OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Old friend Power torque

I was given an old power torque I used to mow for a lady 15 yrs ago. I repainted it and rebuilt it then, but it had been under the house for the last 10 years.
I soaked the base etc in molasses bath for a month...... rebuilt the motor, it has 40 th oversize piston and good rings.
Then the 4 stroke Victa the blew up gave me a good PT base as new with solid wheels, so I scrapped the old base as it was going to be such a big job .....
It has built in module in coil. LM carb. Started second pull, , revs so I will have to look at LM carb. do mod....
See what I found while washing out air tube, replaced with a good one. The leak test..................
Runs so well.....i can tell it is going to be a good mower. My cousin, single mum might like it.

cheers
apeedy

Speedy best mower ever produced if you can keep the base and wheels up to it. I scrape out all up maround the top left hand corner and give them a coat of fish oil and that should protect that rust prone corner for another 10 years

Mowed a lawn today with it, ran for 20 min then started revving it's guts out , then stopped.. Need to change carb............
looks so good.
speedy

Before pulling apart the carburetor, you might want to check the fuel tap for flow first. My PT mower displayed those symptoms the other week. It would run fine until the fuel in the tank got to a certain level well over the fuel filter stick, then it would behave as though it was running out of fuel (revving then stalling).
I scavenged another fuel tap assembly off a spare tank and it ran fine all the way to the bottom of the tank after that.

So, it sounds like a fuel starvation problem. No need to change the carby yet. As MF suggested, check the fuel tap, further to that check the fuel cap, in case it's not venting properly and check the jet isn't blocked.

Hi All,

Also check the correct operation of the needle and seat area after all fuel tank related issues are checked as mentioned above.

I had a 2 stroke just recently gum up around the filter area with a congealed oil film.

Once I thoroughly cleaned out the tank and filter it supplied fuel quickly out of the hose where it connects to the carby thus no more fuel starvation.

Cheers,
BB.

How did you clean that cigarette shaped filter? Did you run compressed air through it backwards or use a cleaning agent? I want to try and rehabilitate the one I swapped out recently. Would carby and injector cleaner work well? I have a can on hand.

Hi MF,

Yes you are spot on. Compressed air at a low level and some straight petrol, admittedly I removed the tank so that I could shake the new petrol around the tank as a cleaner and then the congealed patch of oil came out. I then ran the air backwards through the fuel line and all was cleared.

Cheers,
BB.

Guess I'm a bit rough but all I have ever done, is hold the hose above the petrol tank, open the tap and blow back through the hose, then flush the tank. Always seems to work for me.

That's a good idea Norm. Saves dismantling and getting sprayed with petroleum.
BB, mine didn't have any visible oil gums, so I will try squirting some c&i cleaner down the hose before blowing it backwards intro a rag to see what comes out.

Petrol isn't what my missus likes on my lips, I can assure you of that.

She always tells me I stink of petrol so she would never notice any on my lips

I cleaned the filter , blew it out, it's fine.... still running bad, so I made another LM carb up and will try tomorrow...
That carb cleaner is a bit exie, $16 a can..........
speedy

You got that one right Speedy, thus I only use it on IAC sensors and Throttle Bodies. Lawn mowers aren't in the same caliber as EFI stuff in Automotive.

I was talking to a Canadian guy, who said they have a petrol additive over there for small engines with fule problems. Works sometime.....
I have another job taking my Makita trimmer Walbro carby apart and cleaning........... always learning something new......
speedy

Speedy I guess you are talking about Stabil, not sure of the spelling, they use it a lot in motorcycles in cold countries because they have to park their equipment up for 6 months a year. They fill the tank with fuel and add the stabilizer and this reduces the condensation and the other big problem they have over there is most of the fuel is ethanol based. For some reason our fuels do not suffer nearly as much and cause us these problems and we still have a choice to use ethanol or not, hopefully it will stay that way.

I thought it was more a carby cleaner he was talking about......
The new rebuilt carb worked......
I have a box of LM G4 parts, just put them together with unbroken parts, guess it stuffs up sometimes.....
It's modded so it idles real low, but has good max revs also.
cheers
speedy

Way to go Speedy once those carbs are set up they are the best carby ever fitted to a small engine. I have a big box of mixed up G4/LM parts and I just use whatever is closest to the top that I can grab. Little bit time consuming setting them up but well worth the effort

Hmmm there is a couple fuel additives out there that I have heard of. Stabil is a fuel stabilizer use especially for stabilizing ethanol fuel blends and helps keep regular gasoline from going bad too. Supposedly once added to the fuel it can last up to two years. Well the fuel doesn't get to last that long around here so I don't for if it does or not. The other product is Seafoam (brand name) and not the sea foam from the coast so don't run down the coast to get some. It is a fuel system cleaner that can clean borderline dirty fuel systems. Personally I have only used the Stabil additive as I let my generator sit for extended periods without running it.

Normally the carbs here get to go through an ultrasonic cleaning using soap and water. For cleaning out tanks I usually use a 2 cycle mix as usually cleans the best when sloshed around in the tanks. Personally I haven't had a can of carburetor cleaner here in the shop since 2014. The prices of these ultrasonic cleaning machines have come down a lot since the Chinese into making them and liquid household dish soap is fairly inexpensive too.

Now Speedy on the trimmer Walbro carburetor if you get struck on something or have a specific question give me a shout along the model number of the carburetor and I probably can help out. I do quite a few of both the cubes and the rotarys. Some are just not worth the effort however like the Zama C1Q-W32A which has internal accelerator piston that wears both itself and the carburetor area it slides in. One critical area is the setting of the metering lever to the correct height. Both Walbro and Zama have gauge tools for doing this; although, it can done without them. I do Walbro has come a second metering gauge tool for their newer carburetors which are much harder too without it.

Now most Walbro and Zama carburetor do have kits like those Ruixings that have been coming across. The Ruixings are usually a Zama clone so I can get lucky sometimes on the metering diaphragms.

Here also the price of the carburetor repair kits and the replacement carburetor can be fairly close. For a shop it doesn't make a lot of sense to repair as the time to clean and repair carburetor vs just replacing it can cost more in shop time.

Have you dealt with Tillotsons much? For some reason, Ryobi line trimmers here from the 1988/89 period, carry them, though one we bought new had a Walbro. Their engines are those American 31cc Ryans supplied to many makers. They have a reed valve and have alot of torque down low, which isn't necessarily ideal for line trimmers, but they also powered optional attachments that require this torque such as leaf blowers, vacs, cultivators(!) and lawn edger attachments via a split boom down the middle of the shaft. They were very big sellers at the time and were available in all department stores and sold like hotcakes. The mower stores, who didn't sell them, would always claim they were junk but I found ours very reliable, if heavy on fuel for a small engine. The Mitsubishi TU 26 powered straight shaft weed walker I currently use is a Prius in comparison and delivers great power for these duties.
I still use an 80s Ryobi with the leaf blower fitting (it's very good) and it has a Tillotson carburettor. It pulls like a train but gets hot after hard use and needs a tea break every now and then lol.