@#$*?! Small engines

McCracken

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
So I've got this B&S pressure washer. It had a 7.25 HP motor on it. It wouldn't run because the carb was gummed up badly. I hit the YouTubes and rebuilt the carb. Cleaned it spotless. New needle and seat, new float, the works. Put a new air filter on it and new plug. Pull the cord and it fired the first time !!! I washed the front porch and put a couple of tanks of gas in it.

Today I pull it back out and I got nothing. I shot some starter fluid in there and it hit for a literally half a second then dead again. I took the carb back apart and checked everything. It all looks good. I know it's getting gas. There's plenty of oil in the engine. I also checked for spark. Looks good, plus if it hits on starter fluid why would it not hit on gas. What am I overlooking?

Edit: one thing I did notice is that it's getting hard to pull the cord the more times I pull it. There's always a little resistance because of the compression but it seems like there's more than usual if that makes sense.

Edit 2: I disconnected the water. I tried pulling it again. It was a lot smoother but still wouldn't fire.
 
Last edited:
Small engines suck, I swear if everything could be pto off my tractor I wouldn't own another one for anything.
 
My bet is the carb is gummed up again. They have little tiny passages that don't take much to foul up. Do you run ethanol gas in it? Did you clean the fuel tank when you cleaned the carb?
 
Water hooked up it’s harder to pull.
Water disconnected easier to pull.
My money is on the pump shitting the bed and causing undo stress on the motor but I also have never won the lottery so my bets aren’t worth a shit....
 
Briggs and Stratton engines are the absolute worst with ethanol gas. Throw the piece of shit in the trash and buy a predator to replace it.
Otherwise likely issues are A) carb jet o rings that should never have been there are destroyed B) carb still fucked from ethanol---buy a new China one C) your valves are stuck due to terrible design and Ethanol. Sounds like it still has spark otherwise could be coil Gap, plug or coil. Try a new plug and only buy Ethanol free gas for all small engine.
 
grapehead said:
My bet is the carb is gummed up again. They have little tiny passages that don't take much to foul up. Do you run ethanol gas in it? Did you clean the fuel tank when you cleaned the carb?
Click to expand...

Used carb cleaner and shot it through every hole. Everything looked open. I don't use ethanol gas in my small engines.
 
McCracken said:
Used carb cleaner and shot it through every hole. Everything looked open. I don't use ethanol gas in my small engines.
Click to expand...
A good way to verify that you are actually getting ethanol free fuel, take 2 Mason jars, fill one 3/4 full of the fuel you want to test. Put about a couple ounces of water in the second jar and mark that level on the jar with the fuel. Now, add the water to the fuel and mix it a little and then let it sit for an hour or so. If the water line is at the mark you put earlier, then you actually had ethanol free fuel. But if the water line is higher, then there was ethanol in the fuel.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
This is exactly why I stopped dealing with small engines. Unless I have to for personal use. And then I have no patience.

Check for water in fuel & clogged main/idle jet & compression test with a gauge.
 
Does you pressure washer pump have a pressure relief/unloader valve of any kind? They can be a pita, after 6 years I found I hated small engines also! Most of the time if one of our 6 machines had this issue it was the Unloader not doing it’s job especially with hard to start issues, Does it vibrate the line at all while it’s running?
 
The little shitty fuel pumps can also be a issue for not running if you haven’t ruled it out, but shouldn’t cause it to have hard starting issue like pressure is built!
 
C.Berry said:
Does you pressure washer pump have a pressure relief/unloader valve of any kind? They can be a pita, after 6 years I found I hated small engines also! Most of the time if one of our 6 machines had this issue it was the Unloader not doing it’s job especially with hard to start issues, Does it vibrate the line at all while it’s running?
Click to expand...
This^ creates a hard to pull. Most smaller washers, like the 2 I've had, don't have the unloader. You Need to keep the wand trigger open, as a by-pass, while starting, & during first 30 seconds or more running, or it will stall. Sounds like you have other issues though.
 
grapehead said:
Do you run ethanol gas in it? Did you clean the fuel tank when you cleaned the carb?
Click to expand...

That stuff doesn't matter. I have one that only gets ethanol-free. I've run it with sta-bil, I've kept the fuel tank full, I've run it dry. I still have to clean the carb once a year, no matter what. Even running them "dry", there's still fuel in the bowls.

Meanwhile, I have a Toro push mower that is probably half full of varnish. I've never done a damn thing to it, run whatever fuel is laying around, etc. It hasn't been started in a year, but it'll fire on the third pull. Guaranteed.

I don't know why, but some of those small engines just suck for carb issues.
 
Yes and no...I've worked on friends' shit before that had the entire fuel system full of algae from leaving ethanol gas sitting in it, much more of a pain in the ass than just cleaning out the carb once a year. They all need regular maintenance, just a matter of what kind and how much.
 
shawn said:
That stuff doesn't matter. I have one that only gets ethanol-free. I've run it with sta-bil, I've kept the fuel tank full, I've run it dry. I still have to clean the carb once a year, no matter what. Even running them "dry", there's still fuel in the bowls.

Meanwhile, I have a Toro push mower that is probably half full of varnish. I've never done a damn thing to it, run whatever fuel is laying around, etc. It hasn't been started in a year, but it'll fire on the third pull. Guaranteed.

I don't know why, but some of those small engines just suck for carb issues.
Click to expand...
I have an old craftsman push mower like that. I won’t touch it for a year, I leave gas in it all winter, and like you, I run whatever gas is sitting in the shed. Fires up and runs like a sewing machine on the 2nd or 3rd pull. I won’t let anybody borrow it. It runs too good and is too dependable.
 
shawn said:
That stuff doesn't matter. I have one that only gets ethanol-free. I've run it with sta-bil, I've kept the fuel tank full, I've run it dry. I still have to clean the carb once a year, no matter what. Even running them "dry", there's still fuel in the bowls.

Meanwhile, I have a Toro push mower that is probably half full of varnish. I've never done a damn thing to it, run whatever fuel is laying around, etc. It hasn't been started in a year, but it'll fire on the third pull. Guaranteed.

I don't know why, but some of those small engines just suck for carb issues.
Click to expand...
Newer the worse they are...idle circuit restrictions and mandated emission type garbage has ruined them. They have engineered something with the needed performance of a Pinto into a frail half assed Prius. The problem is they still used the budget parameters of the Pinto to do it with.
 
Loganwayne said:
@McCracken i didnt think about it when i was talking to you yesterday, but dad has a pressure washer and it wont start unless you have the spray gun tigger pulled.
Click to expand...

I went into the garage today with nothing hooked up and tried to fire it....nothing :shaking:
 
Back
Top