Loose Carb........

[R W]

I was changing oil today in the Genesis, and as I was also trying to adjust the throttle cable, I noticed the carb was loose.......enough to actually move it a bit. I also noticed decreased performance with the Genny, and hard starting in the morning.

Hopefully, this extra air didn't lean out the engine too much to cause problems down the road. I tightened 'er up, but haven't run it at full throttle while cleaning yet. I was getting only about 2600 rpm's up till today. Now she'll pull 3000.

Does anyone think the lean running could have created future problems for the engine??

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Depending on your carb and intake configuration I'd worry about loose nuts being sucked into the motor. We put a nice hole in a Kohler piston thusly with a loose air cleaner bolt.

 

[Chads]

well I don't know what engine it is but as long as it isn't a two stroke engine (probably not) running lean shouldn't hurt it. The fuel doesn't have lubricating properties in it except in two strokes where they need the oil in gas for lube .

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Lean conditions raise combustion temperatures which if anything, these temps affect the exhaust valves first. Once the combustion occurs, the sharp edges of the exhaust valves, opening to relieve the cylinder, are exposed to the condition first and receive the brunt.

Firing up the engine after tightening the carb will give a good indication of whether the loose carb was the cause of rough running. But the real indicator of whether you ran hi-temp lean are the spark plugs. Pull the plugs, BEFORE you run for the first time with a tightened carb, and examine the outer electrode. If it looks black with minor soot, then you ran OK. If eroded or white, orange, or tan ash, it ran on the hot side.

 

[R W]

Thanks, Shawn.

 

[hogjowl]

Dang, Shawn. That was so simply put that even I could understand it.

Have you been taking redneck language lessons?

 

[R W]

I look forward to my daily berating by Marty......

 

[Matt King]

As Shawn said... I wouldn't worry about it though. You most likely had just a small enough vacuum leak to keep your engine from pulling up to speed.

 

[R W]

Well, the Genny ran like a million $$$'s today. It heated better, it started right up in the cold, and every thing just purred. Amazing what a small, undetected problem can create.


Still waiting for another ass-reamin' from Marty......