Small Engine Repair

MrNightly

Anyone know anything about small engine repair?

I've got a power washer, from Sears (Craftsman I think - briggs and stanley maybe?) and it will turn on, but as soon as I squeeze the handle to spray, the engine starts to die. If I let off, it'll fire back up.

I used it for the past 3 days, and no problem, but yesterday it started acting up.

Any ideas or experience in these things before I take it back to the store and have a tech look at it?

opus

Have you checked the oil level? Does it have a low oil shutoff?

Also check and make sure you haven't moved the choke lever or gas shutoff valve.

MrNightly

Ya, at first I thought it might have been the oil level, but I added engine oil to it. Now i'm wondering if I overfilled it?

Choke lever and gas shut off valve? I haven't a clue what those are. I know there is a choke when you start it, and you can move from STOP to Turtle (Slow) to Rabbit (Fast) but that's all!

amulford

You are having a problem with the Carb. Take it to a repair shop, unless your comfortable replacing it.

ND13

Naww Ant, let 'em just tear right into that sucker.:D

Gotta learn somehow;)

opus

MrNightly wrote:

I've got a power washer, from Sears (Craftsman I think - briggs and stanley maybe?) ?

David the first thing you need to do is get you a "Briggs and Stanley" repair manual:eek:

MrNightly

ND13 wrote:

Naww Ant, let 'em just tear right into that sucker.:D

Gotta learn somehow;)

I took off some little box on the front, cause I thought maybe the the air filter was bad or clogged. When I opened it up, a bunch of oil spilled out... is that what you call "Learning somehow?" Hehe.

It won't turn over now... sounds flooded. I think I best not break it any further!

Oh, the air filter seemed just fine to me when I found it Must be the Carb. How do I fix that??!??!

madmax

opus wrote:

David the first thing you need to do is get you a "Briggs and Stanley" repair manual:eek:

madmax

disneyjoe7

You have the main fuel jet clogged, remove the fuel bowl cleaning the main jet in the center.

BTW I agree with the manual thing pictures pictures you need PICTURES.

keith allen

Get rid of that champion sparkplug and put ya in a ngk!

MrNightly

Ok ok.. so it's BRIGGS AND STRATTON not whatever else I thought it might have been. Geez, can't a guy catch a little slack around this joint or what?

So now that we are all on the same page as to what BRAND we are dealing with, what next?

Joe, you think I should take apart the what?! And how do I go about cleaning that? I'm very mechanically minded here can't you tell? I think I'll do a search for a manual or something, since I don't have it.

Oh boy.. might be easier to just send it in to a repair tech don't ya think? How hard is it to clean a main fuel jet?

If nothing else, you guys sound like you know what you are talking about.. so that's half the battle!

BIZILL

you most definately need to summon the help of billy bob/carl from 'slingblade'......"uuuuuhhhhhmmmmm".

HBombToo

disneyjoe7 wrote:

You have the main fuel jet clogged, remove the fuel bowl cleaning the main jet in the center.

I just had the same symptom and dj nailed my solution. I remove the carb then the bowl. Inside the bowl you will see a float and under the float the check valve. Get an old tooth brush and a small bowl of gas and clean all the varnish off of all the parts. Put everything back together and you'll be good to go.

HBomb

MrNightly

Ok, sound simple enough.. but what does the Carb look like? I found a manual online http://www.generac-portables.com/data/pdf_files/pw/1441_0en2w.pdf but it's not the exact same model as mine. I guess I can just start digging into this and see what I find out.

Also, where would this Carburetor be located at??? Sorry for the dumb questions, but remember who you are dealing with here, not an engine guy!

BIZILL

MrNightly wrote:

Sorry for the dumb questions, but remember who you are dealing with here, not an engine guy!

perhaps take it to a pro. we are shooting in the dark. you may end up spending more in the end listening to us. but give her a try, so long as it's free. disney sounds confident.

HBombToo

The air cleaner that you popped off is attached to the carburator and has the the springs controlling the governer. That said, the bowl(literally speaking) is where the gas pours in from the gas tank. This bowl houses the float and check valve. The carburator in its entirety is bolted to the engine and controls the flow of fuel into the clylinder head.

HBomb

madmax

MrNightly wrote:

Ok ok.. so it's BRIGGS AND STRATTON not whatever else I thought it might have been. Geez, can't a guy catch a little slack around this joint or what?

Maybe the cadillac converter is bad?
madmax

MrNightly

madmax wrote:

Maybe the cadillac converter is bad?
madmax

Now common.. do you think i'm totally clueless here?? Ok you don't have to answer that.

I'm just gonna tear it all open and see what I can use my wife's toothbrush on

HBombToo

MrNightly wrote:

I'm just gonna tear it all open and see what I can use my wife's toothbrush on

NOW she will really hate us Polkies;)

polrbehr

It'll seem stupid (it did to me after replacing the carb), but check the gas
CAP. Seriously.
I have a Toro snowthrower that exhibited the same symptoms you described,
Mr.N . It would start fine, run fine, then die as soon as the drive wheels were engaged or the auger was started. A brand new carb solved nothing. It turned out that there are vent holes in the cap which were clogged, creating
a vacuum in the tank once the gas started to flow. A toothpick was all I needed to clean out the four vent holes. It's been running fine for 5+ years now. And just for the Hell of it, I reinstalled the old carb just to see if it was OK, and ... well, figure the rest yourself! Just my .02 , but it worked nevertheless.

disneyjoe7

A clogged cap LOL

As far as a NGK plug... I don't think so, **** plug for **** engine GM plug for GM engine, German plug for German engine. I'm a BIG fan of NGK plugs but I'm a BIG fan of **** cars / trucks. I own a 5.5k generator with a 10hp B&S engine so I'm looking forward to the maintence I'll need in the future.