Harbor Freight Carb flooding engine after turning off engine.

Bonefish

Active Member
Local time
1:56 PM
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
667
I've got a Harbor Freight 1.5 Hp 2 stoke Water pump engine on my bike, It is almost identical to the 1.5 HP Gas Auger they sell. The engine runs great and strong, but when I hit the kill switch and turn off the engine, it seems like the throttle is stuck on and the carb. is flooding the engine. So when I go and start it after sitting for a while it is flooded, and takes a lot of pulls to get it to start. The gas is coming out of the port on the outside where the air filter is at and leaking on the ground as well after engine is off. I checked and it does not look like any linkages/cables are stuck. Not sure what the problem is. Any Ideas?

Thanks,
 
Easy

Clean the small needle and seat inside the fuel bowl and it should go away:D
It happens to small engines all the time and i have done 100s
Last one i did was my little 2 stroke generator, it is a very simple job!
And just to make sure it does not happen again use a inline fuel filter.:unsure:
Good Luck and if you habe any more problems just ask.
G-Superior:D
 
Thanks,

The engine is brand new. I do not even have a tank of gas run thru it yet. There is a fuel filter located at the bottom of the fuel line, that is in the bottom of the gas tank.


I do not know that much about carbs. There is a white piece of plastic. It looks like a diaphram that is located on the outside of the carb port between the air filter and air breathing port. It is a shoddy piece of engineering they did. Do I need this piece or will it be safe/alright to run without it? Are there any other possibilities?


Thanks,
 
Here are some picts.

Check attachments.

The white plastic piece is the piece that goes on the outside of the carb inbetween the foam air filter and the air intake port. I would love to be able to leave this off if i could and it wouldn't hurt the eninge.


If you look at the picts, the one with the close up, that is where the gas leaks out of the carb after the engine is shut off.

If anyone has any ideas on how to alleviate this problem, please let me know. It is a beast of burden pulling this thing about 15 times to get it to start because it gets flooded after sitting for a while. If I turn it off, and then pull start it, it will crank right up. It is only after sitting for about 10 minutes, that it gets flooded, and then will take about 15 pulls to get it to start to fire up. Any Ideas?

Thanks,
 

Attachments

  • DSC03806.jpg
    DSC03806.jpg
    134.9 KB · Views: 1,019
  • DSC03808.jpg
    DSC03808.jpg
    134.2 KB · Views: 1,089
  • DSC03812.jpg
    DSC03812.jpg
    128.5 KB · Views: 879
  • DSC03815.jpg
    DSC03815.jpg
    132.9 KB · Views: 845
  • DSC03810.jpg
    DSC03810.jpg
    136.2 KB · Views: 847
My HF pump motor came with the fuel tank mounted BELOW the engine. It has a Walbro WYK diaphragm carb. with dual fuel lines and a primer pump. There is no fuel bowl or float. Is that the setup you ORIGINALLY had? Or maybe you have a different carb. I'm only seeing one fuel line on your pics and it goes UP to a remote tank out of the picture somewhere. The fuel is probably free flowing (gravity) when the engine is off and you may need to put a shut-off in that line. Or maybe the fuel line is connected to the wrong nipple (if you have the above setup).

Unless I'm missing something in the pics. But just for grins, try clamping (pinching) off the fuel line when you shut it off next time and wait a while and THEN try to restart it (after removing the clamp).

Also, lose the air filter and get an aftermarket K&N type. About $15 and the engine breathes much better. If you do get the air filter, make sure you get the velocity stack WITH the choke lever.
 
Everything is original right from Harbor Freight, no mods made yet except my engine did have the tank below it as well, but I removed it and put a 1 gallon tank on the back cargo rack that has dual fuel lines that run to it.(one line is yellow, the other black). It does have a primer bulb on the bottom of carb as well. I did take the gas tank off of the rack and positioned it on the ground, but the carb still leaked after the bike was shut off. So i'm not sure if it is because of gravity then, because the tank was then below the engine.

It is a pain in the ***, pulling this starter cord 15 times everytime to get the engine to start after sitting.

It cranks right up though on first pull though, if I shut it off, and then start it right back up.

It is only after it has been sitting for about 10 min. or longer it gets flooded.

Thanks,

p.s.

Nuttsy,

Thanks for showing that pict. diagram of you putting the R/S eh035 clutch on this engine. My honda gx31 clutch fit on it as well.

Super thanks,

I bought the engine without knowing it didn't have a clutch.

Thanks again,
 

Attachments

  • DSC03809.jpg
    DSC03809.jpg
    123.5 KB · Views: 798
  • DSC03808.jpg
    DSC03808.jpg
    134.2 KB · Views: 752
  • DSC03804.jpg
    DSC03804.jpg
    135 KB · Views: 872
Mount the gas tank below the carburetor and it will stop the flooding problem. Those diaphragm carburetors are not designed to have the gas tank above them. A fuel valve on the inlet hose may help, but unless you put valves on both hoses, there is no guarantee that fuel will not flow, gravity fed, back thorough the return hose and you flooding problem will still haunt you. FWIW, you do not need 2 hoses going to it anyways.
You can have one valve controlled hose going to a tee, the tee mounted as close to the carb as you can reasonably get it, and connect the 2 carburetor hoses and the one fuel tank hose to the tee.
 
I think even being a diaphragm carb. the tank can be gravity feed. thats why it has a small needle inside to control the fuel flow
the diaphragm works just like a pump them the needle is there to make sure it does not flood
If you not very mechanical person take it to a mower shop and they will clean you carb no problems at all at a resonable price. If that does not work then I would just get a new carb if it was in the warranty or a good 2nd and one.
G-Superior:D
 
It is kinda funny, yesterday, I was trying to crank it and someone said," that doesn't sound good" it was a mechanic. He gave me some cleaner spray, and we sprayed some of it up both ports on the carb with the needlenozzle to try and blast out any trash/debris that might have been in there.

Last night the carb didn't leak, and it cranked up this morning on the 2nd pull. Not sure if it is fixed, but this engine screams with no load on it, but then bogs down after it is floored for a second. Never did that before.

Right now, I have no load on it because I've got to fabricate a new chain tensioner wheel for the drive chain.

Thanks for the advice and tips. I really do not know of a way I can mount the tank below the carb, because my pedals will hit the tank when I pedal then. The place where I have it is where I hope to keep it. I might have to get the fuel shut off valves if it comes back/persists.

Many thanks,
 
Back
Top