Rookie Mistake

[JoeM 7,874]

Picked up a machine the other day. Was just thinking parts tractor, but when we unloaded it, thought it was a good idea to see if it turned over.

Hooked up the jump pack and it rolled over real nice. 

Oh, since it turned lets shoot a little juice in the carb and check for fire. It lit up on the juice and sounded pretty good.

And then it hit me. It sucked all that bad gas and water from the bottom of the tank into the carb. Nice going Joe!

I typically take off the fuel hose and check the quality of the fuel etc. and install an IV tank with clean filtered fuel. 

 

Note to self: THINK!

Fuel Sample

[rjg854 11,387]

Probably would have needed a carb cleaning any way.   

 

 of the new addition

[OutdoorEnvy 1,522]

We’ve all been there…disconnect fuel AND remove air filter to check for debris is always in my mind…except when I get excited and forget 

[ebinmaine 67,626]

I really like when I go to fire up something that hasn't been alive for a little while and it's got about 487 lb of mouse nest in it and I KNOW I should have checked for that.

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

OK Rookie Joe,   We forgive ya this time.    This is the way you younguns learn.    

[Pullstart 62,912]

Don’t forget to check the oil 

[JoeM 7,874]

55 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

check the oil

check 

(I did do that at least) 

[kpinnc 12,092]

Water in the fuel?

 

...And I thought this was gonna be a bad mistake. If this is "rookie" level, I guess I'm a complete noob. 

 

I test ran an old Briggs this week on the workbench. Once it cranked (no key switch, straight battery connection), I realized I hadn't rigged up a way to shut it off. Good thing everything worked ok. If it had popped loose from the mount or oversped, I'd have been in trouble. I guess curiosity can get the best of us somehow... 

[rmaynard 15,514]

My rookie mistakes have been replaced with elder-error. Getting ready to load up for the Wheel Horse, I was so happy at how the K-161 on my 701 started instantly. As you know, the 701 has no parking brake, so there it was, sitting in 1st gear to keep it from rolling away from the ramp of my trailer. I turned the key, pushed the starter button, and you guessed it, there she went, riderless, up the ramp.

[peter lena 8,634]

@JoeM  my baseline  start attempt , is always on a separate  gallon of heavily treated gas , after dropping carb bowl , usually replace the leaking  fuel valve , add 2  gas filters , 1 large one close to tank  another close to carb , fuel line , swap  if  any doubts . have a regular , verification  of every area , takes days /  or more , all lubricants , after my first  hot oil drop , like RISLONE ZINC , and a  10-30 castrol  oil change , that lube combo , really helps clean up a typical unknown engine . very good at  varnish cleaning, spent about a month on my last , pickup , before sale . everything worked , started  quickly . shifted , easily ,. pete   

[kpinnc 12,092]

4 hours ago, rmaynard said:

My rookie mistakes have been replaced with elder-error.

 

Well said sir!

 

I did the same with my 310-8 once. It was in gear, but you have to depress the clutch to start.

 

 I stood beside the tractor, pushed the clutch to start, and stepped off. Elder dummy here never looked to see if it was in gear. My building still has black marks on the floor, and the front door has never quite shut the same. Luckily my 200+ lbs were not on the seat to provide addition traction on the treated plywood floor. 

Edited April 15 by kpinnc

[ebinmaine 67,626]

Have I ever mentioned the time my then newly finished Cinnamon Horse C160-8 bucked me?... and crawled up the temporary outside oil tank?

[squonk 41,155]

6 hours ago, kpinnc said:

Water in the fuel?

 

...And I thought this was gonna be a bad mistake. If this is "rookie" level, I guess I'm a complete noob. 

 

I test ran an old Briggs this week on the workbench. Once it cranked (no key switch, straight battery connection), I realized I hadn't rigged up a way to shut it off. Good thing everything worked ok. If it had popped loose from the mount or oversped, I'd have been in trouble. I guess curiosity can get the best of us somehow... 

Did that with an ungoverned vertical shaft Briggsy. Stuck the crankshaft into the bung of a barrel and fired it up. No muffler and no way to shut it off. Watched that thing spin and bounce until it finally flew out and rolled around on the ground until it finally quit.

[8ntruck 7,016]

7 hours ago, kpinnc said:

Water in the fuel?

 

...And I thought this was gonna be a bad mistake. If this is "rookie" level, I guess I'm a complete noob. 

 

I test ran an old Briggs this week on the workbench. Once it cranked (no key switch, straight battery connection), I realized I hadn't rigged up a way to shut it off. Good thing everything worked ok. If it had popped loose from the mount or oversped, I'd have been in trouble. I guess curiosity can get the best of us somehow... 

Then there is the urban legend about a guy who rebuilt a Corvair flat 6 engine.  He decided to give it a test run while it was sitting on his bench.  Fired it up, then he bilpped the carb to rev it up.  Story goes that the engine jumped off of the bench and flipped upside down.

[953 nut 55,321]

12 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

Then there is the urban legend about a guy who rebuilt a Corvair flat 6 engine.  He decided to give it a test run while it was sitting on his bench.  Fired it up, then he bilpped the carb to rev it up.  Story goes that the engine jumped off of the bench and flipped upside down.

[953 nut 55,321]

My rookie mistake was in high school auto shop class. I was installing ignition points on a DeSoto with a dual points distributor. I'm stretched out over the engine and can't see well enough so a classmate holds a shop light down through the gap between the open hood and windshield. He can't reach far enough to get the light where it needed to be so he climbs up laying in the windshield then lost his balance and rolls down onto the hood. The hood goes down with his arm trapped between the windshield and the hood, I'm trapped under the hood with the hood latch firmly planted between my butt cheeks. The shop teacher comes out of his office and began laughing so hard that everybody in the building gathered around. None of them offered to raise the hood    just stood there being amused by the whole situation.