Hello People, This Generator Is Now 20 Years Young, And Seems To Have A Carb Problem. The Engine Numbers Are As Follows ....
190412 .... 3004 01 ....87121610. I Found Some White Flakely, And Powdery Gunk In The System. From The Bottom Of The Gas Tank Fitting, Through The Line To The Carb Inlet Fitting, Down To The Bottom Of The Fuel Bowl Nozzle. I Used Some Super Tech Spray Carb Cleaner To Remove Most Of The Crud. I Think The Float May Be Stuck, But Have Know Way Of Knowing Without Taking The Carb Top Off. The Engine Will Run Healthy For A Few Seconds On A Gas Prime Thru The Choke Opening. If I Can Flush The System Clean, Then This Will Eliminate A Carb Rebuild Kit. What Do You People Think ?
Thanks, Jim.

White powdery substance generally indicates that there has been moisture in the fuel system. You can remove the high speed adjustment screw assembly on the bottom of the carburetor, if fuel is entering the float bowl it will flow out of this area. If you have fuel in the bowl then you may want to try spraying some of your cleaner up through the nozzle that extends up through the carburetor and possibly some compressed air, to clear out any obstructions that may be in the nozzle.

If you can't get fuel to flow through the carburetor, you will need to split the carburetor to inspect and clean. There is a good possibility that there may be some corrosion in the float bowl and the only way to clean it up good would be to disassemble the carburetor, a rebuild kit may be required, depending on the conditions found inside the carburetor. If there is a lot of pitting or deterioration in the casting, it may require a good cleaning and then sealing as it appears a replacement carburetor is no longer available.

What I found in the gas tank upon draining it was 16oz. of water within this 1 gallon tank. The cap was on so tight I had to use channel locks to remove it. The last time I used this generator was in the 2004 or 05's power outage where the Eastern coast to Chicago went black for a few days. The engine was run dry of gas before storage. Where did the H2O come from ??
I sprayed liquid wrench into the top portion of the fuel bowl, after prying it gently apart an 1/8". Then soaked it for an hour, before removing the bowl. I used a popsicle stick to clean the bulk of the crud out. What do you suggest I use to cut thru this stuck-on mess ? From what I can tell it will clean up with little pitting. The float appears to be OK. Again, What about the water in the tank, what do you think happened ? Thanks, Jim.

If your fuel tank was empty of fuel, I have no idea of how so much water accumulated in the tank, usually when fuel is present, water can be absorbed out of the atmosphere depending on the amount of alcohol or solvents that are present in the fuel.

The best way to clean up a carburetor like this is with carburetor dip, some agitation will also help. I usually drop the carburetor body into a can of dip and put the lid back on, then set it on my air compressor. The vibrations of the compressor cause quite a bit of agitation in the can and help to clean up the contents pretty good.

If your fuel tank was empty of fuel, I have no idea of how so much water accumulated in the tank, usually when fuel is present, water can be absorbed out of the atmosphere depending on the amount of alcohol or solvents that are present in the fuel.

The best way to clean up a carburetor like this is with carburetor dip, some agitation will also help. I usually drop the carburetor body into a can of dip and put the lid back on, then set it on my air compressor. The vibrations of the compressor cause quite a bit of agitation in the can and help to clean up the contents pretty good.


Thats a pretty good tip 30yearTech, I never thought of putting the dip can on the air compressor for agitation