Today, I'm gonna clean out the front porch and make room for my Generator. I think I mentioned buying a small 8 hp Generator (4000W) about a month ago? It looks like new, but is 24 yrs old, I was told it was used for backup purposes at the farm, during power outages. When I went to buy it, the owner didn't want me to put gas in it, and start it, incase I didn't finalize the deal, he didn't want to store a gassy Gen in his garage. So, I didn't try to start it, I didn't pull the recoil to see if it had compression, I didn't check the oil. while I should have walked away, I offered $120 and he said, sold.
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Sunday, I had high hopes of putting a little gas in the Gen, and doing a test run, then clean out my porch for a place to store it. My plans changed to tearing this thing apart, to find it's troubles. I wasn't in the frame of mind to trouble this thing, I was just gonna add gas and test run it, I had other things to do and didn't want to spend all day with greasey/gassy hands. So, when I proceeded to troubleshoot it, I didn't get setup right, and didn't do all the things I would normally do, to get a gas engine running.
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Yep, it did take all day. The fuel valve was plugged. Which when I was trying to clean it out, the rubber grommet/seal cracked and started leaking, it holds the valve in the big plastic fuel tank. I remove tank and remove fuel valve...and order a valve kit. I still want to get this running. I remove the air filter, to give the carb a hit of starting fluid. I couldn't get it to fire, I tried several times. I did notice a little brass thing in the air filter housing that looked like a electrical connector or something?
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Next step, I pull the spark plug and put a little gas into the cylinder, the Spark plug looked real bad, black and full of sooty crud. I spent a half hour looking for another plug, I know I got one somewhere? I find one, looks new, but had vicegrip marks all over it? Motor still won't fire. I play around with this technique for an hour, still won't fire.
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The engine cover (that has the recoil on it), has a on-off switch. I've had a Honda engine with a corroded on-off switch before. I remove cover, and find the switch is busted and part is missing...but that missing part is what I found in the air cleaner. So I glue it together? or do I order a new one? I settle on ordering a new switch. At this time I notice it has the magnatron coil...this is good, as I didn't want to remove the flywheel to check points for corrosion. I was hoping this engine was new enough to have electronic ignition. btw, the flywheel has a lot of fluffy rust on it, like it was stored in a unheated farm shed for 23.5 years.
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I make sure the wire that was on the switch and was shorting out to engine case, is no longer shorting out. I have spark, motor starts up and runs great for 5 seconds until the gas I put in the cylinder is gone. I do that a few times, and change oil. The oil is blacker than black, and fairly thick. I fill it with some 10-w30 and call it a day...when the parts I ordered arrive today or tomorrow, I 'was' thinking I should be good to go.
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BUT, while I haven't touched this since Sunday, I have been thinking the last couple days. I didn't do anything with the carb, except spray a little starting fluid in it. I have developed a gut feeling, that this 24 yr old engine, that probably never had it's oil changed and rubber grommet on fuel valve has aged out, the chances are high that this carb will need attention.
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But, today, I am gonna clean out the cardboard out of the front porch, for SURE !
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