Mantis tiller carb/starting questions

[Access4Less Email]

I have a Mantis 20 2-cycle tiller that I am working on for my Aunt. I cleaned the entire carburetor today with carburetor cleaner, and I put a new fuel line with a new fuel strainer in the fuel tank. I also completely cleaned out the fuel tank as well.

It acts like it will not pull gas into the carburetor from the fuel tank. Does anybody have any insight into what I might could do next? I can't imagine that the carburetor diaphragm would be so bad that it wouldn't pull gas in.

I sure would appreciate any help you can give me. Please email me at [e-mail] with responses. Thanks!

Barry

Jeremiah 29:11

[Timothy]

When you said that you cleaned the whole carburetor, does that mean you took it off the engine? If so, then you'll need to purchase the seal kit for it. You may want to get the complete carburator seal kit which includes the needle float also. It's quite possible that you have the supply line connected to the wrong tube under the squeeze bulb. Switch the tubes around and see what happens. The mantis engine is basically the same engine that echo uses for their string trimmers. The output shaft is in a different place, but all else is the same right down to the air filters. I believe that the mantis has the zamma carburator. I was told that echo treats the carburator as a maintaince item now and that they need to be changed ever 100 hours!! That's a bunch of B.S for us customers but the carburator replacement is around 40 dollars. It wont put you into the poor house to fix it but it's sad that quality has gotten so low with things nowadays.....

Btw, it's bad form to for ask help in a public forum and then request that answers be sent to you via email. When that happens no-one else get's the information and mis-takes can not be corrected or debated. Hope you stop back here to see your replies......

[J Kolenovsky]

Jeremiah was talking about tillers and not string trimmers. He also has the right to ask for replies anyway he prefers. (it was a good idea to mention Usenet ettiquette to him in case he didn't know)

"Believing your best days are just ahead",

J

Timothy wrote:

[Timothy]

Did you not read my post before you replied..? It's the same engine! String trimmer or tiller. The parts for each are just the same.

Great... he can ask for replies off line, but it doesn't add to this public group nor does it help to build community. This, as with all usenet groups, only exist due to the community of like minded folks who take the time to make it happen. Posting replies instead of mailing them has lots of advantages for furture users of this group. All of the posts are archived at google and many basic questions can be answered with a quick search there. Also, please note that I never stated that he didn't have the right to ask for off line replies, but merly suggest that it was bad form.

As far as usenet etiquette goes, let me the first to 'gently' point out to you the errors of top posting:

[J Kolenovsky]

Thank you for pointing errors of top posting. I think I knew that for the last 10 years. I prefer this way. In this case, forego the comment about Usenet ettiquette. However, I do agree that posts should more often than not be public and the responders chose when they go private. I forgot that replies are archived at Google and thank you for that reminder. I do love Google. Good friend.

Mantis and Echo. I figured they were the same engine. I have 7 Echo products and called my distributor and asked him about this $40 carburetor deal. On the newer string trimers, there appears to be a design difference. There is a part in the carb that is plastic and wears out with a flat side after 100 hours. The workaround is to not replace the carb every 100 hours but to install a stainless steel part to replace the plastic one. When you stated saying that quality of things has gotten low, I balked. However, now knowing this has made me an informed consumer about Echo. I'm sure it figures into gross profit with manufacturing costs but in this case if the stainless part permanently resolves the issue, the person more than likely with have the product for a very long time with regular maintenance. The Echo and Honda engines, in my opinion, are the best small gas powered engines around. Good advice about the gas supply lines under the squeeze buld and the carb seal. Some folks mat overlook that type of stuff if not experienced.

Timothy wrote:

[Timothy]

.........sigh........ "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein

[Barry Brown]

I'm sorry about posting my email address, but I wasn't sure how soon I would be able to get access to newsgroups this week.

I took the carburetor off the engine, took it completely apart and pulled the gaskets out without tearing them to pieces. I cleaned the carburetor with carb cleaning spray, but now I might better make sure that the gas intake at the bottom of the carburetor is completely cleaned out. If it is not, I don't know what to do to it.

I'm not sure what you mean about having the wrong tube connected... there's only one fuel line that comes out of the tank. The other is a vent line that goes up, and I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding you. I didn't look really closely because I was in a hurry Saturday, but does this 20 model even have a squeeze bulb?

[Timothy]

This model 'should' have a primer bulb on it. This model 'should' also have 3 tubes... 1 tube as a gas feed, 1 tube as a return to tank and 1 tube as a vent. Take another look and see if there are 3 tubes, if not then I'm not all too sure then. Must be a rather old model I haven't seen before.

When you take the carb off and apart you almost always have to change all the paper seals. Even though you didn't rip them, the seals compress only once. After that it's very if'ie that the seals will be air tight again. You may also have damages the diaphram that is inside of the carb. Kind of plastic like black thing with a metal center..?

There are two routes that can be taken here imho. Buy a complete carb seal kit (10 to 20 dollars) or get a new carb (40 to 60 dollars).

As far as your email address goes, I *highly* suggest that you 'munge' you email address. Look at my email address for an example or google 'munge email' to figure out how. If not you'll end up with tons of spam. The usenet get's harvested by programs (spiders) that look for email address in posts. Unless you want 'penis enlargement' adds filling your box... lol. Good luck.

[Barry Brown]

Sorry... it doesn't have a primer bulb on it, and it only has 2 tubes - one as a gas feed and one as a vent. Maybe it is an older model.

I guess my best route to go is to get a new carburetor, but if that doesn't solve the problems I have I'll be more than a little ticked...

Barry

Jeremiah 29:11

PS... that email address is practically all spammed out already.