Changing Fluids in Argo Engine

[newargoowner]

once you get the gas tank clean and refilled. hook the fuel line back to the fuel pump. leave the output of pump going into a bottle (not the carb) hit the starter for a few seconds, until clean gas comes out. that way you get the water/bad gas out of the pump.

[anotheramature]

instead of siphoning you could blow air into gas tank and it will blow the gas from tank and out the gas line. i would blow thru the gas filter insuring the whole system is clear of H2O. dont give up your almost there

[xusarmy]

Ok thanks rock doctor, there's a small inline fuel filter in the engine area can I disconnect the line behind that and siphon the fuel from the tank there?

[Rock Doctor]

No electric fuel pump on that right?
I would siphon as much gas out of the tank as I could, then disconnect the fuel line at the suction of your fuel pump. I have a small manual pump that I would hook up to the fuel suction line for the tank, suck as much fuel/water out as you can. If you don't have a small hand pump, you can just add a length of line to the end of your suction line, long enough to use as a siphon. Run it outside the machine, and into a pail or gas can.
This will get the majority of the water out of the tank. Then dump a bottle or two of Isoprople Alcohol into the tank and top with fuel.
Pull the bowl off the carb and spray all internal parts of the carb with cleaner. Spray it through any holes/jets as well. It won't hurt anything.

RD

[xusarmy]

I have the carb pulled there was water in it, what parts do I spray with carb cleaner ? And should I take off the bowl? I hope I can get this thing back in the way it was lol also I. Used a jar and collected fuel from the line by turning the key and that fuel has water in it.. is it bad to hold the key and push all the water through the line and into the jar? Is there a faster way? I don't want to burn out the starter or kill the battery although I have a new battery on hand. I made sure the carb was drained of all fuel and water now jus need to get all contaminated fuel out the line and gas tank.. sigh

[brushcutter]

Ok, 1987Argo, yeah the older Argos were a little nose heavy. That explains a lot. Good luck, I don't think you've done any permanent damage, but you may have to change the oils a few times to rid the engine and transmission of water. With the fuel system it's mostly just a matter of draining/drying the tank and carburetor, then blowing the lines out. You should be able to get it going today.

This is one of those situations when it would be really nice to have one of the old fuel bowls like they used on about every gas engine, the kind that had a glass bowl and shutoff valve together. You could see when you had water in the bowl, turn off the gas, remove the bowl and dump out the water. Which btw, would be trapped below the fuel pick up level, and unless one had a bunch of water in the bowl, or got really crazy driving, would almost always keep the water from killing the engine, some of the old ways were the better ways...

[xusarmy]

I don't mean to be rude 84gt and your help is appreciated, brushcutter the banks of the river had small trees and brush and were fairly steep while I was being towed out it pushed the front of the argo below the water hence the water inside the engine and transmission also the fuel cap doesn't appear to be water tights so I know water got in there as well. I will drain fuel lines and tank clean out carb and change oils again and then try and crank her up, I believe tomorrow I can get her running . Ill start early in the morning and let every one know how this goes. And once again thanks every one for all the knowledge I'm learning a lot about the machine and will be doing all my own maintence so everything you guys taught me is sincerely appreciated. I think the tracks may have weighed me down and made it hard to get over the ice on the river summer time ill take off tracks and try again lol

[brushcutter]

I went back to pg 2 and RE-read what you posted about the chain of events leading to the present problem. So, now I am confused, I wouldn't think that the slight dunking you seem to have gotten would have delivered the amount of water necessary to cause milky fluid in both the engine and transmission, and if that is the case I am wondering how you got enough water in everything to turn the fluids milky.

I think what 84 is saying about the starting fluid is true, although I've never seen one blow it's top, I know what a diesel sounds like when it has been HOSED with ether. It is scary, I also re read my post about that, hope I didn't seem to cavalier about a potentially dangerous substance. Why not just drop a few drops of gas in the carb throat, that is what I usually do. (too cheap to buy starting fluid) The reason the use of starting fluid is popular with diesel engines is that it vaporizes very easily and is by far the easiest way to get a cold diesel to start. But since you are not dealing with a diesel and have easy access to the carb throat, give it about 10 drops of pure gasoline right down the ol guzzle. That ought to bust it off.

[Rock Doctor]

Wow, you got a lot more water in there than I was imagining.

Just use a tiny bit of starter fluid. A PSST not a PSSSSSSSSSST.

More than I was thinking as well. The only way to fill the trans with water is to have water over the top of the trans, lol.

Y'all please just ignore me as I have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm out......

Don't be like that man, I'm sure his comment was not meant to be snarky, same as yours. Every bit of experience helps. Stay with us here;-)

Lets get this back on track
We have water in the engine
We have water in the trans
Engine will not fire now.

OP has changed oil once in engine.

So, lets get the oil changed in the trans, pull and drain the carb, check for water in the gas tank (was gas cap under water?).
Make sure there is no water in cylinders.
Try to fire it up again
I am not against a shot of starting fluid, if needed, but keep it to a minimum.

We should have him running by tomorrow

RD

[blown84gt]

Anything to help troubleshoot this or just condesending comments towards someone trying to figure this out? I'm no mechanic but ill learn as I go with good advice and a little help thanks

I assume that was directed at me and I am sorry and I didn't intend to come off condesending, just trying to impress upon you that was not a wise move. I have seen the head lifted completely off an industrial engine on a fuel barge from that very thing. You can generally hear the clatter from combustion just using a tiny "psst" so you can imagine the stresses going on in there.

Y'all please just ignore me as I have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm out......

[JohnF]

Wow, you got a lot more water in there than I was imagining.

Just use a tiny bit of starter fluid. A PSST not a PSSSSSSSSSST.

And didn't I say FOREVER...

I don't know about your fuel pump but on mine, if I thought that water was in the fuel lines, I would disconnect the hose at the carb and run fuel into a glass jar until I saw no more water, drain/dump the carb, make sure the plugs are dry and making spark (just in case water shorted the ignition system), and fire it up.

Since we are worrying about explosions - don't test the spark production of the ignition system in a gas fume environment. (So, test ignition before playing with fuel system or dispose of the glass jar of gas and clean spills before testing ignition system.)

[anotheramature]

when you pull the gas line off the carb to clean turn the engine over with key and hold a jug to the removed gas line, the fuel pump will pump gas into jug and then you can see if there is water in it. if so just drain tank and use air hose to blow the line out. system clean

[xusarmy]

Thank you for all the helpful replies, so here's where I am so far since taking water in the intake I have changed the oil because it was milky, pulled transmission oil plug and a half gallon of water came out along with slow moving thick peanut butter colored gear oil ozooing out, replaced the spark plugs then fired it up it ran for 2 minutes then died I suspect there was water in fuel. When I turn the key it turns over but won't run also I checked oil level after it ran for 2 minutes and it was full but oil was milky again so ill change it again. Ill add tranny oil and change engine oil again along with removing carb and cleaning. How can I flush the fuel lines and drain the tank then start with all fresh fuel?

[brushcutter]

Spin it a few rounds then pull the plug and check to see if there is water on it, while it's out check to see if you are getting good spark. Sometimes wetting a hot plug will kill it(the plug). If you think you have water on the plug your best bet is to get the carb off it and make sure there is no water in there, it only takes a few drops to cause a problem. Let us know what happens and we can go from there. The starter fluid might get it to fire, and isn't as risky as some folks think, used it quite a bit on occasion, the thing to keep in mind is not to soak the air cleaner until it's wet. I think the blown head thing is more of an urban legend someone heard it from someone else, the story is retold and the next thing you know, 2 drops of starter fluid has the same explosive potential as 2 pints of nitro glycerin. Just a very short burst into the carb will let you know if you have a fuel issue, but since you've already stated that you know you're getting fuel then you need to look into what other issues you are having. My guess is spark or wet gas or both. Let us know what you find...

[newargoowner]

take off the air cleaner. disconnect the throttle cable, choke cable and fuel line from the carb. unbolt (2 nuts) carb from intake manifold. unscrew the float bowl from the bottom of carb. use can of carb cleaner and cleanout the carb. while the carb is off, pull the spark plugs and hit the starter a few times. check the oil for more water. you might want to change the oil a couple of times once you get it running and warmed up to temp.