# 28 inch Deluxe In Line Fuel Filter



## mikeklaphake (Mar 19, 2018)

I have had nothing but problems with my 28 inch Deluxe. Purchased in 2014 after a BIG snow year. Then we had a few years of literally no snow, so I didn't use it much but always ran sea foam through at the end of the season and drained the gas tank. Midway through year 2, I had to have the carbs cleaned because the gas tank had black particles in it. Come to find out that the internal tank coating was flaking off. Same thing happened again the next year. So I replaced the tank thinking maybe I had a defect, BUT the same thing happened again with the new tank. This time instead of paying someone to clean the carbs, I replaced the carb for 30 bucks. When I did I added an in line fuel filter. Purrs like a kitten now when idling, BUT when you get into some deeper snow you can tell it can't draw the same fuel flow as it could without the filter. It gets bogged down and loses power. I am wondering if there is any sort of adjustment i can make to the carb so that when the carb wants more fuel, it can pull it easier. Can't believe I am dealing with this from an Ariens snowblower. Any help is appreciated.﻿


----------



## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Are you certain the struggling under power is due to the fuel filter restriction?

What filter did you install? The paper element ones are too restrictive for gravity fed carbs like these. Briggs makes a 150 micron red filter, suitable for gravity fed. Their 75 micron (tighter filtering) white filter is too restrictive, that's for use on engines with fuel pumps. 

There's no tweak for extra fuel flow to the carb, that I can think of. With a proper filter, not clogged with gunk, the filter should be "transparent", and change nothing. 

If you pull the fuel line off the carb, and open the shutoff (if equipped), do you get a good stream of gas coming out?


----------



## Lottstodo (Feb 16, 2018)

This is why I wished that someone would make a sediment type plastic filter like the old tractors had ( glass bowl style) for small engines it would trap and filter plus you would be able to see moisture. 
Wouldnt have to be big. all the old gravity feed systems had them. Even the 1948 David Bradly had it. ( still works)


----------



## mikeklaphake (Mar 19, 2018)

RedOctobyr said:


> Are you certain the struggling under power is due to the fuel filter restriction?
> 
> What filter did you install? The paper element ones are too restrictive for gravity fed carbs like these. Briggs makes a 150 micron red filter, suitable for gravity fed. Their 75 micron (tighter filtering) white filter is too restrictive, that's for use on engines with fuel pumps.
> 
> ...


I ordered the replacement carb off of Amazon. Here's the link. I used the filter shown in the photos.


----------



## mikeklaphake (Mar 19, 2018)

So this is probably what I should try?


----------



## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

I haven't tried it myself but in theory two parallell filters should increase the flow


----------



## SnoThro (Feb 20, 2016)

Lottstodo said:


> This is why I wished that someone would make a sediment type plastic filter like the old tractors had ( glass bowl style) for small engines it would trap and filter plus you would be able to see moisture.
> Wouldnt have to be big. all the old gravity feed systems had them. Even the 1948 David Bradly had it. ( still works)


Or LCT could stop making junk engines. The OPs problem is a manufacturing flaw. Saw it a lot. It should go away after a season or two but still ridiculous to spend a grand or more and have poorly manufactured fuel tanks. I still don't understand why they went back to a (crappy) metal to be honest. Tecumseh and Briggs used plastics tanks for decades and rarely had any issues.


Another disaster is the LCT petcocks. What a piece of junk those things are.


By the way the Honda GX engines do have the little sediment bowls as part of the petcocks. So did the Subaru Robins, Mitsubishi's, and Yamahas. Briggs still sells the petcocks with the big glass bowl like you remember too but the assembly is too large for a Snow Blower.


----------



## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

mikeklaphake said:


> I have had nothing but problems with my 28 inch Deluxe. Purchased in 2014 after a BIG snow year. Then we had a few years of literally no snow, so I didn't use it much but always ran sea foam through at the end of the season and drained the gas tank. Midway through year 2, I had to have the carbs cleaned because the gas tank had black particles in it. Come to find out that the internal tank coating was flaking off. Same thing happened again the next year. So I replaced the tank thinking maybe I had a defect, BUT the same thing happened again with the new tank. This time instead of paying someone to clean the carbs, I replaced the carb for 30 bucks. When I did I added an in line fuel filter. Purrs like a kitten now when idling, BUT when you get into some deeper snow you can tell it can't draw the same fuel flow as it could without the filter. It gets bogged down and loses power. I am wondering if there is any sort of adjustment i can make to the carb so that when the carb wants more fuel, it can pull it easier. Can't believe I am dealing with this from an Ariens snowblower. Any help is appreciated.﻿



You have 7.8 hp engine on a 28 bucket of course it struggles in deep snow and wet snow
it's fairly known that its under powered


----------



## Lottstodo (Feb 16, 2018)

Yea have seen many, the Ecoat on the steel inside of the tank is releasing due to stamping and pressing. I do use a clean stick magnet on the inside of the tank on real bad ones , and have gotten alot of material out not all but a lot.

I did see an article about the future of plastics and they are still having problems with aligning to new green rules plus meeting safeguards to be tolerable to new fuels and additives. 
One part said the return of metal tanks will probably be used more as plastics under go more scrutiny.


----------



## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

mikeklaphake said:


> I ordered the replacement carb off of Amazon. Here's the link. I used the filter shown in the photos.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HP2F63M/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_MSYzCbFPDJ1PD


It's interesting to me that the carb included a paper fuel filter. From what I've read, those filters are too tight for gravity-fed engines (like this) which don't use fuel pumps. 



mikeklaphake said:


> So this is probably what I should try?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004RB1A/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_0VYzCbHK3JKCQ


Sorry for not linking earlier (I was on my phone). Yes, that's what I use. 

If you want to test your current filter, pull the line off the carb, and see how quickly the fuel comes out. It should be a decent stream. A slow trickle is probably not enough. This isn't some 300hp V8, it doesn't need to be a fire hose. But it should come out as a steady stream. 

And if there *is* gunk in your fuel tank, bear in mind that even with a proper-mesh (decent-flowing) fuel filter, you may still need to replace it periodically, or test the flow from time to time, at least if you have problems. You could keep a spare filter on the shelf, for instance. The middle of a blizzard isn't the time to find out that something clogged your filter.


----------



## SnoThro (Feb 20, 2016)

Lottstodo said:


> Yea have seen many, the Ecoat on the steel inside of the tank is releasing due to stamping and pressing. I do use a clean stick magnet on the inside of the tank on real bad ones , and have gotten alot of material out not all but a lot.
> 
> I did see an article about the future of plastics and they are still having problems with aligning to new green rules plus meeting safeguards to be tolerable to new fuels and additives.
> One part said the return of metal tanks will probably be used more as plastics under go more scrutiny.


The green argument works for water bottles but not for fuel tanks. Plus this is China we're talking about which is far from the most restrictive place when it comes to emissions and pollutants. Heck pretty much every major automobile manufacturer on the planet has been using plastic manifolds and fuel tanks on vehicles for decades now. I'm quite certain these Chinese manufacturers went back to steel because recycling the worlds scrap metal and stamping them and having some guy off the street splatter some welds on is simply cheaper than investing in plastic molding machinery.


----------



## mikeklaphake (Mar 19, 2018)

1132le said:


> You have 7.8 hp engine on a 28 bucket of course it struggles in deep snow and wet snow
> it's fairly known that its under powered


I'm not sure about that. It handled a solid 15" last April no problem at all before I added the filter. When I say it gets bogged down in deeper snow, I am talking 5-6". This machine shouldn't even flinch at that. 

Thanks for the insight everyone. I am going to try the red 150 micron filter and see if that helps.


----------



## Lottstodo (Feb 16, 2018)

When your back working on this you may want to check the fuel shut off valve, I have had a couple ariens that the valve had some debris in it and was restricting fuel and sometimes cut the fuel right off in the on position. Turning it off then on again it would let fuel through, and then start acting up to do the same thing of restricting, this was the factory shut off.


----------



## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

Just a thought here on the fuel tank lining issue. I've not had to use it, but I've read about a apply yourself liner material that you flow around the inside of an automobile gas tank and once flowed in and dried it supposedly seals all leaks and rust that may exist in the tank. If it applies and could work, might be work checking out.


----------

