Weed Eater Blower Vac Not Starting

[bertsmobile1]

Sure you have got the carb right way round?
the hole for the impulse feed usually goes against the engine

 

[l008com]

Yup pretty sure. If I flipped it any other way, the fuel lines or the bulb would be on the wrong side. Plus it did start so it can't be THAT wrong

 

[l008com]

I used the blower a little more today and here's how it goes.....

So it starts pretty easy now all things considered.

The choke lever is WAY too lose but thats because I clearly reassembled wrong, theres probably a bushing on that lever i left out, I need to work on that.

It runs but only at 1/3 or 1/2 throttle (hard to gauge based on the weirdness of the throttle lever).
If I give it more gas than that, it instantly bogs down and dies. Then it starts up again, fairly easily.

When you give it the half throttle, it generally runs really well. But then occasionally it will start to bog down, but usually works through it and goes back to running well. Sometimes ill knock it down to 'idle' then put it back up to halfish throttle.


I'm thinking all this means its not getting enough fuel?
If that's the case, I know it's not the lines, and I know its not a leaky gasket as they're all new. If theres a fuel shortage, it would have to be either still some dirt deep in the carb, OR, maybe that goofy fuel filter that's in the tank is not letting enough fuel through? I suppose the last one is easy enough to test, just pop it off and see how it runs. I'll probably try that next time I'm out of gas.

Could it be a spark plug related problem? It doesn't sound like it to me but I'm no expert here.

 

[Ronno6]

Sounds like fuel starvation tome.....

 

[l008com]

Well I tried to use this thing again today and it was back to it's old behavior, running for a few seconds at best then conking out no matter what I do. I was hoping if it could run, even poorly, I could use tons of seafoam to clean out the inside of the carb but no luck.

I also removed the fuel filter and put in a new spark plug but no change in behavior.


So now my options are:

1. Give up
2. Buy a new Carb
3. Clean this carb thoroughly

At this point I'm tempted NOT to give up since I've replaced almost everything so far.

A new carb is $36. I've spend enough on this stupid thing but at this point, it does seem wise to do this. Too bad they're not $13 like the new carb I got for my honda mower. At that price I'd just get it and be done :/

I've cleaned the carb as best I can, and unfortunately that's not good enough. I'll have to look in to this more.

 

[zman111666]

Seems as though I think you said that originally the fuel line was broken in the tank, so the carb could have sucked up all sorts of stuff, including tiny bits of rotten fuel line. That stuff could be really hard to get out. Another thing about the carbs is sometimes the little rubber valves under the brass fittings (I think Bert referred to them as "viton") can get stuck, and you have to be delicate to free them up. You can check them by holding the end of a new spare fuel line to them, and blowing/sucking to check it's operation. You should be able to blow, but not suck.
One other thing I don't know if you checked is the exhaust port. Usually it's just the screen that gets plugged up with carbon, but occasionally carbon will build up in the exhaust port all the way up against the piston, to the point of almost closing up the port entirely. When that happens, it does like you mentioned, starts up but dies almost immediately. So definitely make sure all parts of your exhaust are clear.
One last thing to mention is the filter in the tank at the end of the fuel line. Make sure you can blow through that relatively easy, or clean/change that as well.
I probably repeated some stuff that was already said, but i know how frustrating it is when you think you covered all bases, and it still misbehaves.

 

[l008com]

I bought a new $36 carb on ebay for this thing, bolted it up, and now here's where I stand. Once this thing is running, it runs perfectly! Like it's brand new! But getting it to start takes about a thousand pulls. I have to just about pull my arm off to get it started. Its as if the primer bulb isn't priming. But how could that be, isn't that also the same pickup the engine uses while running? So if the primer was getting no gas, wouldn't the engine not run at all?

Also this design uses a goof button that itself pushing the primer, you can't push it or see it directly, so I can't tell you exactly what's going on with it. And the same bolts that remove the plastic shell over it, are also what hold the thing on in the first place.

Any thoughts on this? I'm so close, if I can just get it to start easier, i'll be golden. I did use it to do some blowing and some vac'ing friday and once it was running, it really worked great!