Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - troy-bilt pressure washer flooded?

My PW fell over on its side and after I put it up right again I tried to start it. I got it to start and it worked for about 10 seconds with lots of smoke and sounded like it was operating at about half power. It cut off for good after that, now I can't get it to start at all. IT will blow a little smoke every few cranks but won't start up. I have no idea what to do to fix it, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Have tried to start it after it sat for awhile? Todays motors have low oil sensors that will shut the motor down if it thinks it doesn't have enough oil.

this just happened, so no not really. How long do you think it should sit? Should I replace the oil or anything? I smelled the oil and it didn't really smell like gasoline.

Thanks!!

I'm sure it has already sat long enough. Shouldn't be any need to change the oil unless it is past due ;)

I've been trying to crank it up about every 10 mins, it seems the longer it sits the more "puffs" of smoke I get out of it, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before it starts up. I hope anyways considering I just spent $150 to replace the manifold :wall:

Take out the spark plug to see if it is coated w/ oil. If it fell over w/ valves on the low side, it may have sucked a lot of oil in the combustion chamber. If so, pour a teaspoon of gas in combustion chamber and crank it over several times to thin the oil in comb. chamber. Wash plug w/ gas and dry it good.
Mike

Correct...the plug likely has oil on it. Remove the plug, clean it, clear the oil from the cylinder, and start her up. It will smoke for a few minutes as it burns the excess oil out of the cylinder.

great, I plan on taking care of this today. Does anyone know what size spark plug socket I would need to buy to remove this spark plug?

Thanks for all the help guys :D

hi, new to this, but there may be also a surplus of oil in the carb float bowl...sounds like replies to you are good but i thought i would offer this as well....flush carb, prime to start

this this model (#020241) doesn't have a primer bulb. The owners manual doesn't say which size socket to use and I don't have any real way of measuring the size.

Spark plugs generally use one of 3 sizes of sockets to remove.

5/8 inch, 3/4 inch, and 13/16 inch. Most small engines I have worked on use the 3/4 inch size. This is by no means definitive as I have had both of the other sizes as well.

If you can read the number and brand on the plug, somebody here may be able to give you the correct size or you could head on down to the corner hardware store and purchase a new plug (probably a good idea anyway) and fit a socket to that plug.

Spark plugs generally use one of 3 sizes of sockets to remove.

5/8 inch, 3/4 inch, and 13/16 inch. Most small engines I have worked on use the 3/4 inch size. This is by no means definitive as I have had both of the other sizes as well.

If you can read the number and brand on the plug, somebody here may be able to give you the correct size or you could head on down to the corner hardware store and purchase a new plug (probably a good idea anyway) and fit a socket to that plug.

I found the spark plug on the internet, it's says it's a 13/16" Hex.

http://www.ngk.com/more_info.asp?AAIA=&pid=3232

So thanks for that tip! I'm off to the hardware store now.

While you have that plug out of it's hole, yank on the rope a few times and spin the engine over. It can help spit out some of the oil or other contaminants in the cylinder.

While you have that plug out of it's hole, yank on the rope a few times and spin the engine over. It can help spit out some of the oil or other contaminants in the cylinder.

I took the spark plug out and I didn't really see any oil on it, but there was a black residue of some type on it. I washed it with gas and some of it came off. I didn't really notice any liquids in the chamber, just saw the cylinder part moving up and down. I'm about to pour some gas into the chamer and put the spark plug back in.

:crosses fingers:

Very little gas.!!!!!!!!

Black on a plug is symptomatic of either too much fuel or oil burning. Something you are experiencing. Powdery ususally means fuel, wet can be unburned fuel or oil. Often oil though.

The idea of spinning it around a few times helps air out the cylinder. I wouldnl;t expect fluid to actually come out.

Very little gas.!!!!!!!!

Black on a plug is symptomatic of either too much fuel or oil burning. Something you are experiencing. Powdery ususally means fuel, wet can be unburned fuel or oil. Often oil though.

The idea of spinning it around a few times helps air out the cylinder. I wouldnl;t expect fluid to actually come out.

lol, I only put a teapsoon or so :)

It didn't turn over though. I couldn't even get it to puff out any smoke this time.

I'm not sure if I should leave the spark plug out for a while and let the chamber air out or just keep putting in teaspoons of gas and trying to start it until it does.

About that spark plug, it looks like its in good shape (besides the residue) I would think it would still work fine. Should I try and test the spark plug to see if it's actually working? You would think I would have got atleast a little smoke out of the PW after putting gasoline directly into the chamber :confused:

Thanks!

Way too much gas going in there.

Crank it over until your arm falls off without the plug in there.

If you have a propane torch, heat up the plug (it dries it out as well) Without burning you fingers, put the plug back in and try to start it without adding gasoline via the plug hole.

WARNING: obviously, keep flames away from any gasoline.

If the PW was running before, the carb was apparently working. Let it do it's job with the gas supply.

Way too much gas going in there.

Crank it over until your arm falls off without the plug in there.

If you have a propane torch, heat up the plug (it dries it out as well) Without burning you fingers, put the plug back in and try to start it without adding gasoline via the plug hole.

WARNING: obviously, keep flames away from any gasoline.

If the PW was running before, the carb was apparently working. Let it do it's job with the gas supply.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

I think I may have figured out the problem. I took the air filter cover off and the filter was soaked in a oil/gas mixture. I'm not sure how to go about properly cleaning it out, but I know I'm going to have to buy a new filter :wall:

Here are some pics.

www.curv.net/pentagon/100_0450_sm.jpg
www.curv.net/pentagon/100_0451_sm.jpg
www.curv.net/pentagon/100_0453_sm.jpg

If you can remove the air filter housing it may be easier but just wipe out everything you can. I would replace that plug as well.

Since the filter appears to be paper, there really isn't much you can do besides replace it.

While the machine shouldn;t be run without a filter for any length of time, leaving it off temporarily may help get it going. After the excess oil and gas has burned out, shut it down and get some new parts.

I would change the oil when you finally get it running. There is probably enough gas in there to run it for a week by now.

good news! :) got it running, looks like it was the air filter all along. I cleaned the housing out really well and took the air filter out and it runs like a champ. Now I have to buy some oil and a air filter :\ Maybe Lowes sells the air filter...

One more thing though, the manual mentions buying the oil directly from them only. I've seen coleman pressure washer oil at Lowes and wondered if that would work. Any idea on that?

Thanks alot to everyone, saved me a good bit of money and fits of rage :D

Not sure what rating the oil would be for a PW. I suspect that as long as you use the proper weight and rating API SF ,or SG etc. there should be no problem with another brand of oil.

Good to hear it is running again. When can you bring it by to PW my house??:eek: :eek:

Not sure what rating the oil would be for a PW. I suspect that as long as you use the proper weight and rating API SF ,or SG etc. there should be no problem with another brand of oil.

I went with the SAE 30wt., seems to be working ok.

Good to hear it is running again. When can you bring it by to PW my house??:eek: :eek:

as soon as you move to Florida :D