Powerwasher problem

[Aaron Richards]

I have a cold water powerwasher with a 13 horse honda driving a cat 5cp pump. Been getting things ready for the upcoming spring rush and ran into a problem. Unit starts right up and runs just fine. When I trigger the wand it will run great for a bit, then loses pressure and the engine starts to die. If I keep the wand triggered the engine does die, but if i let off the trigger the engine kicks right back up to speed. I can turn a wrench just fine but am not good at troubleshooting so am looking for suggestions. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Unloader isn't working right.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Lee's more seasoned than I but I'd lean toward starving for fuel under load?

Hey Lee, I'm curious how the unloader would do that with the trigger pulled? Am I right in assuming that a failing unloader would only stall a motor if the tool had a super small orifice therefor under unloading for the amount of hp/rpm or exceeding pressure limits? I've run a larger pump with 11hp without an unloader.

 

[Shane T]

Which comes first, pressure loss or engine slowing?

 

[Aaron Richards]

Shane, they seem to happen simultaneously. I'll check the unloader and the fuel system out and see if i can figure it out. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Larry Cobb]

Aaron;

I also think it's fuel starvation . . .

Triggering the gun requires more fuel.

Check the fine screen filter at the bottom of the fuel tank.

Larry

 

[Aaron Richards]

Hey Larry,

I drained the gas tank, had to take it off to get to the screen, cleaned it up, reinstalled and voila! Good as new! Thanks a ton!

Aaron

ps. It took a while but i kinda like the new smell of the powermax