What mostly makes a small simple engine (such as the Honda GC 160 that runs my pressure washer or the Honda engine that runs my lawnmower) "wheeze" fast & slow, fast & slow, fast & slow while idling under no load?
I know it's always going to be the five things:
Empty out the old gas, put in fresh ethanol-free gas with some Sea Foam. Run it for 10 minutes, shut it off and let it sit over night. See how it runs in the morning. .
The 10 hp Honda, on my generator acted-up once - after about 6 months of inactivity. I didn't need any extra additives - but a good test run with fresh gas cleaned it up. I test it every 3 or 4 months now and always use stabilizer. John T.
For decades, I've been leaving the gas in engines, but these motors are wheezing, fast and slow, and fast and slow, so I'm just asking to figure it out.
As for "stabilizer", it seems like a worthless endeavor since it costs almnost nothing for a gallon of gas versus what it must cost to buy and stock stabilizer. Why bother? If stabilizing was my issue, I'd just dump out the gas and use it for cleaning label goop off of kitchen jars.
I'm not against stabilizer - I just don't see the value since it has to cost an appreciable portion of the gallon of gas price.
Is the reason for the stabilizer because you want LIQUID in the engine's gas tank?
Otherwise, why not just dump the gas out to use as a cleaner? (I guess a key question is how much does a gallon's worth of stabilizer cost with respect to the $4 it costs for a gallon of gasoline?)
Thanks for that word because it's apropos that the engine is idling and surging periodically.
I don't think either of these California engines have an idle mixture screw, as the engines are only about three or four years old, so it must be the clogged passageways of the fuel passages.
I guess, in that case, Seafoam may be the trick as someone suggested. Do you concur?
Or would you just run a few tanks of fuel?
Someone said it is likely surging due to clogged fuel passageways, which makes sense because the air passageways aren't clogged.
If it's the clogged fuel passageways, it's likely because I don't start these engines for months (sometimes years) at a time, where I leave the fuel in them (sometimes I pour it out before use if it's really old).
But I wonder why it surges due to clogged fuel passageways?
If the passageway were VARIABLE in diameter, I could see it surging, but it's a fixed diameter. So even with a clog, it's still a fixed diameter.
Anyway, once I have the word "surging", I can start Googling for Surging Honda GCV 160, where I see it's a common problem but nobody seems to know why.
It seems most people clean the carb, where there's no harm in that, but nobody knows why it surges.
They say the orifices are small but that in and of itself can't cause surging.
Something has to be VARIABLE for the surging to occur.
I have always used the term " hunting " ...
the periodic oscillating of a rotating electromechanical system about a mean space position, as in a synchronous motor.
John T.
I'd disassemble the carb and clean it *thoroughly* . The problem is , for Seafoam to do any good it must reach the goop that's causing the problems . If the passage is plugged ... the Seafoam can't reach the clog . Ultrasonic cleaners sometimes work . Fine stiff wire (along with cleaning solvent) *always* works .
snipped That's the action of the governer . As the motor dies due to fuel starvation the governer opens the throttle to bring it back up to speed . The throttle must open far enough to run on the main jet , which causes the motor to overspeed , causing the governer to close the throttle to slow it down - right back into the fuel starvation zone which causes the governer to open the throttle ... over and over and over . As soon as you load it enough to run on the main jet it'll smooth right out .
Almost definitely a lean surge - caused by either varnish or "greenies" in the jets.
Get some SeaFoam. Drain the gas. Refill with fresh (preferably ethanol free, but I realize that is a problem for some) and SeaFoam according to the instructions on the can. start and run on part choke for about
5 minutes. Let sit for a couple hours and restart. If still surging run on part choke for another few minutes and let it sit again. Then run the heck out of it to run the tank of fuel; though it and see what happens. This will fix varnish issues virtually every time - and will often solve "greenies" as well. Bad "greenies" will require dissassembling the carb and poking and blowing the jets clear. A bit of Seafoam in each tank will prevent greenies or varnish. Do not store long-term with ethanol gas - even with Stabil (Or Sea-Foam) in the gas
I've run out of kitchen jars to clean the label goop off of. We had
10,000 of them but my cousins car broke down in our back yard, and he had 15 gallons of gas in his tank.Where do you put the gas when you dump it> I poured some in a desolate corner of the yard and 2 years later, no grass.
And don't you think Sta-Bil might have prevented that?
That's why people use it.
That's a great answer. I knew it related to the governor, but I didn't know details. Do they still use a plastic leaf that catches the wind that comes somehow from the spinning crankshaft? The leaf pulls in one direction and a spring pulls it back and opens the throttle farther when the engine slows and the wind is less.
Yeah , some of the small engines do it that way . Those that need more precise control use an internal flyweight type gov .
It's the diaphragm. Replace it.
I have a 5 kw generator and it did the surging while unloaded and around
500 to 1000 watts of load it would run fine. I drained out all the old gas, cleaned the carborator some, and started using the ethanol free gas. After running about 10 minutes it quit the surging and now idles fine with no load.I have started using the ethanol free gas in all the small engines.I do add the Stable to the gas as an extra measure as it may be a few months before I use some of them.
I buy "yard gas" 10 gallons at a time - non-ethanol only . Since I never know how long it's going to be around I add Sta-Bil as soon as I get home . I went thru the last 10 pretty quick , a month or so . Been doing a lot of cuttin' - haulin' - splittin' firewood , plus pushing dirt around with Rusty the Tractor .
Normal StaBil is not effective with ethanol. There is a special version, but it is still not as effective as the old stuff onpure gas. It is a simple oxidation inhibitor - I believe it is BHT - the same stuff used to keep oily foods from going rancid. butylated hydroxytoluene. Either that or BHA - butylated hydroxyanisole.
Only the real cheap crap uses an air vane governor - most use cetrifugal governor inside the crankcase.
Except most small engine carbs don't use diaphragms.
An engine that surges even with the carb totally clean on ethanol gas with generally run perfectly on clear gas. The ethanol leans out the mixture.
This is totally disregarding the FACT that ethanol gas, because it absorbs moisture, tends to corrode copper containing (can you say BRASS" ) parts - the "greenies".
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