18hp Twin Lacking Power!

Argh, I have so many engine preoblems!
So now my 18hp twin has absoluteley NO power! It starts pretty good, and ildes just fine, but when I put it in gear, even first, it stalls out. This engine ran great earlier this week, but now I moved it to a different tractor and put the muffler on, and it has no power.
I have checked,
Spark; has goot spark in both cylinders.
Compression; compression is a consistant 110psi each side.
Fuel; filled it with fresh fuel, and redid half the line and the tank. Seems to flow just fine.

I really have no clue what's going on. I hope you guys can help!
Thanks so much!

Does the engine have the fuel soleniod thing? maybe its not connected on the new tractor..let me think of some other stuff too..

Junkstarbuilds wrote:

Does the engine have the fuel soleniod thing? maybe its not connected on the new tractor..let me think of some other stuff too..

Yeah i would check the fuel soloinod.

truckin42 wrote:

Junkstarbuilds wrote:

Does the engine have the fuel soleniod thing? maybe its not connected on the new tractor..let me think of some other stuff too..

Yeah i would check the fuel soloinod.

My only concern with the solenoid, is I think the bowl would eventualy go dry and the motor wouldnt run at all..but, my first diagnosis would be to check it to make sure its connected and working.

The next thing is you say you moved the engine to another chassis, well, I have bent carb linkage rods ( like the Gov rod, and choke, etc.) So, when moving it, you may have bent one of those..(i bent the gov rod once and my engine stayed in a high rev)

Next, since you connected it to a new chassis, all the throttle linkages and choke cables need adjustments.

Since its running, Im sure its not fluid locked. and since its running, im sure there isnt oil on the spark plugs.

next, since you changed fuel lines, check once again for air bubbles blocking flow or other obstructions...Like make sure that the fuel filter is going the right direction...oh yeah thats a common problem..

It doesn't have a solenoid.

I will check the linkages, but it idles just fine and for an extended period if time.

I would try with new sparks. Or swap side.
And try to give er more fuel.

But start easy with the plugs.

Check your linkages, wiring connections, fuel lines, and then attack the carb. The carburetor can be blamed for a lot of things in small engine.

Also, does it die when you engage in gear, or does it just die at high throttle?

To me it sounds like the fuel pump thing isn't working right. Make sure the black hoe is connected from the carb to the motor and the black hose from the motor to the black fuel pump. I had the same issues and that fixed mine

Ok so now there's a new problem, it runs then dies after a few seconds, and shoots a bunch of gas thru the top of the carb. And the governor automatically closes the throttle all the way, even at full throttle. Then it won't restart for a few minutes. Makes me think it's flooding, but the plugs weren't saturated.

I'm going to try new plugs when I get a chance. I filled the tank almost to the top so it's got plenty of gas.

I unplugged the pump compression hose (back hose I presume) and put my thumb over it and cranked it, it seemed to suck fine.

I'm really having a hard time with this, every engine I've had in this tractor does the same thing!!!

I cleaned the carb, and there was a bunch of gunk in the bottom of the bowl and on the jet, hopefully that will help! The battery is charging now, I'll let ya know what happens when I try it.

Look at the exhaust and see if there is an obstruction or bend in your tail pipe it would do this. then look at the valves and there setting . If they were too loose the moving and tilting may have caused the rocker arm to fall off or need reseting. Hope ya get it going.

I have been running it straight pipe mostly. The fact that it has decent compression makes me think its not a valve problem, but I might end up checking. It's a VIB not OHV so no rockers. Thanks for the support!

Got it, plugged jet!

I was running my twin without an air filter and I would have to clean the car like once a week so make sure u have a good air filter on it

That could do it. I have cleaned the air filter. As my previous post states, the main jet was plugged.

Good on ya! Glad you got it sorted out!

Thank you. I feel stupid that wasn't the first thing I checked.

Don't feel bad. Sooner or later, everyone overlooks something. Even the gurus. Sometimes its a case of overanalysis- trying so hard to figure something out that the simple stuff gets overlooked.

I see a lot of that in troubleshooting threads on my home forum. Suggestions can range far and wide, yet 20 posts in, nobody has mentioned the basics...

Hah, ya. Well thanks a lot.