Kohler- Carb cleaning

[lefty]

I have this White (MTD I guess) mower in here and I'm going through the carb.

Mower : 11A-54K1090 4452615
Kohler Engine: Spec-XT173-0019 Serial-3730504688 Built in 2007

It's one of those honda type carbs with the plastic idle held in by the idle adjustment screw which is mounted perpendicularly.

There's a tiny brass jet in the bottom of the plastic idle jet. If my memory serves me correctly, I've been able to clean that out with a bristle from a wire brush but either this hole is too tiny or it's partially clogged. I can't tell really. At the risk of sounding self-deprecating, I've yet to find a hole too small that I can't get into with the tools I have. I have torch cleaners and other sorted metal objects. When all else fails, I've always been able to get at least a wire bristle through these holes.

I don't want to foul it up so if anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. Should I keep trying to drive that thing in there? Or is this hole just too small?

Thanks.

[lefty]

I just noticed that I didn't post a model number. That's because there's no model number on the sticker but I think it's an XT775.

The sticker on the top of the machine says it's a Courage XT-7. 173cc.

[hanz63]

I don't think that you will hurt it. If you protect the o-ring, do you get anything through with a burst of carb spray? You will find some are pretty small, yet they have to be open. My torch type cleaners don't work. Try any tiny piece of wire and if that doesn't work the smallest pin vise type bit does the trick.

[bgsengine]

Yup may be too small of a hole - some of these jet holes can be as small as .002" you won't find any wires that small Also, I have seen some brass "jets" that *looked like* they had a jet in the middle bottom, but under magnification (10x) the "hole" was nothing more than a tiny center dimple in the metal itself from tooling. the actual hole was found in the side under that same magnification, and I estimated at less than .010" diameter - too small for even the smallest bristle I could find anywhere (at least that was stiff enough to poke into the hole) But those carburetors - last I knew of the OE carburetors were cheaper than even the time it might take to take them apart to inspect them.. (I believe we were buying them at around $12 - $14 each from Kohler at dealer cost, and saw them on Amazon for as little as $9.98 )

[lefty]

I did notice how cheap they were. I went through it pretty well but can't shake some surging. I'm just going to get a new one. Thanks for all the info.

[lefty]

I don't think that you will hurt it. If you protect the o-ring, do you get anything through with a burst of carb spray? You will find some are pretty small, yet they have to be open. My torch type cleaners don't work. Try any tiny piece of wire and if that doesn't work the smallest pin vise type bit does the trick.

It's so small I couldn't tell if any carb spray was getting through there. I do see a tiny bit of light if I shine my flashlight through one of the side holes so I'm assuming it did. But it's so small that even a tiny bit of crust would lead to a healthy reduction in size. All of my bits, wires, and pokey things are too big to get through.

[38racing]

I've used sewing needles to prod at very small holes

[KE4AVB]

Yup may be too small of a hole - some of these jet holes can be as small as .002" you won't find any wires that small Also, I have seen some brass "jets" that *looked like* they had a jet in the middle bottom, but under magnification (10x) the "hole" was nothing more than a tiny center dimple in the metal itself from tooling. the actual hole was found in the side under that same magnification, and I estimated at less than .010" diameter - too small for even the smallest bristle I could find anywhere (at least that was stiff enough to poke into the hole) But those carburetors - last I knew of the OE carburetors were cheaper than even the time it might take to take them apart to inspect them.. (I believe we were buying them at around $12 - $14 each from Kohler at dealer cost, and saw them on Amazon for as little as $9.98 )

As with everything they have gone up some to $22.50 for OEM. That is they have gotten here from China since they are Ruixing carburetors.

[lefty]

The new carb came and it was wrong. Out of frustration and boredom, I went at the original carb again a couple of times and got her straightened out. It was the only thing I had to work on so I figured I might as well kill some time trying to get it to work. Thanks for the help.