Tecumseh carburetor problems

[Corsonmcnash]

So I've begun working on my go kart that my friend and I ended up forgetting about after we broke the clutch around three and a half years ago. Naturally over time in an unprotected environment (snow, ice, wind and rain) some things in an engine start to go wrong. After adding gas and oil (4 stroke) she fired up and ran nicely for a while, but started dying after a few minutes of combined run time. I noticed some leaking in the carburetor and after further inspection I believe there are some un-fixable problems (small holes in the metal which spray gas out when you try and prime the carb, etc)

I was wondering if you guys would be able to identify what carburetor I would need and knew a good place to order one from.

Here is my engine, It's a Tecumseh, obviously. Not sure what the exact hp rating is as I found it in my uncles yard not attached to anything.

Thanks in advance for any help,

-Cory

 

[B man]

isn't it supposed to spay gas out to prime it? pics of the carb and where its holes are.

and welcome!

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Hah trust me on this one, when I prime it it sprays gas onto who ever is standing behind the engine and accidentally onto my friends face when he was inspecting the carb as I was priming the engine for a cold start. I also found gas leaking out of the cast metal piece from somewhere else and it pooled into the air intake, which I assume isn't good hahaha. After that we decided that even though we had high hopes for running it today, no dice, and drained all the gas to stop the leak.

Ill go take pics and upload them Its pretty dark, not sure if they will come out okay (they will show a futile JB weld job that Covered not a hole, but a black dot we thought was the hole about an 8th of an inch below the hole in question)

 

[Bluethunder3320]

looks like a tecumseh HSK50 or something. it came off a snowblower for sure. im 99% sure its a 5HP.

take the carb apart and clean it.

its supposed to drip gas out the intake when you prime it.

 

[porsche930dude]

sounds to me like maby your float is bad. or possibly holes in the bowl. Definatly not the end of the line for the carb unless is a total block of crud but that sounds unlikely.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

i agree^^

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Thanks for all the replies guys, so I guess the pooling in the intake isn't a problem.

However, the hole is highlighted by the red arrow. It's only about the diameter of a pin, but when ever I prime the carb, it shoots a jet of mystified gas out of the side of the cast metal part of the carb not the bowl. Is that fixable with some more accurately applied JB weld?

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Oh also as a frame of reference: This picture is taken straight from the back, and the other was taken directly to the side. The red arrow here is showing the direction that the jet of gasoline took.

same question as before though, can I just apply more jb weld and be fine?

 

[Russ2251]

Why JB Weld? Not too smart.
Hole is there for a reason.
You've got other probs.

its supposed to drip gas out the intake when you prime it.

Carb should not drip for any reason...primer or not.

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Thanks you for the reply, For clarification, there were TWO holes, I though BOTH weren't supposed to be there. However you guys showed me that yes indeed there is supposed to be gas in the air intake (it would pool where the choke is seen open in my last picture. So that takes care of one hole.

But it leaves another, which is a hole in the metal casing (shown by my red arrow) that isn't supposed to be there. This hole sprays gas into the air, no where near the intake or the bowl. That is the problem child here.

Sorry for the confusion I'm terrible at explaining things.

Thanks,
-C

 

[Russ2251]

Did you check your float?
That is the first problem to eliminate and will likely solve the others.
That hole is a necessary vent.

 

[the-cyborg]

I'm not 100% certain but from looking at that pic, I believe you just jb-welded up your idle air mixture screw port.
I'd recon that some time in the past ether it vibrated out or someone took it out and lost it.

 

[Corsonmcnash]

uh oh, Maybe I'm a huge idiot. Does the vent look like a pin prick, or a small drilled hole? I just never remembered having gas come out like that, I've had this engine for over four years. There wasn't a screw hole there, the hole in question was literally smaller than a pin prick, just big enough for liquid slightly pressured by the priming action to spray out. I actually got it running earlier today, worked all day with my friend. We followed your advice and took apart the bowl and cleaned some of the carb, its better now, but still the carb is rusting the pieces on the inside. After running it for probably 20 minutes combined time(it ran absolutely beautiful, no coughing or shaky idle speed problems, like before the cleaning), we have developed quite the serious gas leak. Without priming and with the engine shut off there is a stream of gas that flows indefinitely until we jack the back of the kart off the ground. At first we thought we messed something up cleaning the bowl, so we re-did everything and checked our seals, which were all fine. The stream is coming out from the air intake, where the choke is (shown above). So we drained the tank and carb. I think this means its pretty knackered

We Also cut 40 pounds of non load bearing outside frame off. pictures on request (And yes, before If I post them, here is a disclaimer: I know the engine mount of all pieces is made of wood, its temporary and I'm taking it to my uncles soon to do some fabrication)

I re-read this thread, and Iv'e presented my self as a complete idiot, I swear I'm not this useless about mechanical things... I hope

 

[oldbikerarlo]

That looks like a corosion hole to me.
I think your float is stuck or at least not shuting off the fuel flow.
what are you priming with? this is a choke type carb there is no primer bulb
Is your sealing ring on the float bowl good top and bottom?

 

[Corsonmcnash]

That looks like a corosion hole to me.
I think your float is stuck or at least not shuting off the fuel flow.
what are you priming with? this is a choke type carb there is no primer bulb
Is your sealing ring on the float bowl good top and bottom?

That's what I thought as well. I'm priming with little bulb on the side of the engine, it's on the actual body of the engine right above the pull start. You can see it in the first picture I posted, the red button looking thing. The seal on the bowl it's self is solid. However when I took the bowl off the clean it out the rest of the carb is pretty rusty and in bad shape, Ill post pictures of it tomorrow if I can, I get out of work around 6, so around that time. I'm also pretty new to working on engines, could you explain to me where the float is and what it would look like if its stuck?

 

[oldbikerarlo]

The float is inside the alum bowl on the bottom of the carb. it's either plactic or brass, iy has a steel pin that it swivels on as fuel rises in the bowl the float rises and push's the float needle up and shuts off the fuel to maintaine fuel level. If the needle or float is damaged or stuck in the open pos fuel will keep pouring in and will overflow.

 

[Russ2251]

As soon as you open the bowl you will see how it works.
Similar to a toilet tank.
Float probably filled with fuel.

 

[oldbikerarlo]

toilet tank, perfect analogy. Ilove it

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Ahh, that was a great explanation. Now I know what the problem is. The float bowl was stuck, wasn't moving at all, so naturally I thought it was supposed to be like that. Ill attempt at fixing that tomorrow. Now I really should go to sleep, got work in the morning.

Thanks for sticking around and helping an engine noob out fellas, appriciated.

 

[Corsonmcnash]

Yup the float was stuck all the way up. Fixed it today, no leaks at all. Thank you for hanging in there with me fellas.

-C