Auger Help

[Crappiewanter]

Just wondering if anyone might have ideas?? My three year old jiffy auger does not seem to like cold weather or ice. Starts super hard, Like fifteen pulls, then when it does start I can only seem to get about 5 seconds of run time out of it. It runs when I push the primer button, but hard to drill hole while pushing button!! New plug and new gas every year. Ran bad last year too until late in year then seemed to run good. Any ideas would be great help. Thanks!!

[shizzy]

sounds like you arent getting gas. when was the last time you yanked the carb and cleaned it out?

[Crappiewanter]

I have not had the carb off. I guess i didnt think that it would need that being i have only used it two winters ond one day so far this year. Is that hard to do?

[Cold_blood]

no its not hard to do its just a couple of screws and off it comes spray it down wit carb and choke cleaner and see what happens its really simple to do just make sure you disconnect and plug the fuel line so you don't spill gas all over

[leech~~]

It's sounds like shizzy says, your float in the carb is gummed up and you aren't getting gas. That's why you can keep it going when you keep pumping it in, but it's not flowing in from the carb!

[Crappiewanter]

Ok thanks I will try that and see what happens. It also has two little red plastic screws by the choke, i am assuming one is for fuel/air? and the other for rich/lean?? can those be adjusted while its idling or at drilling speed??

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

Sell it and get a strikemaster

[muskrat]

Sell it and buy strikemaster electric.No gas, no up keep starts all the time, fish like it its green.

[PmDavis300]

might as well buy a carb rebuild kit while your at it. could eliminate any other possible carb problems

[thedanimalkmk]

Jiffy augers are NOTORIOUS for having bad carbs...sell it and by a strikemaster.

Dan

[chaffmj]

Quote:

Ok thanks I will try that and see what happens. It also has two little red plastic screws by the choke, i am assuming one is for fuel/air? and the other for rich/lean?? can those be adjusted while its idling or at drilling speed??

I was having this problem with my Strikemaster and I called and they told me how to adjust those screws and now it runs like a champ. People where telling me the same thing about the carb and stuff and all it took was the screw adjustment.

[waterwolff]

Yea sounds like a gummed up carb you could try cleaning out with carb cleaner or remove it and blow it out with compressed air.

[CrappieFshr651]

Buy a strikemaster, or even an eskimo. My brother has an eskimo and i love it.

[CrappieFshr651]

the danimalkmk, what does the kmk stand for in your name?

[Lindyrig81]

Buy an ELECTRIC strikemaster, I have a ancient one and my dad has a brand new one I love to borrow.. It ALWAYS starts, drills plenty of holes, doesnt stink, pretty much maintnence free.. I will probly never buy a gas auger after owning an elec.

[Squirtis]

OK, I own a strikemaster and will tell you it runs great, but eventually it will have the same problem as your Jiffy.

Here is what you should do:

1. Get a rebuild kit before you start, it will include any necesary gaskets that you need and possibly a new filter element.

2. Take the carb off, but before you do, pull off all of the covers until you can see the linkages and take a picture with a camera set on Macro mode (the Flower), so that you can see where the linkages go to put it back together correctly. It's not hard to do, but easy to forget which holes and which rods go where.

3. Take the carb apart. This means taking the bowl off, if it has one, some just have a diaphram cover on it. Take some carb cleaner and blow it through all of the orifices, and free up all of the parts that have come in contact with fuel in the past. Any fuel left in the carb over the summer will generally dry out and leave a varnish. This builds up over time and is what causes the fuel starvation. Also, if the diaphram has stuck, this will keep the fuel from pumping into the venturi. Make sure you move the diaphram back and forth and pull it off of the back plate and clean the back side.

4. Put the carb back on and fill the tank with fresh fuel. Winter fuel in MN (after October/November) has a higher blend of Butane in it helping the fuel atomize when it is cold. This eventually boils out of the fuel as it sits for the summer, and is not present in as large of quantities in summer fuel.

5. Put a mark on a calendar somewhere as a reminder (in April or May) to go out and drain all of the fuel in your Snowblower, and auger after you are done using them and start the engines and run them dry. This will dry out the carb and keep you from having this problem in years to come.

i hope this helps, PM me if you have any specific questions.

Good luck,

Curtis

[Lindyrig81]

to run the carb dry isnt always the best idea.. gum, and or moisture will still form with an empty carb or tank.... Use non oxy, non corn gas for one thing.. Stabil the tank and run it, little seafoam never hurt either..

or just buy an electric one and have a lot less messing around.. just charging once in a while..

[Crappiewanter]

Hey Chaff, was wondering who you called to get adjustment on screw, or do you remember which screw it was? Might try that before I take carb off or apart. I have the Jiffy Legend, 3hp model 31. Thanks for any help!!

[chaffmj]

Sorry I don't know who to call for yours because mine was a Strikemaster and I called Strikemaster customer service. The only way I could keep it running was to pump gas just like you said and everybody told me I need to clean my carb and other stuff. I would try adjusting the screws before you do anything. Good Luck!

[harleyharry]

I am amazed at the answers to this post. I know everyone wants to help and give out information, but if it is bad info, what good did it do.

One says the float is gummed up and not allowing fuel into the carb. There is not float on this auger carb..

Another one says buy an electric auger and get rid of the gas auger. Some of us do not have that option in these economic times.

Another says sell the jiffy and get a strikemaster. Well, here is a flash. If you have a strikemaster with a two hp engine, and a jiffy with a two hp engine, they are the same engine. Same carb. Same everything. What would that solve.

Another says get a strikemaster because the jiffys are notorious for bad carbs. See the last paragraph. If the engines are the same hp, they are the same engine on both brands.

The post stated that there was two red cap things by the choke. These are the high speed fuel adjustment and the low speed fuel air mixture adjustment. The red caps are limiter caps that are mandated by the epa for emissions. Under the little red caps are the adjuster screws.

The poster wanted to know what these were for. If this poster does not know the procedure for adjsuting these mixture screws, he porbably does not have the ability to remove, strip, clean, adjust and reassemble the carb, let alone make it a dependable running auger for drilling lots of holes.

Sometimes the best answer to these tech questions is that if the posters mechanical ability is unknown, take the auger to qualified shop and have the carb done correctly.

Before I retired from my business, I would repair anywhere from 100 to 200 augers in a normal winter. Nintyfive percent of the repairs were fuel related. Fifty percent of the seized engines were done so by customers who decided to do their own carb work.

I know this answer is probably not what this poster wanted to hear, but augers are large investments, and I really hate to see a three year auger scrapped to tossed for the cost of an half hours labor charge and a carb kit.

Harry

[UncleKes]

You might want to look at the carburator and add some gum out to your gas or else take the carborator apart and spray it down with a good cleaner line Gum out or some such. I agree it sounds like you are getting gas.

I personally would throw the gas you are using away and put all new gas in the thing. It only takes one time running a bad batch of gas threw it to gum the think up really bad. I did that last winter with my Strikemaster Lazer 10 inch. Had to take the carburator off and apart and spray everything down good with Gum out.

Also you might add some Sta-Bil to the gas you are using to prevent condensation and water in your gas. However, I personally would just throw the old gas away and use all new gas before I added anything like Sta-Bil to it. Not that there is anything wrong with Sta-Bil. It works good for some things.

Good Luck! I hope you get it up and running!

[tazman]

I own 3 Jiffys love em all little on the heavy side but they sure can cut the ice. I'm betting it's the diaphragm that has dried out. If you drain the gas out at the end of the season and leave it sit this is what happens. So for Max $5 you can just replace the diaphragm and it will run like new. Hope you didn't mess with the adjustment screws yet. Good luck

[ROOOOSTERFISH]

If you are having problems still. I am one to bring it to a small engines service center or to someone that deals with small engines.

You could go on jiffyonice.com and click on service and you can find a service center.

Good Luck Fishing!

[Jethro80]

I have a older jiffy and its a cold blooded sob. I had the shop go thru the carb and put a new diaphram in it and now she starts on the first pull and still going strong after 30 years of service

[Dragon Fish ll]

I have the same model and got it about three yrs a ago. it seem to have some of the same problems you mentioned. I would just try and find some cleaner fluid before all that rebuilding the carb stuff U shouldnt have to rebuild it yet. Make sure the knob on the gas cap is open an the choke is pushed outward just before you start to drill. It does seem like they work better at times than others. I used mine the first time this winter last weekend and it worked great. first time 1 pull other times 3 or 4. this year I put some seafoam in the gas mix. I did notice if the choke wasnt forward then it dies when starting to drill. and every year before storeing for summer drain gas and run seafoam thru it till engine stops. and leave a litlle in there so seals dont dry up on you.

[Krisco]

i have the same problem on mine right now...when you figure out what it is could you let me know?? thanks

[leech~~]

crappiewanter, if you do get it fixed please post back and let us all know what you found out so we can all be as "amazed" as Harleyharry seems to be about a few people trying to help someone save a few bucks! Trying to clean a carb is not going to cause the auger to have to be thrown in the trash. You can always bring it into the shop if taking a few screws off your carb and spraying it down with a $2.00 can of Gumout or putting in a few dollar rebuild kit doesn't work!

[tazman]

The Gasket is going to be your fix and cheep too. There isn't much to go wrong on the carburetor except for people trying to help and adjusting the screws on you. I did though have an issue with the guvnor getting bent somehow and things went bad. You can see if this is the case when you squeeze the throttle and look into the flywheel area and see if the guvnor is hitting or stuck against the shroud this will make for you having to push the primer bulb to keep it running as well. I still put my money on the easy to replace gasket and you don't have to get fancy and by a rebuild kit either just a gasket.

[chaffmj]

Ok for all you people thinking that turning the adjusting screws is a bad thing and that you have to be qualified to do it there are some days that I can't get my hands out of my pockets without help. I was having the same problems with my strike master and called them and they told me exactly what to do and where to set the screws and it worked. Didn't cost a thing but a little time on the phone with strike master customer service. I told Crappiewanter that he should call Jiffy customer service about this and get instructions from them on it. Maybe that is his problem and maybe it isn't but if I can can do it with a little help from customer service then anybody on FM should be able to. Again it didn't cost me a dime just a little time and you are not going to wreck the auger doing it.

Crappiewanter post back on here and let us know what you had to do to get it working.

[Crappiewanter]

Fist off, thanks for all the info. Second it sucks someone else is having or had same prob, glad its not just mine. I actually have rest of week off work, I think i will start with some new gas and maybe a call to Jiffy first. Then I should probably go fising and see if it works--Right?? I will post back with any solutions that i come up with. Again thanks.