I know they are different engines and I realize you are getting frustrated, but donÂt take this the wrong way. There are common items between engines even though they are technically different. You most likely have several minor items stacked up causing a problem. With out having experience looking for these things is like trying to tell you how to find a needle in a haystack. I am not going to try and train you how to trouble shoot the engine. You might just have to take it into the dealer. That being said, some of the things talked about on the other thread are relevant. Use a flashlight to shine through the paper element, must be able to see a round pattern of light. Fuel quality. Check the carburetor bowl vent hose for blockage. Wrong sparkplugs? Champion RCJ8YÂs. What is the color of the sparkplug porcelains? Spark color blue? Disconnect and ground coil wire one at a time, does engine power change. I find it common that many people donÂt know that their engine is running on 1 cylinder. Disconnect the fuel pump pulse line going to the block, is it leaking gas? Check/verify valve adjustment. Check the compression. Coil air gap set to minimum clearance? Flywheel magnet strong? Remove carburetor bowl and inspect needle and seat, is it stuck or have trash in it? Clogged/ worn air or main jet? Not common though. These are common things that can happen to any engine. You may have more than one problem, too. SpecÂs Slow Idle (governed) 1600 ± 75 rpm Throttle Stop Screw Setting 100 rpm lower than governed setting Fast Idle 3350 ± 50 rpm Cylinder Compression Pressure (minimum) 390 kPa (57 psi) Valve Clearance (cold) 0.075 - 0.125 mm (0.003 - 0.005 in.) Valve Adjustment Screw Jam Nut Torque 6.9 Nm (61 lb-in.) Rocker Arm Cover Cap Screw Torque 6 Nm (53 lb-in.) Exhaust Valve ACR Movement (minimum) 0.25 mm (0.010 in.) Crankcase Vacuum (minimum) 25 cm (10 in.) water Oil Pressure at Fast Idle 240 - 310 kPa (35 - 45 psi) Fuel Pump Pressure (minimum) 6.1 kPa (0.9 psi) Fuel Pump Flow (minimum) 65 ml/15 seconds (2.2 oz/15 seconds) Ignition Coil Air Gap 2 - 4 mm (0.008 - 0.016 in.) Spark Plug Type Champion RCJ8Y Spark Plug Gap 0.75 mm (0.030 in.) Spark Plug Torque 15 Nm (132 lb-in.)

This is a very old thread, things have changed at Ariens. The units sold at Home Depot are rebadged Husqvarna/Poulan/Craftsman and certainly not up to their usual standards. The average consumer simply will not pay for the traditional quality although long time Ariens fans such as myself will step up to the plate and go for the dealer only models. Having said that, it appears all models are getting an Ariens branded engines which likely means Chinese. With my experience with MTD's Powermore crapola, I will stick with an older model and repower with Briggs if necessary if and when I need a snowthrower, certainly not at the moment in southwestern British Columbia lol.

I haven't looked at specific numbers, but my seat of the pants guess from buying diesel over the last seven years is that the price of diesel has increased faster in that time than the price of gasoline. When I bought my first diesel in 1999, fuel was around 90 cents a gallon (so about 25 cents a liter), about two-thirds the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the time. Now diesel costs about what regular unleaded gasoline costs (a little higher in winter, a little lower in summer, but lately not cheaper even when traditionally it should be). So I believe it has gone up in price faster to catch up to gasoline prices. I've heard hundreds of explanations for this. The one I find most plausible is that there is greater demand for both gasoline and diesel fuel, so more gasoline than diesel is being made from a barrel of crude oil. This constriction in the supply of diesel drives its price up. There's no huge cry about this, though, because most buyers of diesel fuel (truckers, home-fuel-oil dealers, airlines [Jet-A is closely related to diesel fuel], etc.) are fairly inelastic in their demand but they can pass the cost increase on to customers. Most buyers of gasoline can't pass on a higher cost of fuel and keeping the price of gasoline low is politically popular. So there we are. *sigh* The saving grace of it is that diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines. So even though my fuel costs what yours does, the fact that I'm getting half-again the mileage makes a big difference.

To quote Steve...However, the government created a tremendous loophole in classifying minivans, pickups, and SUVs as trucks exempt from those regulations even if people use them as cars (the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law). And everyone pays pretty much the same in road taxes whether they're pounding the roads with a three-ton-plus Lincoln Navigator or a one-ton Nissan Sentra. Everyone's insurance has gone up because of increased damage claims made by people in cars who've been hit by a truck or people who don't know how to drive trucks to begin with. There's nothing proportional about that................... Our government has really fumbled the ball here, and after so many years has yet to rectify this situation. I suspect they are trying to protect the remnants of the American auto industry.. I believe we should be far more united with Europe in protecting the environment - that their approach is more balanced and fair.. We have a government that responds too easily to the pressure groups rather than the people in general. The environmentalists and their supporters are probably the single strongest pressure group in Washington and many state capitols as well. I feel that national interests are more important; that we must no longer continue to be dependent on Islamic oil.. One of the solutions to this problem is the Diesel and a much higher standard for fuel economy...