I'm working on a Powerhouse 500Wi generator. Engine fires for a few seconds with starter fluid, but otherwise will not start. I'm about to dig into carburetor (tricky to extract from the unit) but had a few questions. See photos below.
1) Fuel comes from the tank, goes through a cutoff valve (not shown) and then enters into the mystery device shown in the photos. The mystery device has a hose which supplies fuel to the carburetor (via the fuel filter), and another hose which I believe is for breather purposes (it goes to a tee, and one hose from the tee goes to the intake manifold). The mystery device has no electrical connections. The carb intake is higher than the bottom of the fuel tank so I first thought this mystery device was some sort of pump, but not sure how it can operate. Any idea what this device is?
2) The carb (I can't read what make/model) has a pipe with nothing connected. Is this OK? Is this where an external primer hose would be hooked up if it were present?
If the generator has sat for a long time, the float needle is likely stuck, and the entire carb needs a good cleaning.
Is the oil level hi and full of old fuel?
Check out James Condon on You Tube. He has a lot of great generator repair videos. He corrects the electrical issue but also corrects a lot of carburetors on them.
Makes sense that the device is a fuel pump. Thanks for pointing that out. First time I have encountered such a device (I usually work on mowers, trimmers).
Oil level is at the upper level as defined by the user manual. I dumped the old, smelly fuel.
Finally got the carb pulled and it is all gummed up. I will attempt to clean. Only markings on the carb are "Keruidi 110". I'm not having much luck finding references to that carb on the internet.
I cleaned all jets/ports and reinstalled the carb but still no start. I discovered that when I pulled the cord, fuel dribbles out of the port that has nothing connected to it (shown in earlier photo). Just for grins, I plugged that port and the engine fires up (on choke) for a few seconds, then dies. If I take it off choke, pull the cord a few times, then put it back on choke, it will again start for a few seconds. Symptoms seem to imply flooding, but plug looks dry when I take it out.
I realize there will be a healthy suspicion that I did not completely clean all ports on the carb (although I feel my cleaning was quite thorough).
I know that the spark plug is not correct. Client had a CMR5H installed, which is what I am using. User manual says to use A7RTC. Google AI (if you believe) says A7RTC is non-resistor plug, while CMR5H is a resistor plug. I'll have a Torch A7RTC in hand tomorrow to try out, but curious what folks think of my symptoms.
I think the port without anything connected is actually a bowl vent to atmosphere. Most have a simple hanging line coming off of them going down to nowhere.
The line routing looks questionable, but I don't have any diagrams to give direction.
From your description the float needle has trash in it and is not seating properly.
This has likely not run long enough to produce signs of flooding and getting the plug wet with fuel.
