[Shop-talk] Leaf blower issues...need the elders' advice

[Jeff Scarbrough]

Small engine carbs seem to be impossible to clean.  Other than an old
Briggs lawn mower, I've never had any luck.  Chain saws, blowers,
string trimmers -- cheaper to replace them than to clean them.  The
fuel pump diaphragm is the culprit, I think.  Nearly impossible to get
right again.

On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 3:34 PM Scott Hall
<scott.hall.personal at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have a Troy Bilt 4-cycle backpack leaf blower, the older version of this thing:
>
> https://www.troybilt.com/en_US/leaf-blowers/tb4bp-ec-backpack-gas-leaf-blower/41BR4BEG766.html
>
> I need intelligent more experienced folks to advise me before I slip into insanity.
>
> The past year or so the choke has lost effectiveness--you used to start it as directed: pump the primer bulb a few times, choke on full. Start. Choke to 1/2 until warm, then choke full-off.
>
> At first it wouldn't start with choke full-on, I had to start it on half-choke. Then 1/4-ish.
>
> At the same time, the throttle became more of an an/off switch. It would bog at anything other than idle. If I open it full, it would die. And it never achieved full-power.
>
> Note: the choke is an actual choke--a plastic plate slides over the air intake on the carb.
>
> This sounds like something that needs a carb cleanin', right? So I did. Took it apart, soaked it in carb cleaner, re-assembled.
>
> I also replaced the fuel intake line and fuel filter--a weird little thing, looks like a pumice stone on the end of the fuel line.
>
> Worked...better. Not back to new, but better. For a day.
>
> Now it won't start at all.
>
> There's just not that much to this carb. I blew it out with compressed air, chased the passages I could, etc. There's just not much there...there.
>
> What's making me question my sanity is that this happened on my riding mower last year too and I similarly cleaned that carb, which was similarly simple and it absolutely would not run again until I just bought a new carb and replaced it.
>
>  So here's the question: what am I doing or not doing that I can't clean a small engine carburetor? Is there some secret air passage on small engine carbs that I'm not reaching? I tool them completely apart. There were no idle jets, or enrichment circuits, or...whatever. Just a hunk of metal with a few small holes. What on earth would make the new one better than the one that's on there?
>
> I feel like this should be so simple and I'm missing something so basic.
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