sounds like a sewing machine but I really have to nurse the gas to get it up to speed.


I wonder if the consensus will be to get rid of this carb for another or is this one worth tinkering with?

need to do some testing with a vacuum gauge and timing light. which engine do you have a flat head or a ford.

First I would do is take the line off the carb put it in a can turn the motor over and see if its pumping fuel . If thats good is the pump on the carb working look down the barrel and you should see a stream of gas when you move the butter fly . carbs are very simple to work on the float should be level when it stops letting fuel in some carbs have a ball bearing in the accelerator pump if you turn the carb over it will fall out make sure you don't lose it . is the point gap correct ? With a vacuum gauge you can set the air screw .hook it to the line on the carb with vacuum and turn the screw until you get max vacuum . to play with these things you must have some mechanical ability
but if you don't try you'll never learn

Yes I have to look into this a little deeper maybe, but first I will try something simple like antifreeze for the gas, I dumped a couple of bottles in it last night and will test again today after I get home, I also will bring some wrenches back with me since I leave all my tools at the shop. I believe the spark is ok since it worked just a day before, my guess right now is a froze gas line but I will update you after today. At least my tucker is ready to go if we get some snow here (only have about 5"). I have been more attentive to the sno-cat then the bombardier for sure so far.

My guesstimation of fuel problems seemed to have been wrong. I checked and no spark, ANYWHERE. Other then having power going to the coil, I could not find spark, so I figured it was the coil (also was leaking oil), well that didnt help, seems that the distributor was turning OK, then I thought I would check the coil wire going to the distributor, (had to wait for my multitester) the ohm reading was really non existant, so today I think I will find a new set of wires and put them on before our anticipated snow fall. I was texting 300H and H and he helped with coil numbers since I was at the parts store and none of them knew anything, so thanks Kirk!!!!!!!

What are the points like ? You may as well change the points and condenser and rotor at the same time . And what's the cap like inside? Those parts are cheep anyway .I would think a wire set off a 300 ford would work or very close . But don't take my work for that .

Good luck
take care

The points were changed about 1 year ago and have not seen more then 3 or 4 hours on them and new cap. I did NOT change the wires at the time and it seems (right now anyways) to be wire related. I did some calling around this morning and found some at Napa, HOWEVER, I did some more research on this and found that you MUST use a copper core wire instead of a carbon fiber which are offered today. I have a set being made now and will update everybody on it, performance I think on my machine was questionable and that ties in with the correct wires for a flat head. I have a "spare" regular wire I can use right now until I get my new ones in the mail, that I can see if I get spark, since the coil is brand new as of yesterday.

It was a bad condenser, don't figure really since this was changed and only about 3 - 4 hours on the cap, points, and condenser. But anyways she is running like a champ again.