# HS520 Carburetor Adjustment



## tmort (Oct 26, 2013)

I didn't drain the gas out of my HS520 snowblower one year and then had two winters without enough snow to bother with using a snowblower. The following year I could have used the blower, but, the gas had gone bad.

I looked around and saw that a new carburetor didn't cost much more than getting the gaskets, screws, etc needed for a rebuild so I simply installled a new carburetor.

I've got it installed and I imagine I now will have to adjust the carburetor. I haven't been able to find a service manual online to find out how to adjust the carburetor. 

My questions are: 

1. Where can I download a service manual for free

2. What are the instructions for adjusting a carburetor. I sort of remember that for cars the procedure was to first close the needle valve till it seated, then unscrew it three full turns and then incrementally open or close the screw to get it to run best. Is this the same for the snowblower?


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I don't think Honda carbs are adjustable. It should just bolt on and be ready to go. Odds are you other carb is still good and doesn't even need replacement parts. You can probably get away with just taking it apart and putting it back together.

Search on youtube for Honda carb if you want instructions for removal or cleaning.

Suppose none of that helps you since you already put the new one on. I hope you drained the old gas from the tank before installing the new one. Should start right up with some fresh gas. Make sure to check the oil.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

you might want to disconnect the fuel line from the carb and clean the gas tank befroe trying to start it. i forgot to clean the tank on the toro 521 i picked up last year and after putting the new carb on the fresh gas just washed all the gunk in the tank into the carb so i had to clean the carb anyway


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## tmort (Oct 26, 2013)

Thank's for the replies. I was planning on completely emptying the tank and cleaning out the old carburetor. Right now though I have to many projects going on at once and I don't want to add another.


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## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

For what it's worth tmort, I feel your pain. I had the same thing happen to me with a generator once. What a mess!  The fuel had gelled in the tank and I had a heck of a time getting it clean. I have recently learned that premium fuel (at least in this part of the world) doesn't have any ethanol added and so it doesn't go stale anything like the ethanol treated stuff. I've switched to premium for all of my seasonal engines now, but I still treat it with Seafoam, just to be on the safe side. Once bitten and all that. 

Good luck.

Larry


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

Blue Hill said:


> For what it's worth tmort, I feel your pain. I had the same thing happen to me with a generator once. What a mess!  The fuel had gelled in the tank and I had a heck of a time getting it clean. I have recently learned that premium fuel (at least in this part of the world) doesn't have any ethanol added and so it doesn't go stale anything like the ethanol treated stuff. I've switched to premium for all of my seasonal engines now, but I still treat it with Seafoam, just to be on the safe side. Once bitten and all that.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Larry


 I agree. Stay far away from ethanol contain gasoline especially in small engine that do not get used too much, What happens is alcohol in the gas attracts water and can lead to corrosion to occur especially damaging to steel gas tanks and carburetor parts. Also alcohol containing gasoline does seem to break down much quicker than ethanol free non-oxygenated gasoline. Then for a fuel stabilizer I use Sea Foam and I find that that keep gasoline stabile much longer than does ironically Stabil.


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