Hey all! I work on small engines and recently I got a couple of pressure washers to work on, which I have little experience in. One was a free find out for the trash, the other belongs to my neighborhood pool which I am trying to fix for them. They both were out of commission for engine problems, but because they sat around for so long after the engines stopped working the pumps seem to have developed problems.
The one from my neighborhood pool had gotten water in the gas tank, which rusted the tank and destroyed the carb. I resolved this and the engine runs fine, but the pump isnāt so good. I had no knowledge of pressure washer pumps going into this, but have learned a lot. The problem this pressure washer was having was with the unloader valve. It would run when the wand was depressed and then died when released. After using it for a while this sorted itself out. However, it has another issue. When it is pressure washing the engine RPMs drop severely and the pressure reduces after about 1 second of depressing the handle. I have heard this can be a problem with the check valves. I do not know what I can do about this though. If I take it apart and the check valves are bad, I donāt think I can replace them. I have been having trouble finding the model number of the pump and it is discontinued. So, my question would be, if I find check valves that look identical and are the same measurements, would they work as replacements? If itās of importance to anyone the model is an HL80833 (Homelite) with an axial pump
The second pressure washer is unbranded from what I can tell. It is from NAPA and is powered by a Briggs engine. The pump is axial, 2100 PSI. Itās problem is that it will start, run fine for about 1 minute, and then it dies. It is not the engine at fault. The pump seems to get stuck. When you go to pull start it there is a ton of pressure built up, which is probably whatās stalling the engine, but if you keep pulling the cord, the pressure works out and it can start and run again for about one minute again, then repeats. I looked at the unloader valve, and it doesnāt seem like anything is moving at all. I have seen videos of unloader valves with a piston that moves back and forth. Mine has what looks like a piston, but it is one solid piece and doesnāt move. I can post vids if that helps. But for this one, I was also wondering if anyone has ideas as to what I could to about it.
I am thinking that if one unit has a bad unloader, and the other has bad check valves, then I can salvage the unloader off one and have one pressure washer that works and one that doesnāt.
Neither one of the pumps are worth repairing
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Time is not a concern for me, rather price. I will repair them up to 60 bucks, at which point a new pump is just a bit more expensive so I may as well go that route. But I see your point. Unfortunately they just make these things to be replaceable now. Hopefully I can do what I said before and combine the good parts to get at least 1 working machine. I can use the engines off of these too on lawn mowers I suppose, if the shafts line up.
Agree, those little machines have disposable pumps. Take it off, slap on a new one if desired and carry on with life.
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Ease up on he throttle a bit when you start it and hold trigger open, spraying. Gradually increase throttle into it give you a problem and tbat will be the max throttle. I find that worked before on a gas cheapy with same issues. I had to bed the tab to keep throttle from extending passed āthe markā where it started to stumble.
As @Innocentbystander and @dcbrock stated, neither pump is worth ārebuildingā. When I worked in the OPE industry weād keep a few of the most common variations of the axial pumps on the shelf and sell them for $99. We got most of ours through Homelite, or whoever your distributor is in your area for them, Gardner, etc, is. Often times, you can find one in an Oregon, Sunbelt, Stens, Rotary catalog if you have access to them. Just be sure to match them up carefully as they are not ALL the same. Several times weād have to mount them backwards (water inlet/outlet facing opposite of what the original had been) in order to make it work, but the customer was okay with this usually since it got them one that was on our shelf and back up in a jiffy compared to spending another $30 or so to get the specific one for their unit + shipping. Best of luck!
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Thanks everyone! I will try what @Redjess said with working out the max throttle - maybe that is the problem. I guess what would be happening is that the engine is getting too much gas? That would make sense since this is a replacement carburetor made for 200cc engines and mine is 170cc. I hope that works.
The other one that suddenly dies after running fine may not be salvageable, unless itās just an unloader. If I determine that it is just the unloader, I think thatās worth replacing. Iāll keep yāall posted. Thanks for everything again!
I thought Iād update yāall with how everything turned out. Both of the pressure washers turned out to have engine problems, not pump problems. I feel so dumb lol. The āNAPAā Pressure washer had a swollen needle and seat. It was juusst swollen enough that the engine could run fine for a minute or two, and then starve itself. I fixed that and it runs well now. Well, almost. I fixed it by ādrillingā out the seat with a screw. Now it leaks slowly and gas comes out the primer bulb. A new seat has been ordered. Still runs well though. Except that the previous owner nearly destroyed it with low oil, so it smokes and knocks, but I donāt care.
The pump has what appears to be a drain plug on the front. It is a female hex thing. I donāt know how to remove it and change the pump oil, if I even should.
The one from the pool had the governor set wrong. I thought I set it right, but turns out Iām stupid. Fixed that and it ran good. But then, the hose burst! Scared me half to death. It also started surging/hunting when it is unloaded/idle. I checked/cleaned the carb twice, but since it runs fine under load, Iāll ignore it. This one has no drain plug/oil change.
Thanks for the help guys! Glad the pumps are good.
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Well the pump I found free for the trash was a bit older, from an era where they werenāt completely disposable, and it had a drain plug. I unscrewed it, but some shred of plastic probably from dryrotten threads fell into the hole. Itās made of plastic so Iām sure it wonāt score up metal or anything, but I do want to get it out. Donāt know how, but maybe if I change the fluid itāll come out. Or if I spray a ton of water in there to flush it out, followed by compressed air to dry. Or I can just ignore it. Especially because, the fluid looked great. It was still translucent and new looking (kinda yellow). I guess the pump hasnāt been used a ton. Probably could have left it alone. Anyway if I change the fluid what oil should I use? Gear Oil? Motor Oil? Trans fluid?
They usually recommend SAE 30. Itās just a non detergent 30 weight.
I picked up some oil specifically for pumps at Northern Tool. I had no idea how much to put because this pump is a no-name generic pump with no available manuals. I poured the old fluid out into a clear cup and measured the same amount of new oil into the cup, then added a bit extra cuz I had spilled the old oil coming out. Put that in, and itās ran great for a couple hours thus far.
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