Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

It's in decent condition, new rubber impeller, scraper bar and overall good shape. The guy I bought it from said it had been professionally serviced 2 years ago but had seen little use since then as he decided to hire a plow guy to do his average residential driveway. I could not get it to start after adding some fresh fuel that I brought with me so I offered him $ 40.00 and said OK. - he had it listed for $ 75.00 on CL. I'm pretty sure he left some old, unstabilized fuel in there and it turned into varnish.

I removed the top and back covers and dropped the fuel bowl. It looked like a bad batch of applesauce in there so I cleaned it out and shot the carb with carb cleaner and reinstalled the bowl. It fired up for a few seconds and then died. A good carb cleaning appears to be in order and I'm wondering if I can do this with the carb installed or is it easier/better to remove it from the engine (Suzuki 47P)? I've never removed a carb before but am mechanically inclined and would like to get this operational for next winter.

I remember Borat discussing a cleaning of the jets using wires to remove any build up inside that could cause fuel starvation. I have never done this so any suggestions or tips will be very much appreciated.

Nice score for $40.  Even if you need a whole new carb, it's still a good deal.

Remove the sparkplug add a teaspone of gas put the spark plug on and it should start in a few pulls, if it starts and stops do this a few times and you may get lucky the engine may suck out all the dead gas. Next step remove the carb. bowl clean the jets and you are good to go.

If you have the tools to remove the main jet, you should be able to take it out without removing the carb.   Drain enough fuel from the tank to allow you to tilt the machine forward.  Remove the float bowl.  If the float is circular with a hole in the center, you should be able to access the main jet.  It may have a hex head or a slot for a screw driver for removal purposes.   If it has both, use the hex.  If it just has a slot, make sure you use the correct size screw driver and be very careful not to strip it.  The jets can be in there fairly tight.    Remove the jet and clean it.  Spray carb cleaner into the hole where the jet goes.  Use a thin wire and clean all orifices you find.  Flush with carb cleaner and blow out with compressed air. 

While you have the float bowl off, you might as well remove the float and clean the float needle and seat.  The float is usually held in place by a friction fit pin that comes out fairly easily.  Watch out for a very tiny wire clip/spring that might be on the float lever.  Take a good look and maybe a picture of how it all goes together.   When you have the float and needle removed, pull the fuel line off of the fuel tank a blow compressed air into the fuel line to clear the line and float needle seat.  Inspect the float needle, use a Q-tip and carb cleaner to clean the float needle seat.   Be very careful when working with the float.  You don't want to bend the lever and put the float out of adjustment.

Re-assemble.  I bet it will run fine.

borat wrote:

This sounds like the arrangement that I have on this engine. I will remove the main jet and thoroughly clean as suggested. I've been able to get it running for about a minute after several attempts using edgenets suggestion of a teaspoon of gas down the spark plug hole.

I appreciate all your input and know that I will get this fixed with your help.

Thank you!

Frank 

Well I have been working on this off & on for a few days now and still can't seem to keep her running for very long. She'll turn over and run sometimes for up to a minute or so and other times just for a few seconds. I've cleaned the carb as suggested by borat (it was exactly as you said it would be) and hosed everything down with carb cleaner. This really seemed to remove a lot of garbage, especially when I removed the float and needle and gave it a good blast of carb cleaner. I'm going to give it another good cleaning, reassemble everything and see if this does the trick. I'm getting there slowly - any other suggestions are welcome.Thanks again for your help. 

Frank- Change the fuel line which may have deteriorated and flush the tank. While you are at it if there is room I would install a fuel shut off valve.

Marc 

mml4 wrote:

Thanks Marc. All of the above is going to be my next step. I noticed the fuel line looked a little suspect when I replaced the fuel filter but did not have the correct size fuel hose to replace it with at the time. Off to get some parts and will hopefully have some good news to report later.

Have you removed the carb to clean it?  If not, you should.  There are some very tiny holes in the carb venturi that need the wire treatment and flush. 

With intermittent running, it sounds like you have fuelus interruptus.  

Start at the fuel tank.  Take a good look inside for dirt or take it off the machine and flush it out.  Closely inspect for an interior fuel filter (probably not) and make sure the fuel system from the tank is clear.  A new fuel line won't hurt.  Once you know you have positive fuel flow to the carb, you can then concentrate on the fuel systems inside the carb.  Can you tell if the engine is either starving or flooding?   If it's flooding, your float might be defective.  If it's starving, I suspect it's the very fine orifices and/or galleries within the carb.   Taking it off, cleaning with very thin flexible wire, flushing with WD-40/carb cleaner then blowing out with compressed air should get it running right.  

Keep us posted on how it goes.

  Pulling the carb should be easy.   If I remember right the carb on those are on standoffs and have just enough governor rod length to allow it to slip over the studs.   Given the appesauce a dip might be helpful ($20 for Berrymans at Autozone).  The float level could be messed up.  

l would install a new needle and seat, just to rule out that its not sticking closed and starving the engine of fuel, but most imporantly l would make sure the FLOAT is adjusted properly and not sitting too low in the bowl. make sure its level with carb base when upside down.