Float position tab
in 912 / 914 Technical Questions
12 years ago
Here is the scenerio: I have a 912ULS with almost 500 hours in 6 years. The engine started perfect for the first 300 hours with choke/enrichener on first start-up of the day. Then it got to where it didn't need the choke to start. Then it became hard to start around a year ago with 420 hours or so on the Hobbs. I called Lockwood and they told me about the 200 hr "inspection". I knew about it but they defined it for me. Wow, who knew? Anyway, Lockwood performed the 200 hr at 420 hrs but the engine still didn't require any choke to start as it did when new. Last month my engine began to exhibit the "hard start" problem again. It got to where the only way to start it was to assume it was flooded and go right to full throttle. It would then start after about 15 - 20 seconds of cranking (at full throttle...not the way to treat a perfectly good engine). This even after only sitting overnight.
I used this forum to find some pertinent facts: fuel level in bowl, idle mixture screw setting, and needle clip setting. Thank you Roger. When I removed the carbs to check these items both throats were quite wet. The fuel levels were at 1/4" from the top of the bowl on both carbs. The needles where set correctly. By bending the float needle position tabs I was able to easily adjust the fuel level to 1/2". Since I am in the middle of an annual condition inspection I haven't tried to start it up yet but I am reasonably confident the problem is solved, if only temporarily.
I saw a similar problem a couple of years ago with a Hirth two stroke engine. It was spraying fuel out the vent lines when running. Bending the taps helped with that problem too.
Question: What is causing the tabs to bend? Is it vibration? My engine vibrates very little as I go to some lengths to keep the carbs syncronized and the three blade Warp pitch settings exact. I'm going to add the fuel level check to my annual check list, but I was wondering what was the cause.
Thank you all.
I used this forum to find some pertinent facts: fuel level in bowl, idle mixture screw setting, and needle clip setting. Thank you Roger. When I removed the carbs to check these items both throats were quite wet. The fuel levels were at 1/4" from the top of the bowl on both carbs. The needles where set correctly. By bending the float needle position tabs I was able to easily adjust the fuel level to 1/2". Since I am in the middle of an annual condition inspection I haven't tried to start it up yet but I am reasonably confident the problem is solved, if only temporarily.
I saw a similar problem a couple of years ago with a Hirth two stroke engine. It was spraying fuel out the vent lines when running. Bending the taps helped with that problem too.
Question: What is causing the tabs to bend? Is it vibration? My engine vibrates very little as I go to some lengths to keep the carbs syncronized and the three blade Warp pitch settings exact. I'm going to add the fuel level check to my annual check list, but I was wondering what was the cause.
Thank you all.
