One Thing and Then Another

[Rusty-Gunn]

You can squirt oil down the cables, one drop at a time even. It will easy-up a rusty cable.

[Jcrowder69]

Thanks Rusty, I wish I'd read your post BEFORE I ordered two new cables. This is certainly a learning opportunity.

[garrett1308]

Have you cleaned the fuel inlet on the carb? A lot of the vanguards I get in will corrode in there.

[Jcrowder69]

Hey Garrett,

I rebuilt both carbs, and did get a lot of gunk out of them.

[hipowerone]

I had a similar problem with my 1996 MAX II when I first got it. Problems starting, engine running weird, and just cutting out were hints. I found a link to a Vanguard engine carburetor cleaning process complete with detailed photos. I followed that completely. Then I emptied and flushed the tank, replaced the fuel line, added a fuel cut-off valve, replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump. I now use only non-ethanol fuel, as the ethanol attacks rubber. I learned that around aircraft. Since that time, I have not had any engine running problems. It was like a brand new engine had been installed!

[odskaggs2]

So I consider my self pretty decent at troubleshooting or so I thought. Thought I was having a fuel issue so pulled the line at the carb on no less than 3 different occasions. All new hose and engine new as well so thought well maybe the carb was having issues. It would run maybe 20 minutes and shutdown. Pulled the hose at the carb on the 4th time and thought the flow looked a tiny bit weak. So light bulb goes off and I pull the hose at the tank. Nothing came out at all. Almost full tank and barely a drip every few seconds. Problem was the hose adapter on bottom of tank was full of rust and junk. So when left for hours or days the drip would fill the 8ft or so of hose. Enough fuel to run for 20 minutes I reckon. Note to self. Make sure fuel really is coming out of tank and not just the hose. Pulling the hose off my carb gave a false positive as it was holding quite a bit of fuel depending on when it was checked.

[Rabbit929]

Yup, when I flushed my tank I found about a paint cap full of sand at the bottom. Which I believe was causing my intermittent stalling, when you hit a bump it plugs it just long enough to cause it to act up.

[Mike]

We've all had those kind of issues where it takes a while to realize what is really going on. At least you figured it out.

[Jcrowder69]

So my mechanic did some research because he was getting sick of rebuilding the carbs. What he wound up doing was soaking the carb in a 100-1 mixture of 2 stroke oil and gas so the oil would soak into the walls of the carb. He then told me to run that same gas/oil mixture in the machine all the time. He also told me if I'm not going to run the machine for a long time I need to either leave the tank completely full or completely drained. This weekend when I ran it, the most I've run it in a year, it ran great, motor wise. Other than a really rough ride, no thanks to the pigs tearing up the land, the motor just ran beautfully and very quiet. I will make a new post about my other issue. Oh yeah, I'm talking about my IV, and the reason for the oil mixture is to fight ethanol.