Excess oil

[stefanoascari]

Andrew,
Fantastic photos!

The explanation makes sense about the floats interacting with the needles. I did not realize fuel passed through there as it all looks so small.

- Do I need to remove the pilot jet and the enricher as well or do those stay? Is the enricher also called the "slow jet" ?
- I can't see any crud around the needle. How do I check for leaks?

[andrewsw]

I don't know what you mean by "enricher". There are two jets -- main and pilot. If you mean the "choke", not really a choke, but actually I guess it is an "enricher", then I don't know. I never mess with it because it's always worked and I never really need it anyway.

If you're just cleaning the carbs, then those two, main and pilot, should be sufficient.

[stefanoascari]

Ok sounds good. I'll stick to those two then. 

As for inspecting the float needles...everything seems fine but then again...I'm don't have a trained eye for these. The springs seem to pop back ok.

[andrewsw]

Then you're probably good. Once, just once, I had a piece of grit get down the *side* of the needle inside the housing and that was obvious -- the needle was stuck.

[stefanoascari]

I see. Well, should I run a compression test or take the top end off and inspect gasket? What else could cause fuel to leak into the oil? I hope it was just a stuck float...this would be the second engine that dies on me within a year..

[andrewsw]

The single most likely cause of gas in the oil is a stuck float. any thing else is *way* less likely. Was there any bits of stuff in the float bowls? Sometimes it can stick the float open, but then get dislodged and move through. Or it could be still sitting in the fuel channels upstream from the floats. Lots of possibilities.

A

[stefanoascari]

I saw some stuff around the o-ring for the needle seat but on the outside. I scraped it off. There might have been some stuff in the bowl. These passages are so tiny though. I'm going to soak the jets in carb cleaner and re-assemble. Hopefully it was just a stuck float. Is the pilot jet the one that is a set number of screws out?

[stefanoascari]

Question. How do the floats go back in? I'm having a hard time pushing them back into place.

[andrewsw]

the screw that is a set number of turns out is the fuel screw, meters the amount of fuels through on of several holes all controlled by the pilot jet. The pilot jet is the small jet that recessed into the base of the carb next to the main jet. It's probably covered by a black rubber plug.

THe floats can be a pain to jam back in there. Be gentle and you can always let the clamping of the float bowl do it for you, provided the o-rings aren't crimped or anything.

A

[stefanoascari]

Ok. Cool. The pilot jets are really stuck in there. Nothing is turning when I try to use a screw driver. I see people talking about setting the pilots to a number of screws out from bottom but these seem pretty stuck. Why is there a rubber cap on it anyway? Do I leave the fuel screw alone (I'm not sure which one is the fuel screw)?

Thanks again

[andrewsw]

Woah!

The pilot jets are located inside the float bowl alongside the main jet, recessed into a cavity. They are behind the black rubber plug. They should remove with a standard screwdriver (use care, brass is soft). Those should be firmly seated when properly installed.

The fuel screws are tiny screws set into a recesses on the engine side of the carb body right where the carb body and intake boots some together. They are essentially on the bottom of the outlet of the carb, where is meets the intake boots. They are *outside* the float bowls, on the engine side. They may be behind some kind of blank metal cover (mine have never had the cover, but mine have never been stock when I bought them). These screws meter the fuel for idle. These are the screws that are typically set some number of turns out (1.5-3 being typical I guess) from gently *gently* seated. If you pull them all the way out they will have a long taper on the other end, and there is a tiny tiny washer, o-ring and spring in there.

hope that helps.

A