carb trouble

[vipercwf]

Well it wasn't perfect but ya it was def running when squrting gas directly in the carb

[JohnF]

The fuel left sitting in the carb coated stuff with varnish. You'll get fuel to the carb but the varnish will have stuff plugged, glued, reduced, etc. and it won't run. You might get lucky and get it cleaned out with liberal use of SeaFoam - both mixed in the gas (brand new gas!) and sprayed with the can. If you do get it to run with SeaFoam then be sure to use it for at least a few tanks. Be aware that this route may have you running the engine lean for awhile. Too lean will burn stuff up. If you see lots of white smoke (not blue, grey, black) then go easy with this route.

Taking a carb apart and cleaning via soaking is easy. If you've never done this before, and I assume you haven't, it will take some time because you will have to pay the learning curve and I can see how that could cause stress to an already busy schedule. For me, having already poked around with my carb, I can have it out and soaking in about 15 minutes. (I was rebuilding 4 barrel carbs for my buddies in my dorm room 29 years ago in college.)

Look for a local small engine repair shop. I bet they can do it for you.

[mike bar]

Just like John said,The fact it will run while squirting it in tells you not much gas is getting beyond the bowl.Any local small motor mechanic could clean it for you if you don't feel you have the time, but I think it would be a big help to understand how if and when it ever buggers up on you again.Maybe the mechanic would show you how.
MIKE

[vipercwf]

Alright guys, thanks for the advice. If I take the route of trying to clean it by dipping it or whatever, do I have to buy a rebuild kit or can you do all that without needing one? I'm assuming there would be some gaskets that would be removed from doing that?

[JohnF]

Hard to say. I have done some where I was able to reuse everything. (uh, some of those would technically be do-overs. )

It is way easier if you can pull it apart without a care for the parts in the kit. As I recall, any kit I've purchased has contained at least every non-metal part, so yes, gaskets...

[spits]

I was told by a very good small eng mechanic that the carb cleaners are hard on the carbs. Maybe, maybe not. I DO know that the deposits in the carb ore most often varnish from stale gas.If it is stale gas, then fresh gas should loosen the deposits. With that said I have soaked carbs in a small pail of fresh gas for a couple of days and then poked and prodded all the holes I could find.I have then blown out every thing with compressed air. Generally you need a new kit but not always. Works for me. Just be VERY carefull when using raw gas for a cleaner.

[brushcutter]

It is not clear in your first post, but are you the original owner of this machine? The reason I ask is that you would know if any changes were ever made to the float. I've never had to adjust a float just because a motor sat up for a while. If you bought the machine from someone, contact them to see if they had work done on the carb, or if they had this problem before.

I'm not familiar with the avenger, but most of the carbs of this type I ever worked on had a small hole in the top of the carb above the bowl . This hole is to allow air to escape as gas flows into the bowl, if it is plugged,you will see almost no fuel flow into the bowl. If you have taken the carb loose and removed the top, you should see a decent flow into the bowl. If you have removed the fuel line, and there is a good flow of fuel through the line- run at least a half liter or so into a clear jar and check for trash and such -then you obviously have a needle&seat issue. These are easily replaced. Keep in mind that the holes, jets and such mentioned in the replies above are small, very small and even smaller than that, and sometimes they are very easy to overlook. The low idle pick-up on my briggs was plugged so well that it looked like just another part of the bowl. Just don't get in a hurry and be patient, I removed and reinstalled my briggs carb the 4th time before I figured it out.

[vipercwf]

The Argo was my fathers, he had to sell the home in PA were he used it and basically has no use for it now. I know for sure no work was done to it in regards to your question about the float n such. I found a small engine mechanic who is willing to work on it for me. I'll let you guys know what he says about it. Thanks again for all of your help.

[brushcutter]

Have you had your small engine guy check this out, and if so what did you find out? Your follow up will possibly help others in the future. When we have such problems and post our findings on here, is what makes this site so helpful. So please, when you have info regarding your trouble, share it with us, cause there have been lots of riders helped this way.

We have also gotten a LOT of good laughs at ourselves and each other, when a seemingly complicated problem made us "small engine master mechanics" all look like morons!
To quote Carl:"It ain't got no gas in it um hum"