Priming the engine

[andydrew39219]

So, guys I'm pretty confused. I was running yesterday down at a local parking lot and I had the strangest problem.

A couple of friends showed up, so I stopped running for probably 20-30 minutes. Figured it could use a break since I had been bashing pretty hard. After I was ready to start er up again, I did the usual. Add fuel, prime and start. Except when I was trying to prime (by blowing into pressure line) I could not get the fuel to run through the line. It was like the carb was clogged or something. I had to prime by disconnecting the fuel line going to the carb, blowing into the pressure line and waiting for some fuel to spill out, then I would reconnect the fuel line going to the carb and blow as hard as I could into the pressure line and then I would try to start it. Every time I did that a little more fuel would get into carb, after 5+ tries I managed to get it to fire and then I didn't have to prime it anymore.

Anyone else had a similar problem?

 

[Rolex]

The easiest way to prime an engine is to plug the exhaust with your finger and spin the starter.

 

[andydrew39219]

The easiest way to prime an engine is to plug the exhaust with your finger and spin the starter.

I tried that once and it primed way faster than I expected and I ended up flooding the engine. I do prefer just blowing into the pressure line. But still I'm stumped on why it wouldn't prime. If you have primed before by blowing into the pressure line, you know that the engine will give a little pressure coming back at you. But this was like my carb was clogged or something I don't know. Probably gonna take it out today and see if it happens again.

Now that I have been thinking about this for a while. I could have sworn I read something about carb needles getting clogged or something. And to fix it you would have to screw the needle all the way in and back out to where you had it. Does this sound like anything familiar?

 

[Rolex]

Do you have a fuel filter in the line?

 

[andydrew39219]

Do you have a fuel filter in the line?

Not in the line but there is one inside the fuel tank. I have the proline runtime tank and it has a clunk with a filter that looks like it is supposed to be in a aquarium or something. Some kind of rock or clay? Anyways, I thought about that for a second but how I got the engine to fire again is I would take off the fuel line going into the carb and blow into the pressure line to get the fuel all the way to the end of the fuel line, then stick it back onto the carb and blow as hard as I could. I had no more resistance blowing into the pressure line when I disconnected the fuel line going into the carb so it couldn't be that.

Good thinking though, I would not have thought of that.

 

[andydrew39219]

Sorry to double post, just need to update.

Took it out today with 0 problems getting it primed with the pressure line. I don't know what the deal is but I'm willing to bet it was something stupid like when the fuel line was plugged into the carb it was getting pinched by something that I didn't see.

Case closed. Thank's Rolex.

Wait a second, I just realized I was taking advice by someone who doesn't even have to prime his nitros...

 

[Rolex]

That's not true. If it sits too long I have to prime my bottle of spray wax.

 

[WinnersCircle]

The easiest way to prime an engine is to plug the exhaust with your finger and spin the starter.

+1

This method works the best!

Lee