Reply To: 501 "finished" but with issues

Hi again,

Starting issue (petrol through plug hole) makes it sound a bit like inability to suck enough fuel through to the motor so 2 likely causes firstly; choke not operating properly or blocked passage(s) secondly air leak on the intake side – this could (unfortunately) come from a number of places – easy ones would be gaskets between carb / bakelite spacer / motor. Worse ones would be crankcase mating surfaces – between the crankcase halves or even barrel to crankcase joint.

If you can get it running, you could try getting a spray can of CRC ‘Engine Start’ (Bunnings or Repco) and while the motor is running, give a little spray around some of the suspect areas mentioned above – if you notice an increase in engine revs, you may have found the problem. Obviously if you spray it around the air cleaner / intake the revs should increase too but this wont be indicating the problem.

Wouldn’t hurt at all to try the other carb, certainly no short term issues – jetting leading to lean-ness or richness might be longer term.

Good luck