Tedd Thompson

I have been fighting getting my 6000 kw generator to start. I use this for a extra power source when the juice is off, happens a lot in the winter up here. I have gas to the carburetor but not through it. Unit will run if I spray gas into the carb and I suspect the gas may have gone bad from one winter to the next.Ya, I know better than to leave gas from one season to the next, just missed the generator. The question is ,is there a way to un gum up the carb with out taking it apart? what exactly happens to gum up the jets and is there a hot solvent that I can run through the carb to bust the junk up?I see nothing in the tank that looks jelled or coagulated. Dumped all I could out of the tank,looked just like regular gas to me. Any help would be appreciated.....Tedd

JeremyTA

i left gas in my dirt bike a while back and it clogged up the jets very bad, one thing that actually did help was PJ1 motorcycle carb cleaner..i wouldn't use regular carb cleaner on the generator unless you know for a fact what seals and diaphragms are in it..the PJ1 carb cleaner doesn't harm the very delicate parts in my honda 450x's carb so it might be a start for you..i just shot it down the feed lines to the carb and the float bowl let it sit for about 10 minutes, sprayed again and the bike started right up. hope it helps, if not i hope you get it soon.

joe_padavano

The additives in gasoline today will definitely gum up the carb. Unfortunately, that usually means the idle and main jets. There's no way to clean that out without disassembly. Simply spraying carb cleaner into the inlet cleans the air passages, but the fuel jets are inside the float bowl and won't see the carb cleaner without disassembly.

MDchanic

The gas is probably good enough for a stationary engine like that - I run 1-2 year old gas in lawnmowers all the time.

You've probably got some corrosion / gunk in one or more of the carb. jets and / or needle and seat.

Take the carb. off, double check that you've got good fuel flow from the tank through the line, disassemble the carb., take out the jets, blow through everything with GumOut or similar, then with compressed air, look through the jets to make sure they are clear, clean the crud out of the bottom of the float bowl, put it all back together, and you should be good to go.

- Eric

Tedd Thompson

Thanks Joe and Jeremy,

It's not that I'm afraid of that little carb, it's that it is in such a bitch of a place the work on. The unit weighs as much as a sbc and is buried in a dark corner of my dirt floor basement with the carb up against a wall. I'm working on getting a little help to move the beast tomorrow.I just can't see well enough in poor light plus two hip replacements to do any kind of a good job. Thanks again....Tedd

GTI_Guru

Another few things to consider...

If you know a good lawnmower shop or the like where you can get small engine parts, get ALL the information off the engine. Make/model/year/HP/etc. It should be stamped or on a sticker somewhere on the engine itself hopefully, if not, get all the info off the unit itself, and call them (the lawnmower shop) to see if they have a carb kit available. A lot of these newer units they don't even make parts kits for. They want to ONLY sell you a replacement chineseium/koreanium carb, and that will be the only solution available. Then you know if you need to be very careful with the gaskets during disassembly, as you'll have to reuse them, or if you can get replacements to use when it goes back together. I've hit this wall before on the wrong end of needing a gasket for a small engine carb, and if you can't get one, you're really out of luck and end up trying to glue a ripped one back together and crossing your fingers. It sounds like a stuck float or needle/seat if you're not getting any fuel through it at all, and you may want to replace those while it's apart. If you can get those pieces, they shouldn't be too expensive. Hopefully, it's a briggs engine, as those are easy to get parts for and work on as well. Make note of where all the springs and rods connect if you have to pull the carb totally off the unit, as it's pretty important they go back correctly, otherwise, it won't run worth a damn, if at all once you get the fuel delivery problem solved.

As far as the old fuel, I leave my briggs mowers with fuel in them every winter, and they always start up again in the spring. Never hurts to have fresh fuel to mix in there with the old stuff, but I've never seen fuel go bad in one season of sitting. Most likely cause is some debris that got in the tank and is clogging a port.

Another thing you can do is get an inline fuel filter (cheap plastic universal kind) and mount it between the tank and filter along with a "gas valve" of the same cheap kind. That way you can turn off the fuel before the carb, and then let it run the carb dry each time you shut it down. That should keep any fuel from sitting in there and drying out and causing any varnish issues between uses, depending on just how long it goes between needing to run it.

Final note, if you have it in the basement, please tell me you have the exhaust vented to the exterior of the house somehow. Carbon Monoxide will kill you with little to no warning if it builds up in the building.

Hope some of this helps, if only to make sure you mentally cover all the bases before the job rather than during or after. Might save you some headaches.

-Jeff

getawaycar

I work for Onan and I know when our carbs get gummed up even if you can get it clean enough to start and run, it still doesn't respond to load changes well and usually results in a surge that comes with troublesome frequency fluctuation. Chances are you can get a carb for less then $100. My advice is to save yourself the time and agrivation and change it now instead of after you mess around with it for a few more days. Also, if your fuel is yellow/ orange get rid of it. If not I would add a fuel stabilizer and make sure you run the gen under load for at least 1/2 hour every month to keep this from happening again.


Good luck!
Chris

Tedd Thompson

I have the generator outside and apart.Carb doesn't come apart like a conventional carb, doesn't divide in the middle. Float bowl is the only division on this thing. I removed idle and main jet blew what I could out with a can of compressed air reassembled and tried again to start,same problem, will run as long as I squirt gas in carb inlet stops shortly after. I think it's time to take it to the shop and get it boiled out.

PS. Jeff the reason it's in such a bad location is because that is the only place to vent the motor.....Tedd

getawaycar

I would replace the carb and be done with it. You will be happier in the long run. The small gen carbs never seem to clean up well enough in my experience as a gen mechanic.

Chris