Proud of my Costco cheap Firman Gen
I let it sit in a hot storage room for nearly a year without use and of course it would not start with the small amount of gas in the tank so I filled tank with gas and liberal mix of STABIL fuel addi...
Forum Discussion
Cloud Dancer wrote:
Almost all devices that run on a carburetor(gasoline)engine should have a shut-off valve near the carburetor. ALL the outboard boat engines which I've owned (including the 6 cylinder Merc) I always let run until the carburetors runs out of gasoline, before I take them out of the water. NEVER had any problem starting them up. Right now, I have a tiller, and a small air compressor, that need a replacement carburetor. Guess why....???
The carbs do not need replaced, they need the jet and emulsion tube cleaned.
Small engine carbs are very simple with in almost every case no small passages to clog so no need to dunk, soak or use exotic cleaners.
The heart of small engine carb is the center tube where the fuel bowl is screwed on to at the bottom.
Remove the fuel bowl, inside the tube is a jet, most are removable. If removable, remove with flat blade screw driver. Be careful that the little tube the the jet was holding doesn't fall out and disappear from your sight. Extract the tube if it didn't fall out.
That tube is the emmulsion tube, it mixes air with the liquid fuel from the jet. It has four rows of small holes, those holes over time clog shut. Carefully with a small needle open each hole. Give a once over with some spray carb cleaner and reassemble.
Some carbs on pushmowers will have a bit different setup since the carb sits above the fuel tank that involves a vacuum fuel pump.. The fuel pump diaphragm tends to fail. With that one it is best to buy new gasket which includes the fuel pump diaphragm.
In most cases a good cleaning will fix it, other wise you can buy after market replacement carbs for most small engines for $10-$30..
And yes, I have cleaned carbs over the yrs and not replaced any.
Latest project was a 30yr old Chinese clone gen that came along with a bunch of scrap.. Tank was full to the top with rusty water, carb was full of rusty water.. Cleaned the tank, removed the carb and simply cleaned the carb.. Engine started on the second pull after reassembling..
