Sometimes, you'll fix a problem only to prove that there are more things wrong. I have been working on a guys walk-behind mower now for a few weeks, off and on. I first showed up, he had overfilled it with oil. I drained the oil to an acceptable level, ran the mower till it ran clean and called it a fix(no problems arose). He said it ran for about 30 minutes and stopped. I checked it out and found the carb had some dry gas in it and the float needle was sticking. I cleaned out the carb and it ran long enough for him to mostly finish his yard. Then it stopped working again. I think the carb had some dry gas inside some of the small orifices and they got plugged up as it ran longer and vibrated some of that junk loose. Now i'm in waiting for the new carb to arrive in the mail so we won't have to worry about it anymore.
The biggest problem with trying to save the customer as much as possible is that it ends up coming out of your overhead. If I had just had him replace the carb in the first place, like most would have done, it would have fixed the problem and cost me less and him the same(in the end). But had the carb cleaning done a good enough job, it would have cost him $40 less. I find it hard to replace before I try to fix.
My friend that had the VW Beetle needed his brake pads replaced and an oil change. The oil change was simple and standard, although getting the oil filter out of a Mazda6 is a pain in the rear. We changed his front two, because those are the ones he said needed to be replaced. I checked the back brakes and realized that on one side he had worn through the pad into the backing. We had to replace the rotor on one side. Not too big a deal, just a little more $$$. It was fun, and didn't take but a few hours this weekend. Always fun to teach someone else how to do their own maintenance.
Another job for a non-running mower. Took the carb off, used a spare carb and it fired up like a new one. Bought the new carb yesterday, replaced a fuel hose and she was ready to go. Walbro carb's.....I have more trouble with these than any other carb's I see. I don't know if it's a design issue or not, but when they go, they go hard. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to repair these.....I'll let you know when I figure it out. I'd really like to get a mechanical cleaner, one that pumps the solvent continuously through a bin that you lay the material in.....but everything costs money, and I don't have a lot of it.
Rebuilt a carburetor to fix a guys lawn mower. Mower wouldn't run. Re-rebuilt the carb, super-cleaned it, soaked it, recleaned it, replaced software. Mower wouldn't run. Jerry rigged up a different carb to it and it ran like a champ. Replaced the carb and it ran like a champ. Only thing I can figure is that there is some small orifice that's clogged that I can't get to and blow out. I plan on troubleshooting it some more, we'll see. Thankfully I am finished with his mower, and he is happy that it's working great.
Just thought I'd post some before and after pictures of the chipper/shredder. It's a pretty big difference.
Before
During
After
Waiting on some parts for the carburetor. While I'm waiting I decided to take it all apart again and treat all the rusted spots and repaint. This is a pretty expensive machine and deserves to be taken care of. It got left outside for quite a while and had quite a bit of rust throughout the machine. I completely dismantled it, scrubbed it all down, primed and painted all the rust I could find. The blades were pretty rusty and dull, so I took them out and sharpened the shredder blades, now I'm working on the Chipper Blade.
On a side note, I sold the Murray 20" with the 3.5 Hp Tecumseh for $60 plus 20 for delivery. I'm glad that I got it sold, I hate for a good machine to just be sitting.
I went out to check the Murray lawn mower, and it was flooded.....the carb was still not working correctly. I know that the seals are good, the needle and seal are good, the only thing left is the float. I took the float off and didn't notice anything wrong with it. Then very, very slowly liquid began to seep out of a pinhole crack in the shell. I drilled a hole in the shell where the crack was, drained it completely of all the liquid inside, then patched the hole with J.B. Weld. Works like a champ now, no leaks and runs better than ever. A damaged float is such a rare problem that it's really easy to overlook. You don't expect it because the float does nothing other than float in gasoline and work the needle. Anyway, have it posted to sell on Craigslist, so hopefully I find a buyer soon.
Someone brought in an old Mantis Rototiller that has been sitting for a while and wouldn't start. He dropped of the machine last night around 5pm and I had it running by 6:30pm. I charged him $20 for the carburetor rebuild. Then I asked him if he wanted some of the general maintenance done for another $10 and he agreed. I lubed up the tine assembly(that was pretty much empty) and made him an air filter(since it was missing and was expensive to order). He picked it up today and was extremely satisfied with the results and quick turn-around of his machine.
I went to a job today to change the oil in one mower and figure out the problem with a second. The first was just an easy oil change, the second mower fired up, then died and wouldn't start again, so I took it with me to troubleshoot in my shop. I figured that the carburetor had been sitting with gas in it and needed to be cleaned. I took it apart and found not only was the carb pretty gummed up, but the bowl bolt was clogged and the intake gasket was broken. I ordered the gaskets, cleaned all the parts, and am just waiting for the parts to get here to finish the job.
Finished Rebuilding the 5.0hp Craftsman Chipper/Shredder. The engine was in good shape, other than the carburetor missing some parts(the guy that donated it to me robbed Peter to pay Paul). I'm in the process now of ordering a new carb bowl and bolt and some new gaskets. The chipper/grinder portion was pretty rusted, and some of the blades were seized up. I spent quite a while getting all these parts cleaned and restored to I will keep you all updated on the progress. Here are a few pictures of everything I've done so far.
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