I’ve got a frankenbrew pressure washer.. an AR pump mated to a predator engine. It gets used 4-5 times per year, 3-5 hours each time, and always stored with pump saver run through it with the rope pulled a few times.
yesterday I ran it about 3 hours, and it never made full pressure, the engine never hit its normal “loaded up” sound with it, and if I pulled the head off of it, so that the water freely shot from the high pressure hose, it kind of “spit” 1-2 times per second. Under load, normally the hose never shakes and the handle resonates with a singing tone, but yesterday the whole thing sort of shook in time with engine rpm.
the last oddity - a small 3” pool of thick white goo, smelled like silicone paste grease, was left on the ground under the washer after use (maybe it was old pump saver fluid?) and it could be just splash, but a couple of drops of water seemed to be atop the pump in a crevice in the copper. This is an oil filled pump.
other clue - on handle release, it would take up to a full second to build line pressure to where the unloader valve would kick over.
thoughts? Is it cooked? The pump is 10 years old. We did have a significantly cold snap this year where outdoor temps were 4f, probably below 30 in the garage, but again, it would have had a good application of pump saver in it.
edit- note, it still functioned… but probably at 70% it’s normal…
thoughts?
-m
yesterday I ran it about 3 hours, and it never made full pressure, the engine never hit its normal “loaded up” sound with it, and if I pulled the head off of it, so that the water freely shot from the high pressure hose, it kind of “spit” 1-2 times per second. Under load, normally the hose never shakes and the handle resonates with a singing tone, but yesterday the whole thing sort of shook in time with engine rpm.
the last oddity - a small 3” pool of thick white goo, smelled like silicone paste grease, was left on the ground under the washer after use (maybe it was old pump saver fluid?) and it could be just splash, but a couple of drops of water seemed to be atop the pump in a crevice in the copper. This is an oil filled pump.
other clue - on handle release, it would take up to a full second to build line pressure to where the unloader valve would kick over.
thoughts? Is it cooked? The pump is 10 years old. We did have a significantly cold snap this year where outdoor temps were 4f, probably below 30 in the garage, but again, it would have had a good application of pump saver in it.
edit- note, it still functioned… but probably at 70% it’s normal…
thoughts?
-m