Snowblower - Oil Leak

Two weeks ago I was "summerizing" my snow blower and noticed it had a fairly big oil puddle under it. It has always leaked a little bit since it was new, a few drops here and there but this was a puddle.

Looking at the motor it is mounted to a flanged steel plate which is attached to the main axle. It looked like the oil was coming from around the plate, which appeared to be the bottom of the sump or an oil pan.

Its item #14 in this picture.

The gaskets for this engine are not available separately, you have to buy them as a set for $52.00.

Last week I bought a hole punch set from Harbor Freight in anticipation of making a new gasket, and last Monday I started taking the engine out. It was of course the first thing they put in place when they built the snow blower so getting it out took a little work.

When I unbolted it from the engine plate I realized that was not the leak, it was leaking from the engine side plate. That wouldn't be any harder to make a gasket for, just more things to take apart.

My new Harbor Freight hole punches worked very well and I was able to make a gasket quickly. I did learn one lesson, punch the holes before you cut out the gasket. The material is brittle enough that it will split if the hole is very close to the edge.

Once I got the gasket made it only took a little over an hour to get it back together and running.