Worth fixing pressure washer?

[Charlesaf3]

I have an excel 2300 pressure washer. Around 9 years old. Standard home depot special.

Using it, the pressure comes and goes. I figure this means the pump is toast. Called the repair place and the price of a pump could be around $200. I gather that parts are expensive, so its not even that I could save money putting the new one on myself.

A new troy bilt at lows is 279. For $80, seems silly to repair a cheap pressure washer...

And cheap is all I need, I'm not going to spend on a commercial model.

On the flip side, the 6hp briggs quantum on the pressure washer works fine.

Anyone have any ideas on what to do?

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm not familiar with the parts for Excel. I had to replace some of the internal pump parts on another brand and it wasn't a difficult job. If you have to replace the entire pump, maybe it would be more cost effective to just buy new.

The engine shaft on mine was tapered and wasn't suitable to use in other applications--no clue what yours might be. Something to consider.

 

[dave1949]

I have had that experience on a new PW. I took it back to HD. The new one would act the same way once in a great while. I decided it was related to my well pump/pressure tank being at the state where the pressure is down but the pressure switch relay hasn't quite tripped yet.

I would look for any obstruction in the water supply, clean filters, etc. It may just be starved for water pressure. I assume nothing in your water supply/pressure has changed. I think there is some sort of pressure activated valve involved also on the PW.
Dave.

 

[Charlesaf3]

I will double check the pressure, good point. But I gather 10 years for a pump is pretty much its life.

How do I know whether I could get away with replacing parts of the pump? Diagnosing it as a pump problem doesn't seem like a big deal, but figuring out which part of the pump is the problem does.

Thanks for the help

 

[Steve C]

I will double check the pressure, good point. But I gather 10 years for a pump is pretty much its life.

How do I know whether I could get away with replacing parts of the pump? Diagnosing it as a pump problem doesn't seem like a big deal, but figuring out which part of the pump is the problem does.

Thanks for the help

My 13 HP honda powered washer did the same thing this year after being brought out of storage. It had not been used in 10-12 years. I think it just had air in the pump, after about 15 minutes or runnig it finally cleared up and worked perfect. I discovered by accident that with a 4,000 stream you can cut concrete with it!!

If that isn't the source of your problem then...

Use my method.

1. It's already broke, so there is nothing I can do that is going to diminish its value, so take it apart even if you don't know what you are doing.

2. Look at all the parts. See if there is anything that looks suspect, an O ring or check valve, reed valve, anything at all. Replace obvious parts as needed.

3. Put it back together and give it a try. You might want to use some soap and water as an assembly/start up lube.

4. If it works great, if not you are only out about an hours time and a couple of o rings most likely. 90% of the time I fix things buy just taking them apart and putting them back together. A friend of mine thought his large 80 gallon vertical air compressor had burned out its motor and was going to pitch it. It was a 6 hp 220 volt motor and the only thing it would do is hum. I convinced him that we should have a look at it before it went to the dump. Mud daubers had built a nest in the motor. I have never seen the inside of one of these motors before, it had some kind of centrifical switch with some contacts that had something to do with the starting circuits. We cleaned the mud out of the contacts , put some fine mesh screen over the cooling intakes and it has been running fine for the last ten years.

 

[Charlesaf3]

THat is a really good idea. Minus the time, fixing it is a low priority for my time these days. But on the other hand, no reason I can't fix it next year... I'm not going to be using it over the winter.

 

[2manyrocks]

These things are sensitive to incoming water pressure. Whoever said to check for clogs in your screens and so forth is really on the right track to check first. Although I think you said your unit is a few years old, I doubt it gets as much use as your lawnmower, and you may not have any internal problems at all unless the unit has been overheated. The only reason I had to rebuild my pump was because I let it run too long without blasting water through it and that's a no-no.

 

[/pine]

On most pressure washer pumps the "cups" can be replaced...is there water in the oil?

 

[charlz]

I had an electric Karcher I started having problems with, messed around with it, bought new parts etc. and never could get it to act right. Tossed it and went and bought a 'BlackMax' or whatever at Sam's club and bought the extended warranty. PW's seem to have problems from all the reviews I read. There are repair shops in my area so I figured dropping it off somewhere was worth the price of the plan..... the money I wasted trying to fix the old one would have paid for the plan and then some on the new one

 

[NuBota]

In situations like this, when a part is almost as much as a new unit - I watch craigs list and Ebay

The threads on my PW pump housing, where the pressure hose connects, got stripped. As it is 8 yrs old, I cannot order the housing anymore and have to buy a whole $200 pump. I just searched for the pump part number, found a guy selling a functional, used pump on Ebay for 40 bucks, shipping included. Problem solved

Another example, acquired a free, working MTD chipper/shredder minus the plastic leaf hopper. Part is $200+ for a $450 chipper. Been searching Craigslist finding whole, functioning units for $75 - $300. Just missed a $75 one last week by an hour. I will catch one near by and in time sooner or later and have plenty of spare parts

So if you are not in a rush, that is how I would do it. Even it you buy a new one, no harm with having a second one if you can get it working cheap