Carb cleaner

[Drew99GT]

I have a Toro walk behind mower and the idle surges and eventually just slows to a stall. I've tried for a day setting the idle via the screw with no sucess.

So I'm thinking the carb is gummed up. Is it bad to spray something like Deep Creep or Gumout directly into the carb and should this be done when it's running or not?

I was also thinking about running some Redline SI-1 through the gas tank on a full mowing to clean it out. At full throttle, it runs fine, although it has a hint of a miss sometimes, but it'll darn near nock over small trees and barely lower the rpm! (5.5 hp OHV).

Thoughts?

 

[flatlandtacoma]

I've never used deep creep but spraying carb cleaner in the carb while it is running won't hurt a thing. I think the instructions on the can say to do that even.

I haven't used the SI-1 but I have poured seafoam and or B-12 directly in the tank with no ill effects. Seemed to help even.

Some on here don't like it but I have seen a lot fewer carb problems when MMO is used in the fuel. I use it and recommend it.

 

[-Clayton-]

Get a can of gumout and drop the carb bowl the use the little straw to spray into all the orifices. That should clear it right up.

 

[Bill Kapaun]

Just spraying carb cleaner into the air intake doesn't do anything to the carbs internals.
Without identifying the engine, it's hard to give any specific advice on how to proceed.

 

[Drew99GT]

I don't know what engine it is specifically, it's about a 12-15 year old Toro Recycler mower; says 5.5 GTS on the top, has rear wheel drive; it's at my parents place.

I use it to mow my parents and my yards. I really don't want to dig into the carb and mess around; if I could just remove the bowl and spray it out good, then maybe add some Seafoam, that would be great.

 

[Brett Miller]

The Redline may do the trick. It's worth a try.

 

[lobo11]

Try a healthy dose or two of Seafoam, worked great in a small Techumseh engine with similar problem. I put in a large slug, mixed it with fresh gas, then ran until I was sure the mixture was getting to the carb. let sit and then ran it full bore through its paces. Then next tank smaller dose of seafoam, ran through. Helped a bunch for me.

 

[Drew99GT]

I bought some Stabil; says it has a carb cleaner in it. I'll give that a whirl and see what happens. I need the Stabil anyways to fend of these problems come Spring. Never used it before as the mower always fires on the 2nd pull after winter with 6 month old stale gas.

 

[Drew99GT]

Holy craap. Stabil has made it tons better! I added about 3/4 of an ounce shock dose to the gas tank before mowing and by the end of the mow, it would at least idle. I idled it for about 5 minutes and shut it down and mowed again yesterday; idle has smoothed right out and the mower has more power.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I always use Stabil in my small engine gas to avoid issues. For the first time ever I had an idle problem with my Kawasaki powered lawn tractor that obviously was a pluged up idle circuit in my carb. A friend of mine is a tech support person for Kawasaki USA and we cleaned out the carb with no luck, it actually got worse. Before taking the carb. off he had me run it with Sea Foam and I kept up with that for a while after the first manual cleaning and after a couple of mowings it started idling smooth again. When we cleaned it manually we must have knocked it loose (whatever it was) and it finally cleaned up.

My mower is almost 5 years old and he expected the carb bowl and the rest of the inside to be all gunked up since I was having a problem. He was suprised to find the inside of the carb was spotless and he attributed it to using the Stabil all the time.

Glad to hear it is running better.

 

[honus402]

Adding Marvel to the fuel will keep the carb internals clean. I've used it for years in my mowers and my Harleys.

 

[Drew99GT]

Last year when I tried starting the ol boy, it took about 8 - 10 pulls and smoked like a forest fire. Yesterday, it fired on the 2nd pull and ran like a champ with no smoke. Heck, when it was newer, it would fire on the 1st pull after winter.

Stabil is definitely going to be a keeper.

 

[Cmarti]

I use seafoam in all my small engine gas, I mix it in the storage tanks. However, if it is gunked, running a cleaner through it will not remove hardened varnish or solid particulates.

Carbs are amazingly simple on these small engines, get a book at the library if needed. Take it off and clean the jet, nozzle and float needle & seat with WD 40 (it is easier on rubber and nylon gaskets, o-rings and tips.) Many beople fear these simple venturis, and dump tons of solvents into them hoping they blow clean. It really is just a 15-20 minute job to pull and manually clean.

Good luck.

 

[Steelhead]

adding an inline gas filter goes a long way to preventing carb plugging in small engines and the hair pulling frustrations with the expensive trips to the engine shop

all kinds of dirt, dust, debris ends up in gas cans, small engine fuel tanks.

 

[PW01]

I have always run 1 ounce of Seafoam per gallon of gas, and never had a carb act up

 

[Cmarti]

Originally Posted By: Steelhead
adding an inline gas filter goes a long way to preventing carb plugging in small engines and the hair pulling frustrations with the expensive trips to the engine shop

all kinds of dirt, dust, debris ends up in gas cans, small engine fuel tanks.


+1, or fill it through a strainer funnel if the fuel line does not lend itself to a filter.

 

[kd5byb]

Originally Posted By: Steelhead
adding an inline gas filter goes a long way to preventing carb plugging in small engines and the hair pulling frustrations with the expensive trips to the engine shop


Hear hear! I was rebuilding the carb on my Craftsman push mower once a year before I added an inline filter. That cured it - haven't had it apart since then.