About ten years ago, I was offered a 'working' generator by a little old lady who was selling her caravan, it looked fairly unused and all she wanted was £40 so I said yes, but I got it home, found something on the electrical panel was damaged, and the engine just wouldn't start, so I applauded the devious shrewdness of the old lady, chucked it in the shed and forgot about it. Now I know NOTHING about these things, but with all the threats of blackouts, I figure I might as well get it out, and have a look at getting it running as a back up, because I sure as hell can't make a non running thing any more non running than it is already, so this video has come at just the right time to inspire me and gives me plenty to look at... lol
its really bizarre to see Americans gearing up for blackouts like poor countries, considering that US is developed country and world superpower. damn, biden what a fine mess you have created
Mate, I love how you adjusted the sound of your video. The talking was clear and the generator sound was turned down. Truly a jack of all trades. Cheers from Brisbane Au
I've been a small engine mechanic for many years, and believe me I couldn't have been much faster. I Probably would have installed a new carburetor sooner, but only because my working hours are too expensive to tinker around with a carburetor for a long time. Well done! Greetings from Switzerland
In most cases I really like your thought process working to figure out what's going on. You said engine was running choked when warm and intermittent spark. These are separate and unrelated problems and both must be fixed. Once weak magneto was replaced your low oil circuit was grounding spark and by disconnecting it you created steady spark. As you tried to solve your fuel/carb issues you lost it. Your carb wouldn't allow engine to run w/o choke ... that means it is dirty and jets, orifices and passages likely clogged. On one of your videos you mentioned James Condor, he has many high quality videos explaining how to disassemble clean and adjust these small carbs ... I think ultrasonic is a must. Carb cleaners aren't what they used to be. Main thing is perfectly clean. You talked about air leaks around throttle shaft or elsewhere ... to rule that out use heavy weight oil squirted on the area to temporarily seal it. If engine runs better that proves that there is a leak. On auto engines you use technique while watching vacuum gage to find air leaks. I doubt this was your problem ... you could see crud in the old carb float bowl you showed during the teardown, again main thing is clean. I have a Generac 5500, went to use it and it ran better partially choked even hot. I ran it like this for about 4 days until power came on. Then got unit serviced including carb cleaning. Runs good now.
Same, I've literally transferred from the day shift at my job to night shift. Just so I don't have to wait all day and night for a n upload. As soon as I finish night shift. Drive home and walk through the door. He's uploaded. Quick shower then hop into bed. Watching these then fall asleep. Perfect 👌
How did you acquire all this knowledge to fix things?? Was it trial and error??Did you go to school for engineering?? What do you do for a living? You are really impressive..
Nice innit ? As s producer/musician/audiophile it wears me out when "creators" dont adjust the audio .. it isnt that difficult to add a compressor/limiter or at the bare min Turn it Down .
Great video! Just a little pointer when you shut the fuel off, the generator was still under load (heater was glowing) when the engine cut out, for generators that rely on residual magnetism for excitation this can weaken the field and cause low/no voltage issues. It’s normally an easy fix but it just best practice to take the load off before killing the engine 👍
Some tips/tricks when working on small engines. A small neon bulb tied with one leg to the metal chassis, and with other leg to the rubber/silicone jacket of the sparkplug cable, will also light up. Sparkplug cables (even new) have enough leakage to light up a small neon bulb, because such a small neon bulb needs only a few µA to light up. This can be made very cheaper then the commercial sparkplug testers. Regarding the magneto coil (spark module) you used a playcard to leave the gap between the coil and magnet, that is fine, but in reality, the distance between the magneto coil and magnet does 2 things. 1) The closer the gap, the more powerfull spark you get, the greater the gap, the less powerfull spark. 2) this gap has also a little influence on the ignition timing. That being said, there is much more involved with this gap distance. As i mentioned, the closer the gap, the more powerfull the spark will be, but here is the catch. With a very tight gap, the gas throttle response is much better, and on 2 stroke engines (like chainsaw etc...), you hear a difference in sounding and you have more power and this is all good you think, but in reality you are slowly killing your entire ignition system. When this gap is to close, you have lots more of socalled Eddy currents, this Eddy currents heat up the guts of a ignition coil and in extreme cases melts the insulation on the copper wire and will evently intermittenly shortout. And things get even worse, when the gap is to close, not only the ignition coil will overheat, also the entire aluminium flywheel will heat up, including the magnet, and eventually the magnet will loose his magnetism when overheated. This lost in magnetism will weaker the spark strenght, and many people will make the gap even closer (if possible) and the total breakdown continues. Also when this gap is closer, the RPM starts to drop, because the attraction between the magneto and magnet works as a break, and on engines where the bolts of the flywheel cover are close to the flywheel (in less then 2cm) it's best to use stainless bolts/screws for this cover.
Not suggesting that this was your problem, but often when I have to run partial choke I find that the main jet has a very small buildup in the orifice. I have a set of #61-80 drills and I typically can twist a drill in there by hand that pulls the crud out of the orifice but is not removing parent material. If the drill isn't exactly to size, your can use it as a file to clean it out the rest of the way. A tiny hole, even with a few tenths of buildup can be an issue. It has worked for me many times now. Keep up the good work.
Love small engine (>500cc) teardowns and diagnoses. I have a 7hp garden shredder, 500cc lawnmower, 4200kw genny, a hedge trimmer and a chainsaw, a mixture of 2-stroke and 4 stroke, and they all need to be fussed over and loved from time to time but what I really love about it is that it's all down to logic, trial and error. That's how my dad taught me to look after and work on my Lambretta 200 back in the day. Cool video to watch and glad you got it sorted eventually. And, yeah, those mickey mouse carbs are dirt cheap and that's what I would have done as well.
I picked up one of those little ignition spark testers and it came in handy one day. I had a new chainsaw that wouldn't start, taking the ignition wire to ground looking for the spark jump proved the ignition was firing yet no engine run. Because the spark tester is inline with the spark plug the tester quickly showed there was no spark. Yep, it was a brand new plug but brand new doesn't mean working. Changed the spark plug and its been runing since.
I love your gap gauge for the ignition coil and flywheel magnet. I was taught to use the cardboard from the ignition points. Yes, that was back when engines had points and you had to pull the flywheel to get the points. We also cleaned the magnet and the ignition coil to get rid of spark robbing rust. A little rust goes a long way in creating sparking issues. As for your shut down process. I professionally mowed for ten years. I used 10% ethanol all those years with no problems in any of the equipment. At the end of the season, fuel was emptied out of all the tanks. Fuel conditioner was added to the fuel, put back into each tank and the engines were warmed up. Then I shut them down exactly as you did. Plus, I emptied the tanks of all fuel, and ran the engines again until the sputtered and died. In 10 years I never had trouble with any 2-cycle or 4-cycle engine starting up in the spring. The repair shop couldn't believe how I never had engine or carb trouble. First because I was using ethanol and second also using low octane gas in the 16HP and 20HP mowers, weed eaters, edgers and chainsaws instead of mid-grade. Not that I'm out of the business I do spring for the mid-grade for the one weed eater and 2 chainsaws. I still run 10% ethanol in my one mower now. But I'm not supporting 8 weed eaters and 2 edgers anymore!
I recently replaced a coil on a Honda. Couldn't find my feeler gauge. Gap called for .015-.018. Another guy in the shop told me to use a business card. I measured one that had recently been left by an insurance salesman; .016. Worked! The reason a card works so nice is that you can flex it to set both sides at the same time. My feeler gauge would force me to do one side at a time. Turns out many business cards are .016 (called 16pt or 16 point), but they can be anywhere from .012 to .032 thick. Also, some cards have pretty thick ink, so I'd measure first. Ultimately, I cleaned up my tool box and found my feeler gauge.
Wow! Excellent job and great repair! vert well done. Some info for you... These carburettors have very narrow internal channels that become clogged, notably the idle circuit. The Tecumseh carbs can be a particular pain. If you know how to clean them properly they are perfectly fine. Even though the carb may look clean internally (clean bowl, clean main jet etc..) the internal passages can be blocked and nearly impossible to clean. This is a classic symptom of what was happening with yours. The ONLY way I get them to come back when they are this stubborn is with the ultrasonic cleaner. Some times they have to sit for a good few hours in there. The combination of near boiling hot cleaner, and the ultrasonic energy is the only thing that can break up the crud in to those passages. If the flange/surface where the bowl gasket seals is pitted or corroded, it must be cleaned to a near smooth finish with brass wire wheel and possibly wet sand paper. Same goes for the bowl it self. The bowl gaskets almost always need to be replaced on these cabs as they dry out and crack. It will certainty leak air around the bowl gasket. There is not much variation in these Tecumseh carburettors, just what ever horse power motor they were designed for. The older models like the original one you had featured an adjustable low speed idle mixture screw as well as main jet screw. The new aftermarket one you replaced it with was the standard fixed jet with non adjustable low speed idle jet (not a mixture screw!) This jet often becomes clogged and needs to be poked through with a thin piece of wire as I saw some one else mention in a comment below.
I know exactly what was wrong with the original carb. On the main jet/bowl nut (the brass piece) there is a VERY small port on the side, right above the threads that goes down at an angle and exits in the middle where the needle screws into. It's extremely small, like maybe the width of a couple human hairs. Don't feel bad that you didn't see it, if you didn't know it was there you would never notice it. I've taken probably a hundred of those carbs apart and 100% of the time, if they're having issues, that port is plugged. I usually clean it out with a single strand from a wire brush. I would bet you a beer that if you take that carb apart, find that port and clean it out, it'll run good with that carb too. Otherwise good work! I really enjoy your channel!
I would have fought this one pretty much the way you did. Intermittent fails are a difficult problem. I worked in maintenance for a number of years. I developed the habit of temporarily bypassing the safety circuit from the machine to test for operation. There are so many failure points in an E Stop circuit you can spend a lifetime trying to track them down replacing components. Watching your video I'm recognizing part of the troubleshooting issue with magneto engines is not having a consistent power supply to check the circuit. With a continuity checker on the low oil safety switch the light would be off at normal oil level, on at low oil level, and you can travel up the circuit to the magneto. If only it didn't have everything packed in under the shroud and flywheel. ☹ Hindsight is 20/20. I have the advantage of looking at the last 5 or 10 minutes of your video before I start commenting and saying "There's Yer Problem!" Love the thought process you go through. 😁😎
Jon, I've "learned" recently the oil is full when it's to the top of the engine fill tube versus oil is up to the grid pattern on the dip stick. I got this from "Steve's small engine repair TH-cam channel." For what it's worth.
Somewhere I learned that it helps to remove any rust or filth of your magnet and coil to help the magnetic flux flow more properly. Good job fixing that generator, I just fixed mine that acted up as well, It had a carb issue with a primerbowl vacuum leak.
🎯 non-ethanol...just did a trip to the local (40 miles) small airfield to refill all my jerry cans...$6.50 a gallon, but worth it to me. Great content, very interesting FC101
I got rid of every Tecumseh Engine I had. Those Carbs were nothing but problems. My Moms Fathers 1970's Bolens 1256-02 has a Wisconsin TRA-12D and it is the sweetest running Engine I own . No points or Condenser to deal with either. Just 3 pick-up Coils inside the Flywheel to an Common Ignition Coil grounded through the Ignition Switch. Thanks Mike M. Wausau Wisconsin.
I think you did everything you had to do to diagnose the problem. But, ultimately it was the carb. Possibly it was sucking air on the choke shaft from the side. But, you did a great job. Love your stuff. It benefits us all. 👍🔧🇬🇧
Good job on fixing the generator. I watch James Condon almost all of his videos and do not think he would have done any better. With the high likelyhood of electricity and fuel shortages in Europe this winter I believe a good generator will be worth its weight in gold. Imagine a house on the grid with a freezer full of food and power outages of several days. A generator would be very valuable. I love to watch you fix tools and machines and am just thankful I don't have to do that any more since I am 77 and happy to be there.
As I am an addict to these type videos I've seen other youtubers tackle such problems. Mustie1 is a favorite and I've seen him overhaul carburetors many times. There are frequently tiny pinhole metering ports in the side of the jet tube which he cleans with tiny wire. They are so small it would be easy to miss them and fail to clean them out. Such clogged pinhole ports could cause fuel starvation when the choke is not mostly engaged, such as in this case. This was an interesting problem and your solution was spot on. A fun and informative presentation. Thanks for posting.
I wasn't even 1 minutes into the video when I noticed what your problem was with the generator... its a tecumseh! Sheeesh, what a boat anchor. I can fix Briggs, Hondas just run so never a problem there but I have never been able to get a tecumseh working again once it has stopped or started giving me troubles. Now with that said, I'm just a country boy working on stuff and not a mechanic so hats off to ya (and a bow) for a job well done on fixing that thing. You are a better man than me. Keep up the food work and love your videos. You ALWAYS have something for me to watch and learn from, like how to fix a stupid tecumseh motor. 😄
I have the same generator. It came with the house I bought in 2003 and has been seldom used. In 2018 it ran like crap and after doing full maintenance I replaced the carb and plug, having already just installed fuel and air filters. After that it ran like a Swiss watch. I fire it up two or 3 times a year to exercise it. Yesterday (2/23/23) it acted like your generator. Then I recalled the last time I started it it was giving me problems so I set it aside and used a different generator. Yesterday I tackled the issue. Added fresh fuel with 1 once Sea Foam additive per gallon (I added 2 gallons). Two fixes solved the problem. The real issue was a clogged fuel filter. What was also a problem was I had replaced the fuel line some time ago and left too much slack in it. When I corrected that to get a better fuel flow the generator returned to the Swiss watch mode. Enjoyed your video. Yours is the second generator I’ve seen with a problematic low oil switch. FYI: I mounted my generator on a Harbor Freight moving dolly. It’s a perfect fit. I used Harbor Freight’s large, heavy duty cable ties to secure the 2 together. It works perfectly and helps when I change oil. When I set the generator and set the rear casters on a 2X6 my oil pan slides underneath, and the angle helps the oil to drain. Best of all, the generator just glides over a concrete floor.
I literally had the same problem this week. Ordered up a new ignition unit and and carb. The carb had a lot of rust inside the bowl and choke, so I decided $15 was faster and cheaper than trying to fiddle with it. This video has confirmed and given me more confidence in my decisions on how to fix my small engine issue.
So funny how parallel our struggles are! 😂 On that carb, there's a small aluminum disc opposite the needle seat under the float. Use a small drill bit with a depth limiter on it to drill it out enough for an allen wrench to fit and pry that loose. The fuel flow issue will become apparent as there is another filter screen behind that. The carb kits often come with these screens and discs. Seat the disc with a brass drift. 👍
I’m a small engine mechanic I would’ve checked spark right away and got the electrical side fixed eliminating the oil shut off in my testing as you did, carb would be one I’d like to take look at, it’s got check valves in it, and if you blew air through a passage not knowing what that passage was for you could have damaged a high speed valve, also there may be hidden valves behind the fuel inlet, you have to carefully twist that inlet and look behind it, and it might not come out, but without parts or a schematic I would have ended up exactly as you did, new coil and carb and a disconnected low oil shut off, you did a good job.
I fixed a weedeater that someone else worked on first. It ran then died. After way too long of a time I saw the brand new plug that had good spark was a non resistor plug. I pulled a used resistor plug out of a junk weedeater and it ran fine. Non resistor plugs will kill the ignition intermittently make sure there is a R in the part number if you ever have a problem like that
I didn't watch the rebuild video but just a few suggestions. Under those aluminum disks inside the carb, are usually a screen filter and they are RARELY every cleaned, cause those disks are pretty much a one time thing and unless you get a factory kit, they are hard to find. Also, the air bleed ports in the front of the carb(air filter side) are often overlooked. But you got it, no harm no fowl, just a few suggestions. Love your content
We've all been there and done that. Point is you got her running by DIY methods. That's most of the fun and challenge. Thanks for posting and take care!
Small engines are so elegantly designed....repairs can drive you completely batty! When they work, they work great. When they don't, they can be a real headache. Had problems with my last lawnmower. Turns out, ethanol ate the fuel line and then the battery wasn't spinning the engine fast enough to fire it. Fuel and fire!
An interesting process. Sometimes the logical analysis defies a direct solution. We have a small farm with lots of small engines. Some years ago, we made a policy decision to only fuel the small engines with stabilized fuel to counter the long periods of inactivity of some devices. Overall, this has increased the ability of the small engines.
I watched the whole video and an idea poped up in my head that i should fix my kawasaki kx60 that has not run in at least 5 years so i hope i get it running, thanks for the motivation!
I certainly did not mean it as a criticism. Carbs can always be a pain. The lack of adjustment on the low speed circuit also might suggest that one of those ports are plugged but I noticed that the Walsh plug was intact when you took it apart at the end of the video. In order to clean those ports you would have probably had to remove the Walsh plug and use something like a Torch Tip cleaner (that's what I always use) to physically clean it out and then put the plug back with some nail polish. If you have a lot of small engines on the farm you might want to invest in a small table top Parts cleaner (Ultrasonic) with heating. These units do a fantastic job of cleaning those ports without having to remove the Walsh plugs. Love your channel by the way, great practical videos and you are definitely better than just a jack of all trades my friend.
14:54 the low circuit supples fuel to all rpms, high side only does the high rpm. You can test this when a small 2 stroke. Hold it wide open and then start messing with that low speed.
From not knowing anything about engines, I now know checking fuel delivery, checking for spark and cleaning the carb is the first things you do. I love your attitude! Find out what's wrong by trial, error and checking one thing at a time, repair or replace. I will strive to apply this to my own life! Thank you.
You're not alone. I should have gotten that carb you got ($10 on ebay) but I didn't. I'm waiting for the $24 rebuild kit I ordered yesterday. Mine is a 8HP tecumseh (carb NLA) on my log splitter. The ebay carbs aren't anything like my 640215 carb. Wish me luck because - like yours - mine is sucking air someplace internally. It ran OK with the choke 1/2 on.
I’ve been very impressed with Lucas fuel treatment to prevent fuel souring. Unintentional long term testing was unintentionally done. It won’t stop damage from alcohol added fuels so alcohol free is best in all intermittently used engines
100% warn out shafts sucking in air. It happened to me. All the parts are tired and warned out so when under stress it will fail or under perform. Bravo you fix it !!!!!!!
from the beginning i knew what i would have done and fixed it up quick. its frustrating to see somebody fumbling around when you know the answer. at least you are learning!
@@FarmCraft101 for the intermittent strange running i would have chopped off all the emergency stop and kill wire, and wired my own kill switch. also changing the spark plug as i would sometimes find one where the center conductor was broken inside without showing any sign. then seeing your carb was old and only running on choke even after you had cleaned it i would have either rebuild it with a 5$ kit, or simply entirely replaced it with a cost of around 15$ in parts for a full carb. (price in CAD) maybe your ignition coil was bad, but its extremely hard to tell. i havent watched the full video, but sometimes they sell a replacement all-in-one, it give a stronger spark and is worth replacing for those engine that has the old point and condenser setup. i dont think you had points on this engine. maybe a little tip for the future, those old generator most likely have a diode hidden inside the coil of the generator part. while using power tools it is very often that a generator stop working entirely for no good reason. i have changed those diode more than once on many occasion on various generator. might be worth while to look around for spare parts right now before it blows. they cost only 2$ for 50pcs~ from china. you can buy a stronger diode with no problem, there is no need to match the part. for example if your old one was rated for 50v 10amps you can put a 100v 50amps in there no problem. at those frequency it is no matter, they just need to fit inside the same space.
There are many ways to skin a cat. This storage . This system is well tested and has given me great results with minimum effort. 40 yrs ago an olde timer suggested to run 30:1 - 2 stroke fuel through any engine for storage. He suggested only run the fuel dry if storage is longer than a yr. He felt the oil coating on everything was a great benefit and somehow helped the fuel from going skanky. I've done this and never in 40 yrs have I had carb issues from fuel/storage. The last 20 yrs I make sure to use non-ethanol in all older engines. Lawn mower, snow blower, everything gets 2 stroke fuel for winterizing/storage. Chain saw gets double oil in the fuel for storage. It can sit for 2 yrs with fuel in it, 5-6 pulls and fires. Owned a 150 Merc fuel injected 2 stroke outboard for 20 yrs and did the same for that. Technically it was getting about 3X oil. Although in this one I didn't ever run the fuel system dry. Every spring it would crank 2-3 times and fire perfectly. In retirement I have a 20 yr old boat with 2 - 350 chevy engines (always use non-ethanol fuel here too). I do the same with them and they always fire in the spring with 2-3 cranks like they were shut off yesterday. Sure they smoke for a couple minutes but they would with fogging oil anyway. Once you get your portable tank and hoses figured out, it's actually quite a quick process. Switch the fuel line to the mix, run them for a few minutes to get the pumps and carbs full of mix (if available, stall the engines with the choke for heavier oil/fuel coating) or shut them off. Top up the fuel tanks with fresh fuel. Done.
I've been working on small engines for the last 10 years. I would always spray the carburetor out with carb cleaner and it usually worked then i went and bought an ultrasonic cleaner and it does a good job on cleaning carburetors
My small engine experience is with outboard motors. My rule of thumb is if the engine wants to be choked to run, you have a air leak so think gaskets or bushings, if it wants to only run at full throttle and won’t idle, you have a blocked jet, sticking needle valve or a clogged up emulsion tube. With what you had going on their id have done the same as you in roughly the same order. I would have also done a compression test and checked the timing.
I'm ½way through and have the same 10hp generator and experience the same issues. In my case the combination of problems keeping it from running were: 1. An intermittent short on the wire that runs around the head and goes to the shutoff. I also found a bare section near the oil sensor, but that wasn't shorting out. 2. The second major issue, and why I needed the chock on partway was the main jet was oxidizing and had "grown" a layer of "fuzz" on the metal. To fix it I took a small drill bit and ran it through the main jet. I didn't actually remove any good metal but just some of the fuzzy oxidized growth. After those two fixes I've continued to have issues with a leaky fuel pump (it runs on crank pulses), but other than that it has powered our home many times during power outages.
I'm no mechanic, but i distinctly remember my dad (who is a certified mechanic) saying that the part that you described with the intake tube gasket could be leaking and pulling in air, once the mixture is made in the carbourator, and would mess up the mix ratio.. he called that "false air symptom".. but i'm not sure that is translated correctly. But the gist is, that it is sucking in air in places where it is not supposed to. By the way, the choke regulates the air percentage, but does it not also regulate the amount of compression in the engine? Love your videos, so educational, and so well made, good audio, and good quality overall
Half way through I'm going to guess its the magnets lost their magnetism for some stupid reason. Hmm nope, guess it was a pretty simple fix. Thank you for normalizing the loud parts of the video o I didn't have to keep changing the volume. That simple quality fix makes the video infinitely more enjoyable to watch.
Back in the 1990s I worked on a bridge project. We used a bunch of these rope pull generators and disconnected the low oil shut off on all of them. If you had the shutoff connected the dammed things would shut off, generally right in the middle of pouring new concrete when you absolutely needed it to run. We finally just cut all the wires so some jackwagon wouldn't re-connect them. Generally the problem you had with the carb tells me the carb is dirty, it doesn't take much crud in one of those teeny passages to plug it. That said those little carbs SUCK. I've got a riding mower where I took the same way out as you...
I had a Power King yard tractor with a rusty gas tank. Trying to finish a garden with no time for a proper fix, I had to stop plowing several times every 30-40 mins to clean the bowl out, the last 10 mins it would only run full choke. It's often hard to find time (or remember) to fix things in between the times you need to be using them, so bravo on staying ahead. Also I need an in-line spark tester and I didn't know. Thanks
Ask my wife… I’ve been sitting here for the last half hour saying “pinhole leak in the float bowl! Pinhole leak in the float bowl!!” Granted I didn’t predict the bad coil pack, but that makes sense. I’m just proud of you for getting it eventually… and ultimately the solution you arrived at was the right call. Replacing the carb was the answer… just now you know why/how the carb went bad. 😉
Get a little plastic bottle with a small hose on it and fill it was gas. Squirt a little gas in the carb to get it to run. Starting fluid is ok, but I think a little gas is better to get it to run. You did a very nice job on this. That was my little tip for you. Lots of small problems all at once can make it hard to fix the problem. New Carb works good.
Been watching your channel for a while now . Your a very determined person . You never give up . Great skills on explaining showing everything step by step . Great content and really enjoy watching . I use too have more problems with engines owning all types of equipment . The best thing I ever did one day was made a decision too buy a filtered funnel and start useing gas line anti freeze and a squirt of Lucas fuel treatment in every fuel tank fill up in every engine I own all year round . I also started shutting the fuel off like you did and running things dry that where not going too be used all the time . I have never ever had a problem with any of my equipment anymore . No more varnish / water / or poor gas from sitting also . I just turn on the fuel from what Im going too use like a generator or log splitter that has been sitting long time and usally one or two pulls and I’m up and running. I don’t know what they put in Lucas or other similar products but it really has changed everything for better around here 👍👍
I have a splitter that I bought at Rural King that had this some of this same sort of intermittent crapola going on. Eventually it just quit and would not be restarted. So I spent some time on it. Eventually I could get it to go if I emptied the float bowl first, but then that stopped “working”. Finally I realized I was getting no spark, googled this problem, saw that people were seeing failure in the oil pressure kill switch, so I then just disconnected it. And then kept the thing stored outside with a huge feed bucket over the engine to keep the moisture out. After we got the bad fuel out, ran like a champ. Haven’t had a problem with it since, except for when my dad borrows it, notices there’s a wire disconnected and “fixes” it by reconnecting it. At that point I just cut that wire right off. Every single other piece of machinery I have lacks that feature and they do just fine.
Another great one. Love the "click" on the manual torque wrench. Also, an interesting natural frequency on the assembly as it heaves slightly every 1-1.25 seconds.
In Australia we have poor quality fuel, ranked 80th in the OECD. Fuel goes off really quickly and clags up the fuel lines. Talking to the small engine guys in town and they tell me 99% of the problems they get are fuel related. I have numerous small engines, mostly Honda GX22 GX35 and GX160. I buy chineseium replacement carburetor kits online and have them on standby. They take literaly 5 minutes to replace and cost like $20. If that doesnt fix my problem the guys in town get to fix it but so far the replacement carb kits have worked a treat
That HM100 is actually a pretty good engine. I still have the same one on one of my log splitters, it's now almost 30 years old and still runs just like the day we purchased it. Always kept inside and changed the oil every season. I was gifted a generator EXACTLY like the one you have, 100% the same, there is actually a video about it on my channel and let's just say, I didn't have the same outcome as you did. I wish I did. Sometimes trouble shooting these small engines is super easy and other times it's a challenge like with yours, but at least you have a good backup generator now.
I allways go with the strategy that there is only one problem. But when I try to fix something thet has been running with a problem and another one appears I get a bit lost... :D Thank's for your great content that you produce, it's allways a happy moment when a new video from you appears in the list, :)
Thanks for the video John. I have a generator that's been sitting for a few years in the garage that I've been dreading to see if it would run. Fat chance it would. Your video gives me some good things to check.
Great detective work. I've been there several times!! After a while I can get grey cell fatigue messing with a problem and just simmer on the problem for a bit. That sometimes helps me.
9/13/22. 2day watched u troubleshoot & replace both carb & coil...after much time re-testing each..intermittant..problem area. I too have had same experiences & finally changed both & bingo..rngine runs 👍 great! Thx for showing everyone the bottom line...get both new carb & new coil & get back to work💪🛠⚙🙂
Pro tip. For long term storage, induce ATF into the fuel system starting with the carb. ATF will not deteriorate and will prevent any sticking floats, and jets. Then just put the gas back in. Gas will flush the ATF and you’re back in business. Same thing with chain saws only use two cycle oil
Well you got there but I was still waiting for you to check the oil to see if that was sending a ground signal to the coil. The white wire goes to the low oil sensor. That is usually step 1 BTW. I like the way you use what you know to work your way logically through the problem, look for the reasons why things are happening, and don't give up. Enjoyed the video...
I hate that they make those carbs & butterfly bushings out of pot metal for the record.. I'd assumed before finishing the vid it was an air leak either @ the head or carb, yet ended up in the throttle bush. I'm kind of amazed it ran at all taking in that much air with such sporadic spark. Awesome teaching tool for the rest who don't usually work on this stuff!
I would have probably started with the new carb, and gotten frustrated with the intermittent ignition from the oil sensor thing. You did good there figuring it out. Oh, and I can’t tell you how many times I too was late in looking for an air leak only to find it was the throttle shaft causing the lean condition.
When you "cleaned" the carb, did you spray some quality cleaner up through the emulsion tube. That is the tube that the tapered screw goes up against from the bottom of the fuel bowl. That is your high speed jet as well. And since it is so tiny, easy to get debris in it and cause problems. That would also account for the near choke conditions to keep it running. Just an idea...
Your original carb is rebuildable. Get the kit and look up the rebuild instructions online. You need to pull the needle and seat, remove the main jet, the emulsion tube inside the carb where the jet goes, and punch out the welch plugs that cover the drilled passages in the carb body, remove the choke and throttle plates. Now you dip everything except rubber parts in carb dip tank or use aerosol carb spray. Then run a small soft wire or tiny drill bit through the holes in the emulsion tube and jet passages. Punch in new welch plugs and reassemble with new o rings seat and gaskets. Preset the high and low speed needles to factory specs and install the carb. Usually a clean carb starts and runs on the presets with very small adjustments if any. The new Chinesium carbs are a gamble.
With that weak spark I would pull the flywheel to clean and check the point gap plus change the condenser. They can go bad. The gap between the coil and flywheel is critical too. For the carb I'd check for water in the bowl. Good idea to pull it and give it a good cleaning, jets may be dirty, it doesn't take much to block the flow of fuel. Fresh gas is also important if it's been sitting around too long. Thanks for the Vid. 😁
Just a tip sometimes compressed air won't blow the crap out of the jets and ports and needs to be cleaned with a small wire or buy a small pick set like 8 bucks on Amazon.
I wish it were possible to post a picture in the comments. A good friend had a camper trailer with a generator mounted. It was used only on occasion. He took it out on a trip and the generator would not start. When he got back and told me about it, I removed the carburetor and found he had been using ethanol gas. While it sat unused, the gas evaporated in the carb and left a deposit that looked like Vasoline jelly. A thorough cleaning of the carb and gas tank fixed it. I keep the photo on my phone to show everyone what ethanol gas can and will do to a small engine.
21:40 "very finicky and just cant get it to run right" -- isn't that Tecumseh's mantra? When I was a kid my neighbor had a small engine repair shop as a side gig. I remember him saying that Tecumseh engines run good when they do, but are a pain in the neck if they start giving trouble.
A friend of mine and I end up with a lot of small engines to play with. the first thing we do when it appears it might be a fuel delivery problem is to remove the carburetor and soak it over night in cleaning vinegar then blow it out with air pressure.
I remember "helping" my grandfather fix a small engine when I was a very young boy in the late '60s. I ended up being his spark plug tester--"here, hold this for a minute... nope, it has spark!"
I am about half way through and I noticed you are outside in the new shed roof addition you built. Hooray! How nice it is to use something you built to help you work better and easier.
When mine does that exact thing, it's a gunked-up carb. (I'm lazy about draining the tank and carb bowl.) Sometimes fuel injector cleaner will fix it, sometimes I have pull the carb, clean the needle, jet, seat, and spray bar with a fine wire. That always clears up the surging and/or having to run it partially choked.
@@FishFind3000 I know, same here. Sometimes I procrastinate, sometimes I forget. Generators and power washers are the worst because I use them 1x-2x a year. It only takes 6-8 months for fuel to go rotten, even in a tight, clean tank.
About ten years ago, I was offered a 'working' generator by a little old lady who was selling her caravan, it looked fairly unused and all she wanted was £40 so I said yes, but I got it home, found something on the electrical panel was damaged, and the engine just wouldn't start, so I applauded the devious shrewdness of the old lady, chucked it in the shed and forgot about it. Now I know NOTHING about these things, but with all the threats of blackouts, I figure I might as well get it out, and have a look at getting it running as a back up, because I sure as hell can't make a non running thing any more non running than it is already, so this video has come at just the right time to inspire me and gives me plenty to look at... lol
There’s a great channel that only repairs generators called “james condon”. He will get you pointed in the right direction
@@FishFind3000 nice one, cheers for that.
There’s a TH-camr named James Cordon. He’s Very good and that’s his whole channel. Repairing generators, saws, you name it. FYI👍✌️
oOoOO! I really hope you figure it out. It's another mystery! 😀
its really bizarre to see Americans gearing up for blackouts like poor countries, considering that US is developed country and world superpower. damn, biden what a fine mess you have created
Mate, I love how you adjusted the sound of your video. The talking was clear and the generator sound was turned down. Truly a jack of all trades. Cheers from Brisbane Au
I've been a small engine mechanic for many years, and believe me I couldn't have been much faster. I Probably would have installed a new carburetor sooner, but only because my working hours are too expensive to tinker around with a carburetor for a long time.
Well done!
Greetings from Switzerland
Do you mean you fix coo-coo clocks?
In most cases I really like your thought process working to figure out what's going on. You said engine was running choked when warm and intermittent spark. These are separate and unrelated problems and both must be fixed. Once weak magneto was replaced your low oil circuit was grounding spark and by disconnecting it you created steady spark.
As you tried to solve your fuel/carb issues you lost it. Your carb wouldn't allow engine to run w/o choke ... that means it is dirty and jets, orifices and passages likely clogged. On one of your videos you mentioned James Condor, he has many high quality videos explaining how to disassemble clean and adjust these small carbs ... I think ultrasonic is a must. Carb cleaners aren't what they used to be. Main thing is perfectly clean.
You talked about air leaks around throttle shaft or elsewhere ... to rule that out use heavy weight oil squirted on the area to temporarily seal it. If engine runs better that proves that there is a leak. On auto engines you use technique while watching vacuum gage to find air leaks. I doubt this was your problem ... you could see crud in the old carb float bowl you showed during the teardown, again main thing is clean.
I have a Generac 5500, went to use it and it ran better partially choked even hot. I ran it like this for about 4 days until power came on. Then got unit serviced including carb cleaning. Runs good now.
Man I look forward to ever episode you put out.
Same, I've literally transferred from the day shift at my job to night shift. Just so I don't have to wait all day and night for a n upload. As soon as I finish night shift. Drive home and walk through the door. He's uploaded. Quick shower then hop into bed. Watching these then fall asleep. Perfect 👌
@@timfagan816 nice dude 😎
Haha me too, binging hard since finding this channels 3 weeks ago
You’re brave enough to not cover up your mistakes, but use them as a learning tool for yourself and us too..bravo 🙌
How did you acquire all this knowledge to fix things?? Was it trial and error??Did you go to school for engineering??
What do you do for a living?
You are really impressive..
Hey, thanks for lowering the gain when the generator was running. Love your content too!
I am grateful he doesn't have music, especially when it's 10dB too loud.
YES! I hate it when creators can’t figure out how to apply a little compression…
Nice innit ? As s producer/musician/audiophile it wears me out when "creators" dont adjust the audio .. it isnt that difficult to add a compressor/limiter or at the bare min Turn it Down .
Multiple problems always takes a lot of time to fix. Good job.
Yup, don't assume it's just one thing that's wrong.
Great video! Just a little pointer when you shut the fuel off, the generator was still under load (heater was glowing) when the engine cut out, for generators that rely on residual magnetism for excitation this can weaken the field and cause low/no voltage issues. It’s normally an easy fix but it just best practice to take the load off before killing the engine 👍
Excellent point!
20:30 also spray the choke and throttle shaft as sometimes the bushings inside will allow air through.
I learned this trick years ago from a certified Ford Tech. It has found many bad carb/choke bushings!
Yep, I have had several carbs give me issues from being worn out in the throttle shaft & or choke shaft
Some tips/tricks when working on small engines. A small neon bulb tied with one leg to the metal chassis, and with other leg to the rubber/silicone jacket of the sparkplug cable, will also light up. Sparkplug cables (even new) have enough leakage to light up a small neon bulb, because such a small neon bulb needs only a few µA to light up. This can be made very cheaper then the commercial sparkplug testers.
Regarding the magneto coil (spark module) you used a playcard to leave the gap between the coil and magnet, that is fine, but in reality, the distance between the magneto coil and magnet does 2 things. 1) The closer the gap, the more powerfull spark you get, the greater the gap, the less powerfull spark. 2) this gap has also a little influence on the ignition timing. That being said, there is much more involved with this gap distance. As i mentioned, the closer the gap, the more powerfull the spark will be, but here is the catch. With a very tight gap, the gas throttle response is much better, and on 2 stroke engines (like chainsaw etc...), you hear a difference in sounding and you have more power and this is all good you think, but in reality you are slowly killing your entire ignition system. When this gap is to close, you have lots more of socalled Eddy currents, this Eddy currents heat up the guts of a ignition coil and in extreme cases melts the insulation on the copper wire and will evently intermittenly shortout. And things get even worse, when the gap is to close, not only the ignition coil will overheat, also the entire aluminium flywheel will heat up, including the magnet, and eventually the magnet will loose his magnetism when overheated. This lost in magnetism will weaker the spark strenght, and many people will make the gap even closer (if possible) and the total breakdown continues. Also when this gap is closer, the RPM starts to drop, because the attraction between the magneto and magnet works as a break, and on engines where the bolts of the flywheel cover are close to the flywheel (in less then 2cm) it's best to use stainless bolts/screws for this cover.
Not suggesting that this was your problem, but often when I have to run partial choke I find that the main jet has a very small buildup in the orifice. I have a set of #61-80 drills and I typically can twist a drill in there by hand that pulls the crud out of the orifice but is not removing parent material. If the drill isn't exactly to size, your can use it as a file to clean it out the rest of the way. A tiny hole, even with a few tenths of buildup can be an issue. It has worked for me many times now. Keep up the good work.
What he said. ⬆
Love small engine (>500cc) teardowns and diagnoses. I have a 7hp garden shredder, 500cc lawnmower, 4200kw genny, a hedge trimmer and a chainsaw, a mixture of 2-stroke and 4 stroke, and they all need to be fussed over and loved from time to time but what I really love about it is that it's all down to logic, trial and error. That's how my dad taught me to look after and work on my Lambretta 200 back in the day. Cool video to watch and glad you got it sorted eventually. And, yeah, those mickey mouse carbs are dirt cheap and that's what I would have done as well.
I picked up one of those little ignition spark testers and it came in handy one day. I had a new chainsaw that wouldn't start, taking the ignition wire to ground looking for the spark jump proved the ignition was firing yet no engine run. Because the spark tester is inline with the spark plug the tester quickly showed there was no spark. Yep, it was a brand new plug but brand new doesn't mean working. Changed the spark plug and its been runing since.
I love your gap gauge for the ignition coil and flywheel magnet. I was taught to use the cardboard from the ignition points. Yes, that was back when engines had points and you had to pull the flywheel to get the points. We also cleaned the magnet and the ignition coil to get rid of spark robbing rust. A little rust goes a long way in creating sparking issues.
As for your shut down process. I professionally mowed for ten years. I used 10% ethanol all those years with no problems in any of the equipment. At the end of the season, fuel was emptied out of all the tanks. Fuel conditioner was added to the fuel, put back into each tank and the engines were warmed up. Then I shut them down exactly as you did. Plus, I emptied the tanks of all fuel, and ran the engines again until the sputtered and died. In 10 years I never had trouble with any 2-cycle or 4-cycle engine starting up in the spring. The repair shop couldn't believe how I never had engine or carb trouble. First because I was using ethanol and second also using low octane gas in the 16HP and 20HP mowers, weed eaters, edgers and chainsaws instead of mid-grade. Not that I'm out of the business I do spring for the mid-grade for the one weed eater and 2 chainsaws. I still run 10% ethanol in my one mower now. But I'm not supporting 8 weed eaters and 2 edgers anymore!
I recently replaced a coil on a Honda. Couldn't find my feeler gauge. Gap called for .015-.018. Another guy in the shop told me to use a business card. I measured one that had recently been left by an insurance salesman; .016. Worked! The reason a card works so nice is that you can flex it to set both sides at the same time. My feeler gauge would force me to do one side at a time.
Turns out many business cards are .016 (called 16pt or 16 point), but they can be anywhere from .012 to .032 thick. Also, some cards have pretty thick ink, so I'd measure first. Ultimately, I cleaned up my tool box and found my feeler gauge.
Wow! Excellent job and great repair! vert well done. Some info for you...
These carburettors have very narrow internal channels that become clogged, notably the idle circuit.
The Tecumseh carbs can be a particular pain. If you know how to clean them properly they are perfectly fine.
Even though the carb may look clean internally (clean bowl, clean main jet etc..) the internal passages can be blocked and nearly impossible to clean. This is a classic symptom of what was happening with yours. The ONLY way I get them to come back when they are this stubborn is with the ultrasonic cleaner. Some times they have to sit for a good few hours in there. The combination of near boiling hot cleaner, and the ultrasonic energy is the only thing that can break up the crud in to those passages.
If the flange/surface where the bowl gasket seals is pitted or corroded, it must be cleaned to a near smooth finish with brass wire wheel and possibly wet sand paper. Same goes for the bowl it self. The bowl gaskets almost always need to be replaced on these cabs as they dry out and crack. It will certainty leak air around the bowl gasket.
There is not much variation in these Tecumseh carburettors, just what ever horse power motor they were designed for. The older models like the original one you had featured an adjustable low speed idle mixture screw as well as main jet screw.
The new aftermarket one you replaced it with was the standard fixed jet with non adjustable low speed idle jet (not a mixture screw!)
This jet often becomes clogged and needs to be poked through with a thin piece of wire as I saw some one else mention in a comment below.
I know exactly what was wrong with the original carb. On the main jet/bowl nut (the brass piece) there is a VERY small port on the side, right above the threads that goes down at an angle and exits in the middle where the needle screws into. It's extremely small, like maybe the width of a couple human hairs. Don't feel bad that you didn't see it, if you didn't know it was there you would never notice it. I've taken probably a hundred of those carbs apart and 100% of the time, if they're having issues, that port is plugged. I usually clean it out with a single strand from a wire brush. I would bet you a beer that if you take that carb apart, find that port and clean it out, it'll run good with that carb too. Otherwise good work! I really enjoy your channel!
I would have fought this one pretty much the way you did.
Intermittent fails are a difficult problem. I worked in maintenance for a number of years. I developed the habit of temporarily bypassing the safety circuit from the machine to test for operation.
There are so many failure points in an E Stop circuit you can spend a lifetime trying to track them down replacing components.
Watching your video I'm recognizing part of the troubleshooting issue with magneto engines is not having a consistent power supply to check the circuit. With a continuity checker on the low oil safety switch the light would be off at normal oil level, on at low oil level, and you can travel up the circuit to the magneto.
If only it didn't have everything packed in under the shroud and flywheel. ☹
Hindsight is 20/20. I have the advantage of looking at the last 5 or 10 minutes of your video before I start commenting and saying "There's Yer Problem!"
Love the thought process you go through. 😁😎
Jon, I've "learned" recently the oil is full when it's to the top of the engine fill tube versus oil is up to the grid pattern on the dip stick. I got this from "Steve's small engine repair TH-cam channel." For what it's worth.
Somewhere I learned that it helps to remove any rust or filth of your magnet and coil to help the magnetic flux flow more properly. Good job fixing that generator, I just fixed mine that acted up as well, It had a carb issue with a primerbowl vacuum leak.
🎯 non-ethanol...just did a trip to the local (40 miles) small airfield to refill all my jerry cans...$6.50 a gallon, but worth it to me. Great content, very interesting FC101
I got rid of every Tecumseh Engine I had. Those Carbs were nothing but problems.
My Moms Fathers 1970's Bolens 1256-02 has a Wisconsin TRA-12D and it is the sweetest running Engine I own .
No points or Condenser to deal with either. Just 3 pick-up Coils inside the Flywheel to an Common Ignition Coil grounded through the Ignition Switch.
Thanks Mike M. Wausau Wisconsin.
I think you did everything you had to do to diagnose the problem. But, ultimately it was the carb. Possibly it was sucking air on the choke shaft from the side. But, you did a great job. Love your stuff. It benefits us all. 👍🔧🇬🇧
Good job on fixing the generator. I watch James Condon almost all of his videos and do not think he would have done any better.
With the high likelyhood of electricity and fuel shortages in Europe this winter I believe a good generator will be worth its weight in gold.
Imagine a house on the grid with a freezer full of food and power outages of several days. A generator would be very valuable.
I love to watch you fix tools and machines and am just thankful I don't have to do that any more since I am 77 and happy to be there.
As I am an addict to these type videos I've seen other youtubers tackle such problems. Mustie1 is a favorite and I've seen him overhaul carburetors many times. There are frequently tiny pinhole metering ports in the side of the jet tube which he cleans with tiny wire. They are so small it would be easy to miss them and fail to clean them out. Such clogged pinhole ports could cause fuel starvation when the choke is not mostly engaged, such as in this case.
This was an interesting problem and your solution was spot on. A fun and informative presentation. Thanks for posting.
I admire your patience!
I wasn't even 1 minutes into the video when I noticed what your problem was with the generator... its a tecumseh! Sheeesh, what a boat anchor. I can fix Briggs, Hondas just run so never a problem there but I have never been able to get a tecumseh working again once it has stopped or started giving me troubles.
Now with that said, I'm just a country boy working on stuff and not a mechanic so hats off to ya (and a bow) for a job well done on fixing that thing. You are a better man than me. Keep up the food work and love your videos. You ALWAYS have something for me to watch and learn from, like how to fix a stupid tecumseh motor. 😄
I have the same generator. It came with the house I bought in 2003 and has been seldom used. In 2018 it ran like crap and after doing full maintenance I replaced the carb and plug, having already just installed fuel and air filters. After that it ran like a Swiss watch. I fire it up two or 3 times a year to exercise it.
Yesterday (2/23/23) it acted like your generator. Then I recalled the last time I started it it was giving me problems so I set it aside and used a different generator. Yesterday I tackled the issue. Added fresh fuel with 1 once Sea Foam additive per gallon (I added 2 gallons). Two fixes solved the problem. The real issue was a clogged fuel filter. What was also a problem was I had replaced the fuel line some time ago and left too much slack in it. When I corrected that to get a better fuel flow the generator returned to the Swiss watch mode.
Enjoyed your video. Yours is the second generator I’ve seen with a problematic low oil switch.
FYI: I mounted my generator on a Harbor Freight moving dolly. It’s a perfect fit. I used Harbor Freight’s large, heavy duty cable ties to secure the 2 together. It works perfectly and helps when I change oil. When I set the generator and set the rear casters on a 2X6 my oil pan slides underneath, and the angle helps the oil to drain. Best of all, the generator just glides over a concrete floor.
John, please remember the complete expression: A Jack of all trades and master of none, but still better always than a master of one!
Unless you work on a fishing boat as a Master Baiter. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.
Never heard the second half of that saying,and it gives me pause to completely agree with it....but then it is just a saying.
. . .unless you need the one thing done well and fast. 😉
I literally had the same problem this week. Ordered up a new ignition unit and and carb. The carb had a lot of rust inside the bowl and choke, so I decided $15 was faster and cheaper than trying to fiddle with it. This video has confirmed and given me more confidence in my decisions on how to fix my small engine issue.
So funny how parallel our struggles are! 😂 On that carb, there's a small aluminum disc opposite the needle seat under the float. Use a small drill bit with a depth limiter on it to drill it out enough for an allen wrench to fit and pry that loose. The fuel flow issue will become apparent as there is another filter screen behind that. The carb kits often come with these screens and discs. Seat the disc with a brass drift. 👍
That's called a Welch plug.
I’m a small engine mechanic I would’ve checked spark right away and got the electrical side fixed eliminating the oil shut off in my testing as you did, carb would be one I’d like to take look at, it’s got check valves in it, and if you blew air through a passage not knowing what that passage was for you could have damaged a high speed valve, also there may be hidden valves behind the fuel inlet, you have to carefully twist that inlet and look behind it, and it might not come out, but without parts or a schematic I would have ended up exactly as you did, new coil and carb and a disconnected low oil shut off, you did a good job.
I fixed a weedeater that someone else worked on first. It ran then died. After way too long of a time I saw the brand new plug that had good spark was a non resistor plug. I pulled a used resistor plug out of a junk weedeater and it ran fine. Non resistor plugs will kill the ignition intermittently make sure there is a R in the part number if you ever have a problem like that
I didn't watch the rebuild video but just a few suggestions. Under those aluminum disks inside the carb, are usually a screen filter and they are RARELY every cleaned, cause those disks are pretty much a one time thing and unless you get a factory kit, they are hard to find. Also, the air bleed ports in the front of the carb(air filter side) are often overlooked. But you got it, no harm no fowl, just a few suggestions. Love your content
I like the suggestion to spray for leaks n listen to rpm. I always keep a spray bottle with gas for troubleshooting
My new favorite day of the week is when we get a new FarmCraft video 💪
We've all been there and done that. Point is you got her running by DIY methods. That's most of the fun and challenge. Thanks for posting and take care!
Small engines are so elegantly designed....repairs can drive you completely batty! When they work, they work great. When they don't, they can be a real headache.
Had problems with my last lawnmower. Turns out, ethanol ate the fuel line and then the battery wasn't spinning the engine fast enough to fire it. Fuel and fire!
An interesting process. Sometimes the logical analysis defies a direct solution. We have a small farm with lots of small engines. Some years ago, we made a policy decision to only fuel the small engines with stabilized fuel to counter the long periods of inactivity of some devices. Overall, this has increased the ability of the small engines.
I watched the whole video and an idea poped up in my head that i should fix my kawasaki kx60 that has not run in at least 5 years so i hope i get it running, thanks for the motivation!
I certainly did not mean it as a criticism. Carbs can always be a pain. The lack of adjustment on the low speed circuit also might suggest that one of those ports are plugged but I noticed that the Walsh plug was intact when you took it apart at the end of the video. In order to clean those ports you would have probably had to remove the Walsh plug and use something like a Torch Tip cleaner (that's what I always use) to physically clean it out and then put the plug back with some nail polish.
If you have a lot of small engines on the farm you might want to invest in a small table top Parts cleaner (Ultrasonic) with heating. These units do a fantastic job of cleaning those ports without having to remove the Walsh plugs.
Love your channel by the way, great practical videos and you are definitely better than just a jack of all trades my friend.
I enjoyed the video and learned a bit. Thanks for busting open the old carb.
14:54 the low circuit supples fuel to all rpms, high side only does the high rpm. You can test this when a small 2 stroke. Hold it wide open and then start messing with that low speed.
From not knowing anything about engines, I now know checking fuel delivery, checking for spark and cleaning the carb is the first things you do. I love your attitude! Find out what's wrong by trial, error and checking one thing at a time, repair or replace. I will strive to apply this to my own life! Thank you.
Carburetor problems are the issue 85-90% of the time
@@Rorschach1024 Ethanol has really helped that percentage. Most these carbs and coil packs are 15-20 bucks on Amazon.
You're not alone. I should have gotten that carb you got ($10 on ebay) but I didn't. I'm waiting for the $24 rebuild kit I ordered yesterday. Mine is a 8HP tecumseh (carb NLA) on my log splitter. The ebay carbs aren't anything like my 640215 carb. Wish me luck because - like yours - mine is sucking air someplace internally. It ran OK with the choke 1/2 on.
Probably dirty main jet stopped up or filter inlet pipe
mustie1 is the go to guy on youtube for small engines i know he would help you out anytime
I’ve been very impressed with Lucas fuel treatment to prevent fuel souring. Unintentional long term testing was unintentionally done. It won’t stop damage from alcohol added fuels so alcohol free is best in all intermittently used engines
Thank you so much for turning down the volume during loud engine stuff!
100% warn out shafts sucking in air. It happened to me. All the parts are tired and warned out so when under stress it will fail or under perform. Bravo you fix it !!!!!!!
I reckon these small engines can see you coming a mile away, let’s have some fun with this guy
Cheers from Aus
from the beginning i knew what i would have done and fixed it up quick. its frustrating to see somebody fumbling around when you know the answer. at least you are learning!
I'm curious what your answer was from the beginning?
@@FarmCraft101 for the intermittent strange running i would have chopped off all the emergency stop and kill wire, and wired my own kill switch. also changing the spark plug as i would sometimes find one where the center conductor was broken inside without showing any sign.
then seeing your carb was old and only running on choke even after you had cleaned it i would have either rebuild it with a 5$ kit, or simply entirely replaced it with a cost of around 15$ in parts for a full carb. (price in CAD)
maybe your ignition coil was bad, but its extremely hard to tell. i havent watched the full video, but sometimes they sell a replacement all-in-one, it give a stronger spark and is worth replacing for those engine that has the old point and condenser setup. i dont think you had points on this engine.
maybe a little tip for the future, those old generator most likely have a diode hidden inside the coil of the generator part. while using power tools it is very often that a generator stop working entirely for no good reason. i have changed those diode more than once on many occasion on various generator. might be worth while to look around for spare parts right now before it blows. they cost only 2$ for 50pcs~ from china. you can buy a stronger diode with no problem, there is no need to match the part. for example if your old one was rated for 50v 10amps you can put a 100v 50amps in there no problem. at those frequency it is no matter, they just need to fit inside the same space.
New to your channel enjoy watching the jack of all trades accomplish his tasks.
There are many ways to skin a cat. This storage . This system is well tested and has given me great results with minimum effort. 40 yrs ago an olde timer suggested to run 30:1 - 2 stroke fuel through any engine for storage. He suggested only run the fuel dry if storage is longer than a yr. He felt the oil coating on everything was a great benefit and somehow helped the fuel from going skanky. I've done this and never in 40 yrs have I had carb issues from fuel/storage. The last 20 yrs I make sure to use non-ethanol in all older engines. Lawn mower, snow blower, everything gets 2 stroke fuel for winterizing/storage. Chain saw gets double oil in the fuel for storage. It can sit for 2 yrs with fuel in it, 5-6 pulls and fires. Owned a 150 Merc fuel injected 2 stroke outboard for 20 yrs and did the same for that. Technically it was getting about 3X oil. Although in this one I didn't ever run the fuel system dry. Every spring it would crank 2-3 times and fire perfectly. In retirement I have a 20 yr old boat with 2 - 350 chevy engines (always use non-ethanol fuel here too). I do the same with them and they always fire in the spring with 2-3 cranks like they were shut off yesterday. Sure they smoke for a couple minutes but they would with fogging oil anyway. Once you get your portable tank and hoses figured out, it's actually quite a quick process. Switch the fuel line to the mix, run them for a few minutes to get the pumps and carbs full of mix (if available, stall the engines with the choke for heavier oil/fuel coating) or shut them off. Top up the fuel tanks with fresh fuel. Done.
I've been working on small engines for the last 10 years. I would always spray the carburetor out with carb cleaner and it usually worked then i went and bought an ultrasonic cleaner and it does a good job on cleaning carburetors
No matter the topic, I always learn something from you and your channel. Thank you for having one of the best channels on YT. Matt
For whats its worth i kept shaking my head and saying the intake gasket is bad, I was wrong. Don't get down on yourself, you did great.
My small engine experience is with outboard motors. My rule of thumb is if the engine wants to be choked to run, you have a air leak so think gaskets or bushings, if it wants to only run at full throttle and won’t idle, you have a blocked jet, sticking needle valve or a clogged up emulsion tube. With what you had going on their id have done the same as you in roughly the same order. I would have also done a compression test and checked the timing.
Well I guess that I am not going to listen to you.
I really enjoy your channel. Thanks for the videos and saving my ears with your editing volume control. 👍👍
I'm ½way through and have the same 10hp generator and experience the same issues.
In my case the combination of problems keeping it from running were:
1. An intermittent short on the wire that runs around the head and goes to the shutoff. I also found a bare section near the oil sensor, but that wasn't shorting out.
2. The second major issue, and why I needed the chock on partway was the main jet was oxidizing and had "grown" a layer of "fuzz" on the metal. To fix it I took a small drill bit and ran it through the main jet. I didn't actually remove any good metal but just some of the fuzzy oxidized growth.
After those two fixes I've continued to have issues with a leaky fuel pump (it runs on crank pulses), but other than that it has powered our home many times during power outages.
I'm no mechanic, but i distinctly remember my dad (who is a certified mechanic) saying that the part that you described with the intake tube gasket could be leaking and pulling in air, once the mixture is made in the carbourator, and would mess up the mix ratio..
he called that "false air symptom".. but i'm not sure that is translated correctly.
But the gist is, that it is sucking in air in places where it is not supposed to.
By the way, the choke regulates the air percentage, but does it not also regulate the amount of compression in the engine?
Love your videos, so educational, and so well made, good audio, and good quality overall
I love this little generator. So easy to use
Half way through I'm going to guess its the magnets lost their magnetism for some stupid reason.
Hmm nope, guess it was a pretty simple fix. Thank you for normalizing the loud parts of the video o I didn't have to keep changing the volume. That simple quality fix makes the video infinitely more enjoyable to watch.
Back in the 1990s I worked on a bridge project. We used a bunch of these rope pull generators and disconnected the low oil shut off on all of them. If you had the shutoff connected the dammed things would shut off, generally right in the middle of pouring new concrete when you absolutely needed it to run. We finally just cut all the wires so some jackwagon wouldn't re-connect them.
Generally the problem you had with the carb tells me the carb is dirty, it doesn't take much crud in one of those teeny passages to plug it. That said those little carbs SUCK. I've got a riding mower where I took the same way out as you...
I had a Power King yard tractor with a rusty gas tank. Trying to finish a garden with no time for a proper fix, I had to stop plowing several times every 30-40 mins to clean the bowl out, the last 10 mins it would only run full choke. It's often hard to find time (or remember) to fix things in between the times you need to be using them, so bravo on staying ahead. Also I need an in-line spark tester and I didn't know. Thanks
Ask my wife… I’ve been sitting here for the last half hour saying “pinhole leak in the float bowl! Pinhole leak in the float bowl!!” Granted I didn’t predict the bad coil pack, but that makes sense. I’m just proud of you for getting it eventually… and ultimately the solution you arrived at was the right call. Replacing the carb was the answer… just now you know why/how the carb went bad. 😉
Get a little plastic bottle with a small hose on it and fill it was gas. Squirt a little gas in the carb to get it to run. Starting fluid is ok, but I think a little gas is better to get it to run. You did a very nice job on this. That was my little tip for you. Lots of small problems all at once can make it hard to fix the problem. New Carb works good.
Thanks for the Reply John, I enjoy all of your video's !
Been watching your channel for a while now . Your a very determined person . You never give up . Great skills on explaining showing everything step by step . Great content and really enjoy watching . I use too have more problems with engines owning all types of equipment . The best thing I ever did one day was made a decision too buy a filtered funnel and start useing gas line anti freeze and a squirt of Lucas fuel treatment in every fuel tank fill up in every engine I own all year round . I also started shutting the fuel off like you did and running things dry that where not going too be used all the time . I have never ever had a problem with any of my equipment anymore . No more varnish / water / or poor gas from sitting also . I just turn on the fuel from what Im going too use like a generator or log splitter that has been sitting long time and usally one or two pulls and I’m up and running. I don’t know what they put in Lucas or other similar products but it really has changed everything for better around here 👍👍
Thanks for the video, always enjoy watching!
I have a splitter that I bought at Rural King that had this some of this same sort of intermittent crapola going on. Eventually it just quit and would not be restarted.
So I spent some time on it. Eventually I could get it to go if I emptied the float bowl first, but then that stopped “working”. Finally I realized I was getting no spark, googled this problem, saw that people were seeing failure in the oil pressure kill switch, so I then just disconnected it. And then kept the thing stored outside with a huge feed bucket over the engine to keep the moisture out. After we got the bad fuel out, ran like a champ.
Haven’t had a problem with it since, except for when my dad borrows it, notices there’s a wire disconnected and “fixes” it by reconnecting it. At that point I just cut that wire right off. Every single other piece of machinery I have lacks that feature and they do just fine.
Another great one. Love the "click" on the manual torque wrench. Also, an interesting natural frequency on the assembly as it heaves slightly every 1-1.25 seconds.
In Australia we have poor quality fuel, ranked 80th in the OECD. Fuel goes off really quickly and clags up the fuel lines. Talking to the small engine guys in town and they tell me 99% of the problems they get are fuel related. I have numerous small engines, mostly Honda GX22 GX35 and GX160. I buy chineseium replacement carburetor kits online and have them on standby. They take literaly 5 minutes to replace and cost like $20. If that doesnt fix my problem the guys in town get to fix it but so far the replacement carb kits have worked a treat
Great job. Was educational and engaging as I watched you figured it out! Nice work.
That HM100 is actually a pretty good engine. I still have the same one on one of my log splitters, it's now almost 30 years old and still runs just like the day we purchased it. Always kept inside and changed the oil every season. I was gifted a generator EXACTLY like the one you have, 100% the same, there is actually a video about it on my channel and let's just say, I didn't have the same outcome as you did. I wish I did. Sometimes trouble shooting these small engines is super easy and other times it's a challenge like with yours, but at least you have a good backup generator now.
I allways go with the strategy that there is only one problem. But when I try to fix something thet has been running with a problem and another one appears I get a bit lost... :D
Thank's for your great content that you produce, it's allways a happy moment when a new video from you appears in the list, :)
Thanks for the video John. I have a generator that's been sitting for a few years in the garage that I've been dreading to see if it would run. Fat chance it would. Your video gives me some good things to check.
Great detective work. I've been there several times!! After a while I can get grey cell fatigue messing with a problem and just simmer on the problem for a bit. That sometimes helps me.
Same. Sometimes if I find myself getting frustrated, I have to step away. Later I'll find myself thinking through the problem with new ideas.
I love the way you process a problem, like a flow chart in your mind. I learned a few tricks, thanks
Have one just like it torn apart setting on the bench .
Thanks for the inspiration to get back to work on it 👍👍👍👍
9/13/22. 2day watched u troubleshoot & replace both carb & coil...after much time re-testing each..intermittant..problem area. I too have had same experiences & finally changed both & bingo..rngine runs 👍 great! Thx for showing everyone the bottom line...get both new carb & new coil & get back to work💪🛠⚙🙂
I've been down thus road before, but not with your knowledge. . Thanks for teaching me .
Pro tip. For long term storage, induce ATF into the fuel system starting with the carb. ATF will not deteriorate and will prevent any sticking floats, and jets.
Then just put the gas back in. Gas will flush the ATF and you’re back in business. Same thing with chain saws only use two cycle oil
You are doing the things you like to do and you are doing it in your way. That will never be the wrong way :-)
Well you got there but I was still waiting for you to check the oil to see if that was sending a ground signal to the coil. The white wire goes to the low oil sensor. That is usually step 1 BTW. I like the way you use what you know to work your way logically through the problem, look for the reasons why things are happening, and don't give up. Enjoyed the video...
I found out that brake cleaner works as a pretty good starting fluid. Can use it keep an engine running.
Great video and results!
As someone who, like you does not work on the little engines very often, I think you did a great job!
I hate that they make those carbs & butterfly bushings out of pot metal for the record.. I'd assumed before finishing the vid it was an air leak either @ the head or carb, yet ended up in the throttle bush. I'm kind of amazed it ran at all taking in that much air with such sporadic spark. Awesome teaching tool for the rest who don't usually work on this stuff!
I would have probably started with the new carb, and gotten frustrated with the intermittent ignition from the oil sensor thing. You did good there figuring it out. Oh, and I can’t tell you how many times I too was late in looking for an air leak only to find it was the throttle shaft causing the lean condition.
When you "cleaned" the carb, did you spray some quality cleaner up through the emulsion tube. That is the tube that the tapered screw goes up against from the bottom of the fuel bowl. That is your high speed jet as well. And since it is so tiny, easy to get debris in it and cause problems. That would also account for the near choke conditions to keep it running. Just an idea...
Your original carb is rebuildable. Get the kit and look up the rebuild instructions online. You need to pull the needle and seat, remove the main jet, the emulsion tube inside the carb where the jet goes, and punch out the welch plugs that cover the drilled passages in the carb body, remove the choke and throttle plates. Now you dip everything except rubber parts in carb dip tank or use aerosol carb spray. Then run a small soft wire or tiny drill bit through the holes in the emulsion tube and jet passages. Punch in new welch plugs and reassemble with new o rings seat and gaskets. Preset the high and low speed needles to factory specs and install the carb. Usually a clean carb starts and runs on the presets with very small adjustments if any. The new Chinesium carbs are a gamble.
With that weak spark I would pull the flywheel to clean and check the point gap plus change the condenser. They can go bad. The gap between the coil and flywheel is critical too. For the carb I'd check for water in the bowl. Good idea to pull it and give it a good cleaning, jets may be dirty, it doesn't take much to block the flow of fuel. Fresh gas is also important if it's been sitting around too long. Thanks for the Vid. 😁
Just a tip sometimes compressed air won't blow the crap out of the jets and ports and needs to be cleaned with a small wire or buy a small pick set like 8 bucks on Amazon.
Good afternoon & thank you for the info
Getting it done! Good job.
I wish it were possible to post a picture in the comments. A good friend had a camper trailer with a generator mounted. It was used only on occasion. He took it out on a trip and the generator would not start. When he got back and told me about it, I removed the carburetor and found he had been using ethanol gas. While it sat unused, the gas evaporated in the carb and left a deposit that looked like Vasoline jelly. A thorough cleaning of the carb and gas tank fixed it. I keep the photo on my phone to show everyone what ethanol gas can and will do to a small engine.
*- I have seen a single bristle from a wire push brush used to clean the tiny holes of a carburetor needle valve.*
21:40 "very finicky and just cant get it to run right" -- isn't that Tecumseh's mantra?
When I was a kid my neighbor had a small engine repair shop as a side gig. I remember him saying that Tecumseh engines run good when they do, but are a pain in the neck if they start giving trouble.
A friend of mine and I end up with a lot of small engines to play with. the first thing we do when it appears it might be a fuel delivery problem is to remove the carburetor and soak it over night in cleaning vinegar then blow it out with air pressure.
I remember "helping" my grandfather fix a small engine when I was a very young boy in the late '60s. I ended up being his spark plug tester--"here, hold this for a minute... nope, it has spark!"
LOL
😅
I am about half way through and I noticed you are outside in the new shed roof addition you built. Hooray! How nice it is to use something you built to help you work better and easier.
When mine does that exact thing, it's a gunked-up carb. (I'm lazy about draining the tank and carb bowl.) Sometimes fuel injector cleaner will fix it, sometimes I have pull the carb, clean the needle, jet, seat, and spray bar with a fine wire. That always clears up the surging and/or having to run it partially choked.
I’ve become religious with emptying tanks and carbs when anything will sit. I never have any issues since.
@@FishFind3000 I know, same here. Sometimes I procrastinate, sometimes I forget. Generators and power washers are the worst because I use them 1x-2x a year. It only takes 6-8 months for fuel to go rotten, even in a tight, clean tank.