I hate small engines!

Bill Lantry

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OK, so, long story short: The Derecho knocked out our power friday night. Saturday morning, I went down to start up the generator. I think the gas had sat in it too long. In any case, it didn't start. Took off the air cleaner: nothing. Put in a brand new spark plug, didn't help. Drained the bad gas, put in new. Still nothing. Added some degunker to the gas, let it sit. Nada.

So I went to the autoparts store and got some Berryman. And some starter fluid. Came home, and tried the starter button. It ran a moment, and died. Encouraged, I started trying new things. Turns out as long as I spray starter fluid into the carburetor, it runs. That tells me it's getting air, and spark, and isn't seized up. But as soon as I stop spraying, it sputters and dies. If I let it sit for ten minutes, it starts, runs a few seconds, and dies. The carburetor has a drain screw, if I turn it, gas comes out, so I know gas is getting from the tank to at least the drain bowl on the carburetor.

I'm completely stumped. Any ideas? I'd like to get it fixed before the next round of thunderstorms knock us out again...

Thanks,

Bill
 
I've had this happen on my small engines that sat too long with fuel in the carb. I've fixed it before by taking the carb apart and make sure it was degunked.

But, it's easy to screw it up. One time I lost the needle valve seat and had to order a new one. Last time I just capitulated and took the chipper shredder in to the small engine dealer.

This guys video shows it pretty well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw7tlsEMn2c
 
I agree with Brent.....you aren't getting enough gas from the carberator to the cylinders. Most likely, the passages from the carberator to the intake manifold are gunked up.

Once you get it running, running it for 5-10 minutes each month will help prevent that.
 
Biggest problem with generators and anything with a small engine is sitting up unused for a long time with fuel in the carb, it turns to varnish and gets yucky. Seafoam in the gas usually cleans it up just fine. Next time shut off the fuel and run the carb dry and eliminate those problems. I have a small generator that is 10 years old and I can go out there right now open the fuel cutoff and it will start 1st or 2nd pull and purr like a kitten. Also put Stabil in the fresh fuel it lengthens the storage life drastically. Good luck.
 
Sounds like the fuel pump/diaphragm...rebuild the carb scenario...they're actually pretty easy, most carb kits come with a basic manual type page to follow, worse part is, other than forgetting where things go or losing parts ;) is the tight quarters getting the carb off & back on....:bang:
 
I'd probably say it is the carb, but you might also gauge the gap on the plug. Had similar problems for the past few times trying to run my blower for more than a few minutes. It would get warmed up and stop working. Finally cleaned and gauged the plug and it's been running fine since.
 
You guys must get pretty bad gas, i have weed eater and lawnmower and leave them from Nov thru to May and pull them out and they start first time with gas being left in all that time. These units are 10 years old. Never touched a plug or anything on them and my sons have been the users so only lost parts they can fiddle with like bolts. :)
 
The guy I just bought my new used JD tractor from, owns a small engine repair business, said that the ethanol in gas is the culprit. He told me to use the Stabil fuel stabilizer that comes in the blue, not red, bottle and that will take care of the starting problems and carb varnishing. The ethanol even corrodes the fuel lines.
 
You guys must get pretty bad gas, i have weed eater and lawnmower and leave them from Nov thru to May and pull them out and they start first time with gas being left in all that time. These units are 10 years old. Never touched a plug or anything on them and my sons have been the users so only lost parts they can fiddle with like bolts. :)

Rob, it's the ethanol they put in a lot (most?) of the gas here. Corn-belt politicians convinced the EPA that the ethanol is a good thing, and it's added to gasoline in proportions up to 15% in some places. The problems are many: first, the alcohol draws water; it also causes rapid deterioration of natural rubber fuel system parts; it, along with the absorbed water, caused aluminum and pot metal parts ocarburetorsrs to corrode; and the combination of water, alcohol and gasoline causes a gel-like build-up when left stagnant in tanks and float bowls.

Overall, the whole gasohol 'experiment' is generally a "fail." It does reduce the amount of petroleum used, but at great cost. Without subsidies, the alcohol production costs more than the gasoline component; gas mileage on E85 is less than with straight gas; and of course the corrosion and gelling causes greater, and more frequent repairs.
 
Thanks for that info Jim. :thumb: I thought we were all long settled on the ethanol created issues. I remember that from back in SA when i had an imported car that did not like the mix and it caused untold problems at the time. Did not think it was still prevalent in causing issues. Guess i have just been lucky up here. :) We got the stuff in our gas too. Just not sure on the percentage.
 
Agree with Jim and Brent. I would not rebuild the carb - yet - just clean it out best you can, maybe blow some compressed air thru it. This happened on my J-D lawn tractor, with a 2 cyl Kawasaki engine. Had to take the carb bowl out and clean it. I hate ethanol in gas. Total rip-off to the consumer.
 
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