I hate small engines that have sat not used.

[Cougsfan]

For all my small engines, I do this: 1) I always use only gas without ethanol. 2) I always add Stabil to the gas can as I fill it. Too often you forget to add it before the engine sets, so just bite the bullet and use it on all your small engines all the time. It isn't that expensive.
It is best if you drain the fuel and drain the carb if you know it is gonna set for a long while, but if you forget, and have used the straight gasoline with Stabil, you will probably still not have a gummed up carb.
A little starting fluid (ether) always helps too on an engine that has been setting. Use it right away, before you foul the plug.

 

[postalnut25]

For all my small engines, I do this: 1) I always use only gas without ethanol. 2) I always add Stabil to the gas can as I fill it. Too often you forget to add it before the engine sets, so just bite the bullet and use it on all your small engines all the time. It isn't that expensive.
It is best if you drain the fuel and drain the carb if you know it is gonna set for a long while, but if you forget, and have used the straight gasoline with Stabil, you will probably still not have a gummed up carb.
A little starting fluid (ether) always helps too on an engine that has been setting. Use it right away, before you foul the plug.

I also add Sta-bil to my gas cans and just use it in all engines. When it's time to winterize or store my equipment I drain the gas out of the tank, then change the oil, and then run the motor until all the gas left in the carb and lines is used up. The last thing I do is pull the spark plug and put just a touch of oil into the cylinder. Then I crank it a few times to spread everything out. I think that gets rid of most of the damage that can be done, and helps protect it until I take it out of storage.

This method has worked on everything but a chainsaw I loaned out to a family member and didn't get back for quite some time. I imagine that the saw was used, then just put away wet and left to rot.

 

[CCWKen]

Stabil is good stuff but it does nothing for an engine that's already been sitting unused for years. The carburetor is the first thing to go on small engines that have been neglected. The die cast metal corrodes and swells with age. Zinc oxide and aluminum oxide build up in the passages and this is nearly impossible to clean out completely without rodding or drilling. And to do that you have to pull all the passage plugs. Some of the passages may be as small as .008-.010". No "dip" or any amount of pressurized air will clear them.

 

[davesl708]

Maybe a good dose of Seafoam to the fuel to clean it out a little better.

 

[kencunningham]

Maybe a good dose of Seafoam to the fuel to clean it out a little better.

I use that in mine and haven't had any problems yet. The longest anything has set was 2 years, but it wasn't out in the weather.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Store them with Aviation 100LL gas or bone dry. Problems gone. And much cheaper than almost anything else if you include your valuable labor/time into the repair. I keep a 5 gallon can of it handy.

 

[muddstopper]

all good advice, none of which I followed back when I stopped using the machine. Back when I was using it, it was being used almost everyday, no time for gas to turn to varnish. The day I quit using it, I just quit and left everything setting. Years have past since I have used any of it. The honda engine is on a tow behind areovator. expensive piece of equipment to just let ruin. Should of sold it years ago. What got me to fooling with it again was a desire to redo my own lawn. Not being on a regular job anymore, I have plenty of time to fiddle with it. One thing about those honda carb, they dont have a lot of replaceable parts. clen the float needle and seat, clean out the jet, free up the choke and throttle plate and good to go. The torch tip cleaner worked pretty well for cleaning out the jet, Carb cleaner did a good job on the float assembly and a little pb blaster on all the moving parts. good to go. I ogt the engine running and my lawn work done. I guess I now need to fix it up for another long term storage. I'll add stabil to the gas and then run the engine dry, thinking about removing the fuel line from carb and filling the carb bowl with some sort of oil, just not sure what to use.

 

[Sodo]

You can't run a carb dry. It runs until it can't get anymore gas, and the engine quits with gas left in the bowl. After evaporating awhile the level drops below the jets, so it's still better than leaving it full. It makes a whole lot more sense to open the drain, that's what the drain is for. You'll get what you want ( = perfectly clean carb) if you drain the gas.

I've been buying ethanol gas from Shell, Safeway, and Chevron. I've had NO trouble with ethanol gas in years - then big trouble the one time I switched over to no-name 'pure gas'. It gummed up several engines, all carbs had to come off, be cleaned. Some twice.

I never buy "no-name" ethanol gas. And now I have serious doubts about no-name "pure gas".

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

If you feather the choke after turning off the petcock, you can get the fuel fairly low in the bowl. Depends on the main jet's suction tube design.

 

[muddstopper]

On this honda, it has a fuel cutoff. It is separate from the float bowl. I just cut the gas off and let the engine run until it died. The bowl has a drain plug to completely drain the bowl, but nothing ran out of it after the engine died so I am confident the bowl is dry. The tank is over half full of fuel right now. I didnt have any stabil on hand, stopped at a conv store and they didnt have any. Next time I am where I can get some, I will put some in the tank and crank the engine back up and let it run for a few minutes and then run the carb dry again. I probably wont use the machine again at least till next spring. Hopefully adding the stabil will help keep the carb clean enough so I dont have to tinker with it next time I do use it. after the cleaning, I have done my lawn, my neices yard and my brothers yard with the aerovator, Engine did sputter and die once but cranked right back up on first pull. There could still be a little varnish or trash in the carb, but its seems to be running just fine for now. I probably need to replace the air filter as it seems to be a might lean. There are not any adjustments to richen or lean out the carb, about all you can set is the throttle. Just for info the engine is a gx340 11 hp honda.