Plastic Carburetor? Whats next?
I know this is not a Volkswagen post. Boop! My Site! In all fun, we have not done much on the bug due to time constraints and Injuries. Don’t worry, everyone is fine and on the mend. We will get back to the bug soon enough. We visited a Volkswagen bug car show last weekend. This got the juices flowing again and had a wonderful time as a family. One of the cool things was watching my kids inspecting each car for the elusive “Auto-stick”. Ours has this type of transmission, and we found none at the show that was an Auto-Stick.
We worked on the Lawn Mowers today
I picked up a mower for nothing in a shed find that looked as though it had never been used. The previous owner confirmed that she moved on to an electric model for ease of use and that the one in the shed indeed had been used maybe 5 or 6 times, but that it had been several years since then. I threw it in the truck and took it home. I found a kit on the big auction site that included a carburetor, air filter, and spark plug for 10 bucks. It also had a few other bits and parts for tune ups.
First time failure
A few weeks ago when I was bored, I pulled out the mower and swapped the carburetor and plug. I had done this on an older sears mower and had immediate and excellent success. The difference was that the sears model had a tried and true metal carburetor on it and those things are pretty durable. With the plastic model, the mower did start up pretty well on the first pull. I did not notice a problem until a few more weeks later when I tried to start it up and had no success.
New is not always CLEAN!
After waking up and having breakfast, I talked to our budding mechanic and we got together on fixing the mower. Last night, by myself, I spent some time on the spark plug as it was a very generic plug and the spark was a but dimmer than I would like. Easy enough, I found another one from a reliable brand and eliminated it from the possible causes of failure. Big tip in repair work is never assume. Guilty as charged. I totally made the assumption that a new carburetor would be clean and free from debris. Sometimes I think the extra money for products goes for cleaning services and better storage facilities. Maybe not. This time, me and the 2 kids focused on the carburetor because last night I found that I can get the mower to fire using ether, but it would not keep running.
Down to business
Each kid took turns removing pieces until we had everything out and ready to inspect. Sure as God made apple butter, that new carburetor was full of varnish and about a quarter teaspoon (a lot for a small device) of dirt and grime. To be utterly fair, this could have been dirty gas, or the carburetor may have indeed come with a side of goo. That is not important.
The road to success
Totally relying on our learned skills from the Volkswagen, we disassembled the plastic carburetor and immediately both kids recognized the clogs and grit. After a couple near empty cans of cleaner, we got it all clean and reassembled. With fluid shooting out in all the right directions and from all of the right holes now, the mower then started and stayed running. There must have been a tiny bit of residual goo in there because we still had to spray some cleaner in the throat and pump the bulb to get the last of the junk out. A cap full of stabilizer and a 5 min run, now it starts on the first pull and stays running. We shall see about next time. I am still not super convinced about the plastic carburetor. Time will tell.