Kind of out in left field, but maybe you had carburetor icing that froze the throttle plate?

Thanks Bill. Throttle lever still operated to move from low idle up to high idle, and manually pushing carb plate that the governor is tied to did increase power. Just no automatic increase in gas flow as demand builds.

Any links to a source that shows how the governor actually works? It appars to be inside the engine casing and would require a signifiant disassembly to extract if the governor itself is the problem. Is this a vacuum operated function with some sort of diaphram inside the engine that fails?

Maybe the manual in the link will help?

Here is a link that might be useful: The link

Thanks Bill. That manual will take some reading but looks good. So far, it looks like a purely mechanical governor, so hopefuly it is just an adjustment isse and not a mechanical failure.

TAking a SWAG, whenever you're blowing snow, you're fighting not only snow and ice, but partially melted water. The water/slush is due to salt that vehicles have brought into your driveway and been mixed with the snow and the high temp of the engine also partially melting the snow you're blowing around. I've had situations that things literally "froze" up while running and especially after sitting all night in an unheated area.

Governors have springs and a partial coating of semi frozen ice could cause the issue you describe. The fact it fixed itself after sitting "could" be due to being out of the wind and the engine was hot and melted the spring loose. I'm a firm believer in getting the blower into a heated area or at least putting a trouble light (60W) down the chute to get rid of the moisture. Admittedly, "down the chute" wouldn't prevent the governor freezing up, but would keep augers, etc. freezing and then burning belts is very common.

Good luck,

Ev