Pressure Washer won't start.

[Anonymous-0]

I have a Troy Bilt pressure washer with a vertical drive Honda motor and AR pump. The unit is near new. It has started with ease and runs well until it was used without proper water pressure. We had a valve connected to the hose that was only partially open. While it was running I noticed the closed valve and opened it. The washer functioned really well for about 10 seconds then it shut down completely. When I tried to start it again, it sounded like it has no compression and wouldn't start. I let it sit for a few hours and tried again, same result. Do these units require back pressure from the pump to run? Could the lack of water have blown the motor, the pump?

 

[Zachary Hoyt]

The PO of mine started it without water in it when I went to buy it and I didn't know enough to know that was bad, so about 2 hours of use after I got it the pump quit pumping. The engine still ran fine and I got a replacement universal pump for $66 from eBay which is working fine. I would say that even if the pump is not loading the engine you should still have the normal amount of compression in the engine, so I would do a compression check and then start looking at the engine if it is low.
Zach

 

[Anonymous-0]

1 check oil there is an oil shut off if the oil is to low Could just need to reposition machine so it tilts to that side.
2 always have water running and depress trigger when starting.
3 might have clog or water or something in carb there is a nut on bottom of bowl on carb loosen an let a little gas out.
4 You could also start with the air filter of if badly flooded.

 

[paul]

The engine and the pump are entirely different on those.

You might not have done the pump any good, but with some water flowing through you really shouldn't have ruined it either.

The engine should not care at all about the water flow, would make no difference to the engine. Perhaps if the pump were totally shelled it would drag down the engine, but hard to believe you would have done that sort of damage.

Paul

 

[Geo-TH,In]

No compression, check valve clearance. I think the exhaust on Honda is the decompression valve.

My 13 hp Honda I crank water pressure back, off, until it warms up.

No lack of water could damage pump, not motor. Then if pump starts to lock up, it could kill engine.

 

[Aaron Mooney]

Oil level is good and there is no debris in it.
Water pressure is adequate. It still sounds like there is no compression and it blows a puff of smoke out after a few pulls.

 

[Owen Aaland]

When the Honda engine on my power washer stopped and sounded like that I found a broken rocker arm.

 

[mkirsch]

Not for nothing, but you really need to start with a compression check to see if there is actually any compression or not.

It is also no big deal to remove the rocker cover on that engine and see what all is going on in there.