Pressure Washer Blues

[SuperBuickGuy]

ages ago, before I took DB's advice and put stabil in everything, I had a lawnmower that needed a carb clean every year to get moving. Rather then pulling carb apart, pull the air cleaner off, spray the heck out of it a couple times (down the air intake, obviously) with carb cleaner. Worst case is you're pulling the carb off, pulling it apart to get any rubber bits out, then dunking it in carb cleaner. It'd be a simple task if you could get an air hose into where the metering jets are - then blow back and hope you get the build up off. If you do get it running again, always put fuel stabilizer in the fuel.

[JOES66FURY]

Here is my two cents, you can take it or flush it...no skin off my back.

You have an opportunity to learn something and to make something that doestn work, work. I'll take that chance every time it presents itself. (I've got a 50/50 success rate).
Take that carb off, sit down at the work bench and try to clean/rebuild it. If nothing else, you are in no worse a position as you are now. Plus, small gas carbs are cheap, if you fook up the old one, get a new one. Not like you got a job to go to!

[pdub]

All advice well received. But I can't fool with the thing when we're not home, which is a great thing all by itself. So here we go. WIN. I now have an unopened can of carb parts cleaner that anyone can get if you want to swing be here and pick it up. And I'm re-remembering the thing wants to run with the choke on all the time, it was like that out of the box.

[silver_bullet]

[DanStokes]

[QUOTE And I'm re-remembering the thing wants to run with the choke on all the time, it was like that out of the box.[/QUOTE]

If it wants to run with the choke on all the time there are 2 possibilities:

1) The choke is marked backwards and "ON" is really "OFF". or.....
2) The main jet is plugged so back to the replacement carb thing.

Great that you got it running. Sounds just fine so I'm leaning toward #1 above.

Dan

[RockJustRock]

Actually I'd say it has a rubber fitting somewhere in the intake path loose or gone. Air from the leak plus gas from the carb equals running. Hard to start, not about to win a pressure washing race, but running. Prolly getting really crappy WPG (Washes Per Gallon) too. Starting fluid gets everything moving well enough for the magic to happen. If it builds pressure and washes you can't ask for much more from a pressure washer. It just likes to mock you with that "easy starting" stuff. Of course for scientific reasons you could spray starting fluid around it while running and when it goes BOOM you've found the leak. WD 40 would be safer but less interesting, When it sputters and makes smoke you're hitting the leaky area. Anyway, that's how you troubleshoot a vacuum leak on a car.

Thinking about it BEING a pressure washer, those things vibrate like a Hitachi Personal Massage device. I'd look for something flopping around on it loose too. It COULD and probably WILL fall off soon.

[silver_bullet]

Actually I'd say it has a rubber fitting somewhere in the intake path loose or gone. Air from the leak plus gas from the carb equals running. Hard to start, not about to win a pressure washing race, but running. Prolly getting really crappy WPG (Washes Per Gallon) too. Starting fluid gets everything moving well enough for the magic to happen. If it builds pressure and washes you can't ask for much more from a pressure washer. It just likes to mock you with that "easy starting" stuff. Of course for scientific reasons you could spray starting fluid around it while running and when it goes BOOM you've found the leak. WD 40 would be safer but less interesting, When it sputters and makes smoke you're hitting the leaky area. Anyway, that's how you troubleshoot a vacuum leak on a car.

[pdub]

I'd look for something flopping around on it loose too. It COULD and probably WILL fall off soon.

It miraculously runs. It sprays. If it sets the driveway on fire, I'll squirt some water on it. Just sayin, I'm not at all hard to please. If it runs at all, which it does, and I'd about given up on it. Me and something that doesn't run usually don't get along well at all. But it made friends with me again today by cranking. I blasted all the grill parts, did a little bit of the back sidewalk and shot the back siding on the house. A man could make a "career" out of running one of those, and some folks do, but I can shut it off and quit when I've had enough for a while. It sure makes a mess cleaning stuff up.

[RockJustRock]

They DO make livings off them. Mobile Home parks require people to wash their houses and there are pressure washer guys doing it.

https://89wash.com/

Go get your $89.

[DanStokes]

Actually I'd say it has a rubber fitting somewhere in the intake path loose or gone. Air from the leak plus gas from the carb equals running. Hard to start, not about to win a pressure washing race, but running.

Good thought! That one didn't come to mind but something that vibrates a lot like pressure washers tend to do would probably have the carb mounted with a rubber sleeve or some such. Absolutely worth a look. As long as it's fuel safe you could use any rubber coupler (I have some silicone turbo fittings in the shop and I'm imagining cutting one of them apart......).

Dan

[RockJustRock]

See? I just KNEW that post needed editing, LESS logic, MORE RJR!

[RockJustRock]

Enough about pressure washers and barbeques. This Hitachi thing has more to be said about IT!

Oh.... and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

[pdub]

Go get your $89.

I didn't say MY career. $89 wouldn't get me to do it. That, and painting, I hate it bad enough to never do it for anybody but myself.

But you DO have me thinking. "I don't even want your money, M'am, but what about that 1965 Ford pickup truck sitting there? Wanna trade?"

[RockJustRock]

$89? Around here smokes are $7 a pack. Enterprising convenience store clerks keep several open packs behind the counter and sell singles for 75 cents. You would be amazed at what people will do for 75 cents. Out here you could OWN that truck for a carton of smokes IF she smokes.

[pdub]

Out here you could OWN that truck for a carton of smokes IF she smokes.

Well, there's aNUTHER thought. We could take Bubba up to Kentucky and fill his bed with cartons of smokes. Lemme see, 8 feet by 4 feet by about a foot and a half, works out to.....lots of cartons of smokes. And we could drive all the way out there to CA and sell the cartons at $60.00 per, and we would net.......not enough gas money and the real risk of death and imprisonment. Nope, maybe I WILL pressure wash for a living after all.