[Shop-talk] M*th%&$#c<ing small engines d*mn again

[Scott Hall]

Update for those of you sadistic-enough to keep reading: the intake valve
was...loose? Open? The gap was too wide.

The spec is .003 to .006 intake and exhaust - my smallest feeler is .006. I
adjusted it to be tight on .006.

The hard start is totally fixed. Starts great now.

Still won't accelerate. Opening the throttle bogs it and it'll die if you
don't let off. Curing the starting issue seems to have thrown the bogging
issue into starker relief.

Exhaust can is clear. Gas is new. Air filter is clean and freshly oiled and
removing it entirely changes nothing.

I am unfamiliar with valves making something not run--my experience is
either on Ford V-8s or a Triumph 1147 I-4, or Honda or Kawasaki SS
motorcycle engines, none of which ever had issues with the valves. This
thing's valves are literally just adjusted with a 5/16" nut--there's no
locking nut. Is it possible that making the intake or exhaust valve tighter
or looser could cause something like this? Like should I shoot for one end
of the spec of another?

Last thing left would be the coil like Tom suggested. There's no mention of
it in the owners manual and I don't see it in a parts search so far, but I
started with Amazon.

Seriously. I have built--from rusty blocks--a Ford 289 and 390. A Triumph
1147 that came in several Tupperware bins. More rebuilds of CBR600 and
ZX750 engines than I like to think about.

A leaf blower engine is threatening to best me. I want to back over it with
the truck just to make it disappear. I think I'm looking for moral support
here.

Worn cylinder or piston? Bad valve entirely? I could dig out a compression
tester, but there's no spec for it in the manual anyway. I'm kinda at a
loss here.

On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 7:40 PM Tom Coradeschi <tjcora at icloud.com> wrote:

> I had a leaf blower stop running a few years back due to a bad ignition
> coil. Have you verified you’ve got spark? I don’t see that specifically
> mentioned (yes, you did mention the spark plug)
>
> —
> Tom Coradeschi
> tjcora at icloud.com
>
>
> > On 05 Aug 2020, at 5:09 PM, Scott Hall <scott.hall.personal at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > The carb is getting fuel. I can see it in the fuel lines and it pumps
> using the primer bulb.
> >
> > The symptoms are identical with the old and new carb. I can't see the
> end of the fuel line but the only remaining fuel issue could be that the
> new fuel filter (a pumice stone-like thing on the end of the fuel line)
> could be restrictive. Working against that theory is that it did the same
> thing with the old fuel filter.
> >
> > I don't think the problem is the fuel system. The problem is...what's
> left? I swapped the spark plug just to do it.
> >
> > It's a four-cycle engine. Might the valves (like the intake and exhaust
> valves in the head) come out of adjustment? This condition has been
> developing over more than a year...perhaps the valves are slowly coming out
> of adjustment?
> >
> > I don't know what conditions un-adjusted valves cause. I can't think of
> what else it could be.
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 3:23 PM <alfuller194 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Can you confirm whether it is actually getting fuel to the carb? Try
> starting it with ether/carb cleaner/gasoline directly to the carb?
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------------
> >
> > All the best,
> >
> >
> >
> > Al Fuller
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Shop-talk <shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Scott
> Hall
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 4:06 PM
> > To: Shop-talk at autox.team.net
> > Subject: [Shop-talk] M*th%&$#c<ing small engines d*mn again
> >
> >
> >
> > Troy Bilt four-stroke backpack leaf blower.
> >
> >
> >
> > Replaced the carb and plug.
> >
> >
> >
> > No change in symptoms: hard start, choke useless, engine bogs on
> application of throttle.
> >
> >
> >
> > That sounds like fuel/air to me. That's the carb. The carb and plug are
> brand new. The old carb and plug look fine and it's doing the same thing.
> The carb isn't the problem.
> >
> >
> >
> > I am literally out of ideas. Any idea what to look at next before I just
> toss it?
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks and (*&^*&%&#()_#@&*$&#^&^%.
> >
> >
> >
> > Scott
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
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>
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