Making do
BobJudy
Member Posts: 6,630 ✭✭✭✭
I've got a 3 or 4 year old walk behind mower that I use to cut a few small areas that the riding mower won't get to. I didn't use it but about 3 times last year in the spring because of the drought we had last year and I emptied the gas last fall and ran it dry. Gassed it up today and it would start and run real good for about 30 seconds and die. Figured something was plugged in the carb or possibly the fuel filter. The dang filter is in the tank and darn near impossible to get to. Grabbed my trusty full can of carb cleaner and it had no pressure, so it wouldn't spray. Didn't want to take the time to run to the store so after a little thought, I tried an experiment. Put some clenzoil in the tank and found a can of starting fluid. Clamped down the kill switch on the handle and fired it up. Every time it started to die, I would give it a little shot of ether. Kept it running this way for about 5 minutes and the Clenzoil must have run through enough to clean it out. Mowed for about 15 minutes and it ran as good as it did new. Carb cleaner is on the shopping list but surprisingly my make-do experiment worked. I just love it when a half-assed plan comes together!. Bob
Comments
To prevent that, use NON ethanol gas and ADD stabil fuel stabilizer. Then do NOT run the carb dry. Dry carbs get clogged up from the crap in the gas residue left over. On things that don't run often(generator) I turn the gas valve off, run it till it dies, then open the gas valve for a second. Then the float is half way between open and closed.....no stuck needle that way!
Glad you got it running!
...you can come up with some real good bug and weed killer spray doing like that too. Good job.
Great work around, Bob. I have done similar with seafoam. I also put Stabil in my gas cans every time I fill them. If an engine is going to set for a long time I add extra stabil, and like mike55, I keep the system wet. I have had generators set for three years, and start and run just fine.
I have also had good results with Seafoam! Put it in all my small engine gas. At one time Mercury would not honor their warranty with red Stabil. Had to have the green?
I had a bit of a problem once with stabil. We had a power outage that lasted until after dark and after unhooking the generator from the 220 line to the panel I decided to fill it and add Stabil so it would be ready for the next time. Working by the light above the garage that casted a shadow where I needed to work, I got the tank topped off and the stabil added. The next time I needed the generator it ran rough and even backfired a couple of times. I checked the stabil bottle and it had some kind of growth in it that made large semi gelatinous blobs. I drained the gas and found some in the tank. The idiot designers of the generator used aluminum where the bowl is and then used regular screws to attach the bowl, so that wasn't coming apart to clean out the crud. Needless to say, the dissimilar metals had basically welded themselves together. Fresh gas and a lot of seafoam finally cleared it out, but it took awhile.
My metallurgical engineer brother said it was quite common in the factory for microbes to grow in oil based products and that I was a victim of the resilience of nature. So anyway, I stopped using Stabil and now just add SeaFoam for any long term storage. Seems to work fine. That's what I should have done with the mower last fall. Bob
Easy to replace lost pressure in an aerosol can using a tire valve stem and a compressor, nothing goes to waste around here 😊
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
ain't that cheap yet to try that,,wooo OSHA filled their shorts
Milk, bread, starting fluid, eggs.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
I have a boat with a 1985 Mariner 40HP outboard.That year it was a re-badged Yamaha.I bought the motor new and it cost $2400.and that was a lot of money for me in those days. 2 cycle engines are fuel sensitive,so I always ran good oil,non ethanol gas with fuel stabilizer.If it didnt run for over a month I dumped the fuel and put in fresh.I went out yesterday and hooked the hose to the motor,fresh gas and a new battery ,closed the choke,turned the key and the 38 year old Mariner started right up and ran perfectly.
" Clamped down the kill switch on the handle and fired it up."
OH MY GOD! You intentionally disabled a safety device designed to keep the world safe from harm? How dare you, Sir! You could have killed ALL of us!
I'm just beside myself with fear now that others will try to emulate these irresponsible actions.
I guess that's why I was humming the theme from Apocalypse Now while I was working on it!
😁 Bob
Bob, your jury rigging to success is great but after talking to my youngest 35 year old son this morning on the phone makes me feel like a total failure!
He was having trouble getting his gas push mower started after the long winter in storage. I told him he just needs to get some starting fluid and shoot a shot into the carburetor.
His response was almost enough to cause my head to explode! "Dad, what and where is the carburetor located?" 😲
Gave a copy of this to a young friend awhile back. Now he tinkers with and keeps all his yard equipment running good. Of course his wife isn't happy with me because he now spends so much time out in the garage doing that tinkering. Bob
hysterical is somewhat debatable but this is what I found:
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
But funny, ^^^^^
Lawn mowers or the snowblower end of season gas in tank gets a slug of stabil and of marvels Mistry oil run it then shut down for the year I did the same with motorcycle with aluminum s&s carb never a problem,in the fall when we get the winter gas is when I fill all my cans about 40 gal in case bad storms ,by spring I use for lawn mower gas is always clear thru the summer season