This pressure washer came to me from storage – I’m unsure on how long it had been in storage, nor if the storage was water-tight. There was fuel in the tank, but despite my best attempts, it would not start. So began the diagnosis.
It was quickly established that there was a fuelling problem caused by a large build up of rust clogging the filter and carburettor. The rust had also turned the petrol to a funky colour.
Upon draining the petrol tank and cleaning it with rust remover, it was evident that the corrosion was endemic to the whole fuelling system, so a new carb, petrol tank and fuel lines were ordered.
These were installed along with the other general service items such as a new air filter and spark plug.
The initial test proved fruitless and a subsequent compression test yielded zero-PSI. Unsure of how far the rust had spread, a boroscope camera was used through the spark plug opening to examine the inside the cylinder chamber.
It turns out that when putting petrol in a new tank and carb, a bit more is needed to prime the system – so after adding more fuel the beast roared in to life.
Overall the quest was successful! The low-compression was likely due to the compression release mechanism to make starting easier.