air leak on small generator

[38racing]

When I dropped off the mower to friend he showed me his small generator. Bought it used and has used it in past but it had starting issues so he bought a new carb. Now it surges awful if he opens the choke. Closing choke will smooth it out. Given the new carb I sprayed carb cleaner in area of spacer between carb and block. Engine smooths right out. I asked him about gaskets when he pulled carb. Today when I was there he pulled carb off. Gaskets were there but one was ripped. Turns out he may have left old gaskets on. He has 2 good balck ones, 1 good gray one and 1 bad gray one. Then he thought maybe carb wasn't tight. But we checked gaskets and checked tightness and it doesn't change a thing. Same symptoms . So he gave me the generator. LOL . Another project. The carb , spacer and an gaskest have no bleed holes so I may try rtv on the gaskets.

[bgsengine]

make sure they are the right gaskets. if it is a honda or honda clone they got a LOT of "will fit" gaskets that look confusingly similar but slight variations in bore dimensions, hole placements, etc. Had one quite some time back, guy spent $300 in carburetors , ignitions, gaskets, what have you.. turned out all he needed was to get the right part number gasket - the one he had on it was just slightly too large (in the bore I.D.) , so while the gasket matched up perfectly to the carburetor, it was just a little too big for the tiny raised ridge on the insulator, so it was not sealing , and air leak was internal via the weep/ vent hole and slot in insulator.

[38racing]

I will check hole sizes. There appear to be no holes in the insulator. The carb mounting holes are oval so I held it centred on studs while he tightened the nuts.

[bgsengine]

I will check hole sizes. There appear to be no holes in the insulator. The carb mounting holes are oval so I held it centred on studs while he tightened the nuts.

those oval mounting holes frequently mount on shouldered studs or bolts, should keep themselves fairly self-aligned (If it is the right carb for the application) also check if your assembly order of gaskets & insulator/spacer is correct - that can be critical too. (especially if there are "square-ish" gaskets involved, which need to align perfectly) I'd be amazed to see a carburetor on any modern-ish engine that could be moved around side to side on slotted holes once it is mounted in place just before fasteners are snugged down - how would one expect to have consistent governor and throttle settings, otherwise?

[38racing]

I had considered governor but couldn't figure out how spraying with cleaner could straighten that out. If I recall correctly I could force the throttle open and it will smooth out. Doing that took a lot more force against the governor rod than I expected. His long spring on the throttle rod is attached but stretched/ bent at throttle lever.

[38racing]

well it's just been sitting but tonight I was looking around my workshop and happened to look at it. for some reason I touched the throttle shaft and I could move it side to side way more than I thought I should be able to. thought I had the air leak but.

there is a white bushing on throttle shaft on top of carb. it's a flanged bushing with the flange sitting on top of carb. I'm puzzled by it so I removed the throttle. the bori the bore in the carb is stepped. top of bore is larger. bottom is bore of the throttle shaft. so I thought maybe that bushing was upside down. however if you turn it over and put it in the bore it's od is still smaller than the upper bore. so I wrapped the bushing with Teflon tape until it had a snug fit. the shaft definitely has less side play. I didn't put throttle plate on yet. came back in the house and that's when I discovered a picture of the carb and it shows the bushing as it originally was.
https://www.vpowerequipment.com/carbure ... olEALw_wcB

[KE4AVB]

Can always make a bushing for it. That what I done on the 600 usd Kawasaki carburetor where the choke wore completely in two and wore the through hole badly. I actually ended up using a Schedule 80 1/8 brass pipe machine down for the bushing.

I still can't explain why these carburetors are wearing the choke shafts. It is the second one I had to do.

[38racing]

well my inverted bushing with a piece of fuel line above as spacer didn't work. still had air leak. Since fuel line was a nice fit on the shaft I tried to reduce the od of a piece so it would fit in the bore. First attempt the shaft tightened as I forced hose in bore without reducing enough. I installed it anyway knowing the governor could not adjust the throttle. At least I found it would run ok without the major surging. So now I'm trying to get it so shaft is free enough for governor to work. Was just trying that when I got called to supper. I also think I may have forgot to ensure where the 2 holes of the throttle plate were located. They were over the shaft originally (so don't know why they even exist) and I repeated that each try until this last one so I'll have to pull carb to check. I may pull tank and do static adjust on the governor.

[bgsengine]

holes in throttle plate? sounds like someone hacked together a carburetor and used a choke plate in place of throttle plate. highly likely you have a frankenstein carburetor, I'd suspect.

[KE4AVB]

BGS I was beginning to think you was in deep hibernation or maybe recoping from taking out a hand rail like I me doing. I just about did it again this morning. Porch cover in black ice again.