OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Tecumseh / Kirby Engines Kirby HK25 Hunting

Hi Guys,

Just a quick one regarding an issue I have with a HK25 on my SB 45. Once it is running it hunts up and down and will not stop you can see the lever at the top of the carby continually operating the butterfly.

Must admit Kirby's are not really my thing but this one is just too good to toss out.

Also while I'm asking questions it the original square box muffler on it supposed to be just an empty box or is there supposed to be some dampening material inside to shut the noise up a bit more or is it just a hollow box with the outlet vents

Any pointers on this ?

Cheers,
BB

There are two common causes of hunting BB: lean mixture, or friction in the governor mechanism. Lean mixture is the predominant one: to check for friction, just look whether the governor arm is touching the crankcase, or one of the links is bent so that it tends to jam. Once you establish that those things are not happening, you have the happy job of cleaning a Kirby Lauson fuel system and carburetor. Oh joy.

Hi Grumpy,

Oh Joy,

it sounds much like a Christmas Carol ! and the most likely scenario as the unit has sat around for quite a while. BTW the oil flushing went well as I got hold of 3 litres of soluble oil and it didn't take much at all as I left the motor overnight with the bottom plug out and leaning over so ever little bit came out and then ran 2 lots of SO through it. Second lot came out as good as it went in. After a good draining I've filled it up with SAE 30 and it sounds and runs great apart from the hunting.

Cheers,
BB

PS. I'll post this result up on the other thread so that there's a result showing.

If you post some pictures as you go, we can have a thread on sorting out that hunting problem, BB. It isn't uncommon for the governor arm to be bent, so it is worth checking for clearances and free movement before you resort to stronger measures. Then, the first step is to clear the fuel system, which is easy to do.

You begin by removing the float bowl, putting a cup or something underneath the carburetor, and observing how fast the fuel runs out when you turn it on. If it runs freely, that will demonstrate that the tank, tap, hose, and needle-and-seat are all clear. Next step after that will be to remove and clean the main jet, which is also pretty easy. After that, though, you have to remove the emulsifier (directly above the jet) and blow carb cleaner through the various holes and passages in it, and the carburetor body.

Hi Grumpy,

Firstly thanks again, I've got to recon a Power Steering pump tomorrow morning so I'll see how I go for time in the afternoon.

I'll take some photos as I go so that we can make this a bit more of an informative thread rather than just a Q&A version.

How's that sound ?

Cheers,
BB

Sounds good BB, and it should be a much less unpleasant job than working on the power steering pump, at least in my opinion.

Hi Grumpy,

This should be a good thread to use as a tutorial.

BTW Holden Power Steering pumps are a dream, 25 minutes from start to finish.

Cheers,
BB

I can recall when Holden used relatively simple, purely belt drive pumps (Delco I think - one of GM's in-house component manufacturers anyway) and the thing was a traditional mechanical pump that was suited to being serviced, like a pushrod Honda mower engine, but that was before electric pumps, or pumps with electric backup, took over. Since then I just don't want to know, I'm afraid I'd find them full of punched tin and twist-tabs, like Tecumseh carburetors. (I suspect I'm getting old and intolerant.)

There has been a previous thread that dealt with overhauling your carburetor, but I haven't been able to find it.

Here are the photos of the early Scotty I was given, it is basically identical to deviosi machine complete with chaffered reel blades and 2.5 HP Kirby motor and Large fuel tank.










Just added these prior to resolving the hunting issues that I have with this Kirby and as we are currently being doused with rain I thought I'd take the opportunity to do this

The mower number is 45 - 01208 which in essence makes it the one thousand, two hundred and eighth model 45 off the line at Thebarton opposed to deviosi's 867th machine off the line as featured in "the Most Popular Topics", thus why they are basically identical machines with the same specifications. I must admit that there aren't that many really good survivors from that era that won't require that much work to bring them back to their original glory.

Cheers,
BB

PS. I have no idea why the shots will not show up as I have reduced them to around 2mb and then even smaller and they still won't show ????? no idea