Briggs Pulsa Jet carburetor issue - won’t pull fuel up?
Hey everyone! I live in Matthews, NC and we just got hit with an F1 tornado. Power has been, as such, knocked out. It isn’t expected to be restored for at least 2 days. In the mean time I cranked up my old Coleman generator, it’s a small one just enough to run a fridge and charge some devices. It leaks gas and when it’s off because it’s missing a float bowl gasket, but so long as it’s on we’re good :). Anyway, my neighbors are in the same situation and I went with them today to a thrift shop, where I knew they had some equipment. We picked up a 2400 watt generator with a Briggs flathead for 70 bucks, allegedly working. It is very Jerry rigged, the engine being secured by zip ties. However for 70 bucks it’s hard to beat.
Unfortunately it wouldn’t start. Quickly realized that there was gas in it that had gone bad. Dumped it, tried again. Nothing. There is spark and compression. Took off the pulsa jet carb and checked it out. The upper reservoir was filthy. Cleaned it, and put in fresh gas up there too. After that, I coaxed it into starting and running for a few minutes (after I put some gas in the intake as well, but not so much that it was only running off that for the few minutes). After it died I took it back apart and the reservoir had drained down a lot. This leads me to believe the pulsa jet isn’t working. Checked out the diaphragm and spring. Spring is springy and the diagram wasn’t hard or anything, but the check valves did look frayed around the edges. The uptake from the main fuel tank is not blocked, I can blow air up through it.
So is my problem with the diaphragm? Or is there a blocked passage? I suspect the diaphragm since it runs until that upper reservoir is drained, but a port could be blocked too i suppose? Any thoughts? I appreciate it.