[Shop-talk] Power Washer engine question

[Ben Zwissler]

Jim,

The problem is not your choke.  Your carb is not clean enough yet.  
You've got a fuel restriction somewhere that's not allowing the carb to 
deliver enough fuel when the power demand goes high.  Check for a 
plugged filter (if there is one), the fuel line, the float valve and if 
there's nothing there, then reclean the jets again.

The choke is just masking the problem by enriching the mixture to make 
up for the fuel restriction but you'll never get full power that way 
since the choke will be partially blocking the air flow into the carb.

Ben......


Ben Zwissler
bjzwissler at gmail.com
Columbus, IN
1966 Triumph TR4A
1973 MG Midget
1980 Triumph TR8
2007 Mazda RX8
2002 Yamaha FZ1
2003 Honda ST1300


On 10/17/2009 7:50 PM, Jim Stone wrote:
> I have a Power Washer with a 6.5 HP Briggs and Stratton engine.  I bought it
> about 7 years ago from Home Depot an I don't use it all that often. About 4
> years ago I forgot to add Stabil to the gas before storing it away.  It was a
> year (or two) before I tried to use it again and, as you can imagine, it
> wouldn't start.  I could get it to run briefly with starting fluid, but that
> was it.  I just put it away, deciding I'd fix it Maqana .  Maqana arrived last
> weekend and I drained the now four year old gas (very yellow!), took the
> carburetor apart and cleaned the jets, and re-assembled everything.
> Amazingly, it started up pretty quickly when I was done!  So far, so good.
>
> It runs fairly smoothly with the choke set to "Start" and does a decent job of
> power washing.  However, the engine dies as soon as I move it to the "Run"
> setting, regardless of how long I let it run and warm up first.  I can move
> the choke part way in and it continues running, but it then dies as soon as I
> squeeze the washer trigger.
>
> Before I start fooling around with the choke settings (the owner's manual is
> pretty pitiful, but does indicate that the choke can be adjusted), can anyone
> think of another reason for it to run like this?  The choke worked fine when I
> last used the washer and it doesn't seem likely to me that bad gas would
> affect that adjustment.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jim
>
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