Sears Craftsman Leaf Blower not getting gas problem

[trader_4]

I have a Sears leaf blower that's about 8 years old. It won't run now, apparently because it's not getting gas. Even when it was only a couple years old, I noticed that most of the time, it would run faster/better with the choke on half than it would with it off. Moving the choke off, it won't stall out, but sometimes it would run with it off and when it did, it ran a little faster. It's been like that for years.

Now it's had trouble running even with half choke, seems to run better with more choke on, but difficult to keep running and now it's about kaput. The little priming bubble I noticed has half air in it. Looks like it's not getting gas. Putting the above together, I'm thinking it's probably not been getting full gas delivery for a long time, which is why it works better on partial choke. I don't see any signs of leaking, the prime bulb looks OK, no signs of cracks or leaking in the suction line going into the tank. That's as far as I've gone so far. Any suggestions? IDK how these pump gas. I see the prime bulb comes off with two screws. What's behind that, how does the pump work, etc? The supply and return lines go into the top of the plastic tank, not sure if they just pull out, is there a filter usually on the end inside, etc?

[Iggy]

replying to trader_4, Iggy wrote: Clean the Carburetor, since you can't force it to run poorly anymore..."How to Clean a Two-Cycle/Two-Stroke Engine Carburetor"

Then, since you've been running it rich and haven't ever maintained the blower, clean the Spark Arrestor..."How to Clean a Spark Arrestor Screen on a Small 2-Cycle Engine--A Quick Fix"

[gfretwell]

These things pretty much all use a Walbro carb. You can get a kit for it but you can usually get the whole carb for about the same money. First be sure the hoses are good, the bulb isn't cracked and the filter in the tank is OK. Bubbles in the bulb is not unusual tho.

[trader_4]

Yes, just came to the same conclusion on Ebay. A kit of all the seals and stuff can be had for $6. A whole kit that includes a new carb, plus the hoses, filter, gaskets, and spark plug is $15. Ain't China great?

I took it apart this morning. Hoses were fine, with the exception that the filter had broken off the end of the suction line in the tank. No sign of any dirt or similar. I pumped the primer with the suction line in a jar of gas, nothing gets sucked up. It sounds like air blows out the return line when I pump the bulb. I took the carb apart, it looked fine, no signs of gunk. There is a flat diaphragm in there that I presume does the pumping action. It was intact, but it appears stretched, IDK how much play it's supposed to have. I sprayed it with carb cleaner, blew it out with compressed air, put it back together, still will not pump gas. So, I'm going to get the new carb kit. Seems the best solution, especially since it wasn't quite running right for a long time. Thanks for the advice.

[gfretwell]

These Walbro carbs are pretty simple. There is a diaphragm under the 4 screw plate and the fuel pump check valves (a mylar sheet) under the big screw side. Sometime the kit fixes it, most times it doesn't. I assume a passage is blocked that you can't get blown out. With a new carb being around $40 shipped from some vendors (and way more from others), I don't fool with them. If a spritz of carb cleaner in every available hole and a shot of HP air (with the 2 diaphragms out doesn't fix it), I get a new one. Don't just start blowing into that thing with the diaphragms in. That will certainly trash them.

[trader_4]

And some people say China is bad.....

I got my new carb kit that I bought on Ebay yesterday. For $16, I got a new carb, plenty of two sizes of gas lines, spark plug, gas filter, and a couple gaskets that I didn't need (mine uses an o-ring type seal). Took me about 30 mins to put it all back together. Pumped the prime\ bulb and it pumped gas. Started on the first pull and kept running. Before, even when it was new, I had to pull it a few times until it fired on full choke, then move it to half choke and pull again. Then it would start, but in recent years, I'd have to baby it to keep it going. With the new carb, I went from full choke, right to half choke and a few secs later no choke and it just kept running. It runs better, faster, than it did when it was new!

I just blew some leaves with it. Kind of sucks, the town was just here yesterday taking the leaves away from the street, I just missed it. It also runs fine at idle, though I'm going to adjust it to run just a bit faster. But, boy, what a deal on EBay! It took a week to get it from CA, but that included veterans day holiday weekend.