Log splitter problems

[runnels5467]

I just put a new carburetor and spark plug in my 27 ton splitter. It starts and runs at idle up to about half throttle. As soon as I try to throttle it up to full throttle it dies. Air filter is clean, fuel line is clear, and oil is full. I’m at a loss to what could be wrong. I don’t want to wait weeks for a small engine repair company to fix it. Any thoughts?

 

[MAAC]

Sometimes when they sit the high ethanol content in todays gas will gum up in the carb. I took my carb and set it in a gallon of "Chem DIp" you can buy at autozone or anywhere. Or buy a cheap carb off ebay or amazon.

 

[runnels5467]

I just put a new one on yesterday

 

[MAAC]

Sometimes when they sit the high ethanol content in todays gas will gum up in the carb. I took my carb and set it in a gallon of "Chem DIp" you can buy at autozone or anywhere. Or buy a cheap carb off ebay or amazon.

I just put a new one on yesterday

Mine also had a rusty flywheel with a lot of sawdust on it. I took some 180 grit and cleaned it where it spins by the coil. Could be that possibly. My neighbor gave up on his and threw a predator engine on his 5 years ago.

 

[ericm979]

Personally I'd rather rebuild the old carb than replace it with a cheap new one. Some of those are not all that good. Most OEM carbs are better quality.

Why did you replace the carb in the first place? If it was due to the same symptoms you're seeing now, then clearly the carb is not the problem. It could be a fuel flow problem. One possible cause of poor fuel flow is a clogged tank vent. That is usually in the gas cap. If air can't flow in to replace the fuel that's being used, it will slow fuel flow.

The usual way to check fuel flow is to remove the fuel line from the carb and let it run into a container for a set time then measure the flow. But you need to know the factory flow rate for that. Who manufactures the engine? If it's Kohler or Honda, they are pretty good about supplying extensive data in their shop manuals and they may have a spec for fuel flow.

Another possibility, especially if the engine was running to full rpms before the carb swap, is that the carb linkage is assembled wrong. And if it's a cheap aftermarket carb it might just be defective.

 

[sean donato]

Personally I'd rather rebuild the old carb than replace it with a cheap new one. Some of those are not all that good. Most OEM carbs are better quality.

Why did you replace the carb in the first place? If it was due to the same symptoms you're seeing now, then clearly the carb is not the problem. It could be a fuel flow problem. One possible cause of poor fuel flow is a clogged tank vent. That is usually in the gas cap. If air can't flow in to replace the fuel that's being used, it will slow fuel flow.

The usual way to check fuel flow is to remove the fuel line from the carb and let it run into a container for a set time then measure the flow. But you need to know the factory flow rate for that. Who manufactures the engine? If it's Kohler or Honda, they are pretty good about supplying extensive data in their shop manuals and they may have a spec for fuel flow.

Another possibility, especially if the engine was running to full rpms before the carb swap, is that the carb linkage is assembled wrong. And if it's a cheap aftermarket carb it might just be defective.

It's not worth rebuilding 90% of 4 stroke carbs, weather your getting a cheap aftermarket one or a genuine oem carb. Every small engine oem will tell you that, and any small engine shop that doesn't like screwing their customers will do the same.

Kohler normally said a full flow out of the fuel line is sufficient to supply the engine. No timing was involved. Only time I've seen any sort of published spec was for the efi engines. Even then supply to the pump was full flow of fuel line.

 

[ericm979]

I would not expect a shop to rebuild carbs as the labor cost is higher than the cost of a replacement. But at home where my labor is "free" I'll rebuild the carb nearly every time.

"Full flow" is not very precise.

I've seen specs in cc/min in motorcycle shop manuals. Kohler's manuals have pretty complete specs so I was hoping they might have it. But the CH395 manual I have does not. They just say to check for flow.

 

[sean donato]

I would not expect a shop to rebuild carbs as the labor cost is higher than the cost of a replacement. But at home where my labor is "free" I'll rebuild the carb nearly every time.

"Full flow" is not very precise.

I've seen specs in cc/min in motorcycle shop manuals. Kohler's manuals have pretty complete specs so I was hoping they might have it. But the CH395 manual I have does not. They just say to check for flow.

Its never been precise, they just say to check for flow, been like that since the K series, even the 37hp big block I have (early carb version) says to look for flow before the pump. Crank and observe for fuel flow out of pump. No psi, no cc per min. It will tell you anything you want to know for machine specs, or clearances.