# New Platinum 24, shavings in tank



## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

My Platinum 24 SHO arrived from SBD on Monday. It took me about an hour to hook up everything, check the oils and adjust the chute deflector. I filled it with gas and it started on the first pull.
I ran it around my gravel drive a bit and I have zero issue with the turning.

I read the thread here about the gunk in the gas tank and looked. There were metal shavings in there. I used a magnet out of a hard drive on a stick and gathered as much as I could. I will remove the tank and flush once it warms up.

I ran it today after a solid 6 inch snow and it worked great! I did most of the blowing in 4th and it hardly even chugged. I'm quite pleased, except the metal shavings.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

i would send those pics off to ariens and voice your concerns. those "filings" should not be in the fuel system.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

nwcove said:


> i would send those pics off to ariens and voice your concerns. those "filings" should not be in the fuel system.


What he said. If any of that got into the cylinder you can have gouging and scoring as a result.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Wow, that is a lot of metal in a new machine gas tank ....


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

http://www.snowblowerforum.com/foru...sho-first-use-pic-stuff-i-found-gas-tank.html


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## deezlfan (Nov 8, 2017)

> Wow, that is a lot of metal in a new machine gas tank ....


Agreed and it was probably in there when they formed the tank because it shouldn't have made it past the inlet screen. 

Have you checked your fuel container in a similar fashion? Yes, it's a long shot for sure but I wonder if something else is going on.


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## HowOldIsYourChurch (Mar 12, 2014)

Where have we heard this before?


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

HowOldIsYourChurch said:


> Where have we heard this before?


There are at least two others with the same thing, if that's what you're suggesting. It's the ONLY reason I even looked.


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## snow-shovel (Aug 13, 2015)

Far more than two. My Platinum SHO 30 has similar filings.


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

snow-shovel said:


> Far more than two. My Platinum SHO 30 has similar filings.


Well, again, I read about two. I didn't realize this is/was a well known thing here. I only seem to think about this forum during the winter


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## jonnied12 (Jan 14, 2017)

I started a post on one of the other threads on here about this issue but somehow I lost my message when i posted.
I would drain all the gas. Use an oil suction device such as a LiquiVac or other fluid extractor.
Pour a couple of cups of clean gas into the tank and prop the blower up so the gas moves all the metal shavings into a corner of the tank.
Use the LiquiVac to suck the contaminated gas out.
Rinse and repeat until you are satisfied.


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## jsup (Nov 19, 2017)

jonnied12 said:


> I started a post on one of the other threads on here about this issue but somehow I lost my message when i posted.
> I would drain all the gas. Use an oil suction device such as a LiquiVac or other fluid extractor.
> Pour a couple of cups of clean gas into the tank and prop the blower up so the gas moves all the metal shavings into a corner of the tank.
> Use the LiquiVac to suck the contaminated gas out.
> Rinse and repeat until you are satisfied.


That's a lot of work to have to do to a new machine. I'd take it back to the dealer and say fix it or give me my money back, or pick something else.


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## bp0416 (Jan 1, 2018)

Deluxe 28" SHO with metal filings in the gas tank - placed a rare earth magnet on the outside underneath corner of the gas tank and gently sloshed the gas back and forth - no more filings moving around. Those neodymium magnets are so strong that none of those filings will break loose. I'll give it a proper cleaning after the season is over. I saw that another member commented that he dropped one of those magnets into the tank - that will work but it would be a bear to get back out!


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## snow-shovel (Aug 13, 2015)

Probably does not make any difference if the magnet is on the outside or inside. If the magnet inside my tank attracts a significant amount of filings, I will take it to the dealer and they can replace the tank under warranty...magnet and all.

If it is on the outside and you remove it, the filings that were attracted will float around without the magnetic attraction. Another case of tank warranty replacement.


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

I did contact Ariens and this is what was said:



> Thank you for contacting Ariens Company. We appreciate the feedback from what you found inside your gas tank. I will certainly pass this information over to production. If you start to experience any running issues, I would contact your local servicing dealership (link at bottom of email). There is a filter screen at the pickup line in the bottom of the fuel tank that should catch foreign particles. Again, thank you for the photos and the feedback on your machine.


I will clean the tank once it warms up a bit as for now, I'll put a magnet on the outside to attract any metal debris.


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## bp0416 (Jan 1, 2018)

Mal said:


> I did contact Ariens and this is what was said:
> 
> I will clean the tank once it warms up a bit as for now, I'll put a magnet on the outside to attract any metal debris.


Exactly what I plan to do as well


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Mal said:


> I did contact Ariens and this is what was said:
> 
> I will clean the tank once it warms up a bit as for now, I'll put a magnet on the outside to attract any metal debris.


So essentially, Ariens is taking a wait-and-see approach. 

If anyone finds metal particles beyond the tank (downstream of the filter screen at the bottom of the tank), like in the carburetor bowl, that would be important information. That would show that it's getting through the tank's filter. 

Even if they don't get through that filter now, the shavings still make me uncomfortable. It seems reasonable to think that they will rust, and those rust bits might be able to get through the filter. They at least won't do you any favors. 

Hopefully a magnet will help contain and remove the shavings.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

I had a small amount in one of my machines. But it wasn't anything like those pictures showed earlier this week. I suctioned the crap out and that was the end of it.


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## Shatfieldj (Dec 24, 2017)

Hi all. I have been following this thread as I too have a new 24 platinum bought 12/30/17. I checked mine and yes I too have metal in my tank. I sent an email to ariens yesterday but haven't received a response yet. I did see the response that ariens sent to mal. A few questions on their response. They didn't indicate if a case was going to be opened. They didn't indicate what course of action to take, other than wait to see if there's a problem down the road. I just contacted my dealer and they said they haven't seen this problem. He asked me how I found the problem. I told him about this site and said there were multiple posts on this problem. He said he would talk to the mechanics on Monday and get back to me. I'm going to insist that a ticket be sent to ariens in case something shows up post warranty. I'm not going to mess with this myself. Any flushing of the tank or removing debris will be done at the dealer. I think that the reason this is not widespread is that most buyers just don't know about the problem. If I didn't find this forum I certainly would not have any clue there was a problem on a brand new machine. Any potential problems would probably be blamed on bad fuel or carb issues that aren't covered under warranty. Thanks to all who posted and provided valuable info. Steve


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## outrag1 (Feb 10, 2017)

Because of several posts on here regarding shavings in the gas tank, I checked my Plat 24 last night. Beyond this forum, I would never have done that. In any event, I didn't see anything alarming in my tank, certainly not like the pics I've seen here. It looked like the inside of my tank has some slight surface scratches in a couple areas, but I saw nothing in the way of shavings. 


Given this, I didn't know about the "screen" mentioned above and I may take a closer look come spring. The outside magnet is a good idea as well. 


I wonder if there is a geographic commonality with this issue. If it was really widespread, I would think dealers would be well aware of the issue as well as Ariens (i.e. autoturn, etc.).


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## Mal (Oct 8, 2013)

outrag1 said:


> I wonder if there is a geographic commonality with this issue. If it was really widespread, I would think dealers would be well aware of the issue as well as Ariens (i.e. autoturn, etc.).


My machine came out of a warehouse in Coxsackie NY from Snow Blower Direct/Power Machine Direct.


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## kipsy (Nov 2, 2017)

no shavings in my nov 2017 delivery plat SHO 24, but the gas cap is not sealing with the tank. dealer picking up Monday to see if its the tank or cap.


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## jonnied12 (Jan 14, 2017)

Ok, you guys got my curiosity up. I took my flashlight out today to check my 2016 lowly ol Troy-Bilt gas tank. Found that it had a disc magnet in the tank from the factory. No shavings on it though. I verified it was a magnet with a screwdriver.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

I wouldn't expect a geographic aspect in the affected machines, personally. The engines are built, presumably with their tanks already attached, in the engine factory. Now there may be different production batches of engines. But I'd expect the engines would come in, be assembled onto blowers, and be shipped out. Nothing comes to mind for me that would result in certain engines going to particular areas of North America.


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## bp0416 (Jan 1, 2018)

I opened a ticket with Ariens customer service and received this response today - I did reply and told them that these are NEW machines - not 2 to 3 years old:

_"Hi Robert,



Thank you for contacting the Ariens Company.



Sorry to hear that you found filings in your tank. If you notice the dates on the forum comments, my guess is that they are likely 2-3 years old OR on engines that are 2-3 years old, because our engine manufacturer had corrected this issue a couple years ago. However the photo you shared and the fact that the debris is attracted to a magnet would suggest that we may have this issue again.



I have Forwarded this to our engine manufacturer to investigate, however please know that it is very unlikely that this will get as far as the carburetor, simply because there is a fuel filter attached to the fuel valve (inside the tank), as well as a sentiment bowl right below the filter, which allows debris such as this to fall into and will not make it to the filter.



There is another filter built into the carburetor as well. We are not opposed to using a magnet like you did, which was a good idea, and then removing the filings when winter is over.



We will keep track of any other cases coming our way with this, as this is the first we heard of in 2-3 years. Thanks again for your feedback.



Thanks,



Greg W.

Ariens Co."_


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## DriverRider (Nov 20, 2016)

bp0416 said:


> I opened a ticket with Ariens customer service and received this response today - I did reply and told them that these are NEW machines - not 2 to 3 years old:
> 
> _"Hi Robert,
> Thank you for contacting the Ariens Company.
> ...


 A sentiment bowl? Hopefully, Greg is an intern.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

DriverRider said:


> A sentiment bowl? Hopefully, Greg is an intern.


rofl...i noticed that also. is the sentiment bowl where you put your feelings and concerns about the sediments ...is it right next to the collection plate for a repower??:devil:


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## snow-shovel (Aug 13, 2015)

I see the response as positive, even though words were spelled incorrectly, I could still see the meaning and admission that they had a problem and perhaps it is continuing.

I intend to open a ticket as well to document what I saw on my machine and provide them the feedback they need to solve a problem that has not been fully fixed.


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## Shatfieldj (Dec 24, 2017)

I got my thank you response from ariens yesterday. I will be dropping it off this week for the dealer to take a look. I also want them to check my gas cap. It appears I have some leakage on top of the tank. At least I don't have to worry about snow while it's at the dealer lol. 

On a side note. Don't these guys talk to each other at Ariens. The response to Robert was that they haven't seen this problem in 2 to 3 years, yet there are more than a few responses from ariens in the last couple of days about the problem. Oh well it's under warranty and the dealer will take care of it so life is good. Now if I could just get to use it sometime lol. Steve


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## kipsy (Nov 2, 2017)

what is your serial on your plat 24 sho ? mine is in the 1600's. my cap doesn't have a gasket, and I think thats the issue.


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