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California98Civic · 01-11-2014, 05:30 PM

This poor guy with his broken-down mini... it was very clean inside and out and had a recently rebuilt engine--as clean as cutlery in the drawer--with only 400 miles on the rebuild. But he said it hadn't been running well since he got it back from the mechanic. Now it would not start at all. He thought the engine was flooded, maybe. I ran through a diagnostic list, identifying the parts. All seemed normal. I noticed a "fuel regulator" just after the fuel pump or filter or whatever, in line to the carb. It was adjustable and was set to "1" (of five). I set it to two and had him test to see if it would start. After a few seconds it fired up. I felt like the frickin' hero of the day. Dude smiled ear-to-ear. I snapped the above pic and watched him sail down the road.

Considering that 3 years ago, when I joined EM, I would not have been able to help this guy much at all, I'm pleased... felt good to find the solution (always does, as long as it's not really expensive). Thanks.

I suggested he take it back to the shop too, to make sure the "2" setting is the best setting. I guess maybe the mechanic just overlooked setting it properly after finishing the rebuild.

01-11-2014, 05:30 PM	#420 (permalink)
California98Civic Cyborg ECU Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Coastal Southern California Posts: 6,299 Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe Team Honda 90 day: 66.42 mpg (US) Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike 90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US) Thanks: 2,373 Thanked 2,174 Times in 1,470 Posts	Broken-down mini This poor guy with his broken-down mini... it was very clean inside and out and had a recently rebuilt engine--as clean as cutlery in the drawer--with only 400 miles on the rebuild. But he said it hadn't been running well since he got it back from the mechanic. Now it would not start at all. He thought the engine was flooded, maybe. I ran through a diagnostic list, identifying the parts. All seemed normal. I noticed a "fuel regulator" just after the fuel pump or filter or whatever, in line to the carb. It was adjustable and was set to "1" (of five). I set it to two and had him test to see if it would start. After a few seconds it fired up. I felt like the frickin' hero of the day. Dude smiled ear-to-ear. I snapped the above pic and watched him sail down the road. Considering that 3 years ago, when I joined EM, I would not have been able to help this guy much at all, I'm pleased... felt good to find the solution (always does, as long as it's not really expensive). Thanks. I suggested he take it back to the shop too, to make sure the "2" setting is the best setting. I guess maybe the mechanic just overlooked setting it properly after finishing the rebuild. Attached Thumbnails __________________ See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.