I have a power washer with a 5.5HP Honda engine, and it won't start. The problem is probably due to stale gas somewhere in the system, but the gas tank was empty, and it at least has fresh gas, and i've bled the gas line where it goes in to the carburetor.

But, when I drained the carburetor, gas now leaks out of it through what appear to be holes designed for something to leak out of it... why is it doing this? These drainage holes are where the air filter connects to the carburetor.

Is there some problem caused by stale gas that can damage a carburetor?

9/28/2008 6:10:35 PM

did you clean the carb out at all? stale gas=gummy crap that clogs things up. personally i'd try starting it with starting fluid first to make sure fuel is the definite problem..I've seen a few that would eventually work themselves out after forcing them to run for a bit on ether.

but probably you need to pull the carb apart and clean it with carb cleaner

9/28/2008 6:13:46 PM

Needle is stuck.

Quote :

"you need to pull the carb apart and clean it with carb cleaner "

9/28/2008 9:27:32 PM

Okay, everything is fixed now.

There was so much gunk in the thing that the little reservoir part didn't come off the first them I unscrewed it, but I happened to be a bit more violent the second time to see what was really going on. The little float thing that cuts off the gas flow was stuck (which is why it was leaking), and the tube that goes in to the air stream was clogged too (this took me a while to figure out because I didn't have anything tiny enough to poke through).

But once this was cleaned and sprayed off with some carb cleaner, everything worked. Thanks everyone.

10/5/2008 1:34:04 PM