So I soaked the points in alcohol and cleaned rust off the magnets and flywheel, so now I have spark. I also cleaned out the carburetor, so gas is getting to the float. All I get is a small puff of smoke and a sputter. Could it be a compression issue?
Can't start this old BCS
- Thread starter dosha9
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jcraftenworth
Silver Member
I was able to find a service manual for my acme, it tells how to adjust the carb screws I believe:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/bcs-america/manuals/Acme-215W-290W-330W.pdf
but that is NOT how I was able to get my tough starting engine to fire up. I got a deep socket metric set at harbor freight, picked the one that fits on the flywheel nut, got a 1/2 socket adapter with round shaft that I can lock into my milwaukee cordless drill. THEN I put the drill in the freezer so it can spin better before it "overheat/overload protection" cuts out (thus preventing me from starting). Then I put in on fastest spin setting number 2, on drill setting, slowly pull the trigger with choke on full, pull the trigger more and more as it speeds up!! and once it starts firing I take off the choke and repeat, and I have gotten my tough starting engine to start. And once it gets running it runs well, don't notice any missing or sputtering. It's pretty weird.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/bcs-america/manuals/Acme-215W-290W-330W.pdf
but that is NOT how I was able to get my tough starting engine to fire up. I got a deep socket metric set at harbor freight, picked the one that fits on the flywheel nut, got a 1/2 socket adapter with round shaft that I can lock into my milwaukee cordless drill. THEN I put the drill in the freezer so it can spin better before it "overheat/overload protection" cuts out (thus preventing me from starting). Then I put in on fastest spin setting number 2, on drill setting, slowly pull the trigger with choke on full, pull the trigger more and more as it speeds up!! and once it starts firing I take off the choke and repeat, and I have gotten my tough starting engine to start. And once it gets running it runs well, don't notice any missing or sputtering. It's pretty weird.
CalG
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Compression, Fuel, and "spark" gets otto cycle engines going most every time
Diesel saw things a bit differently, but the basics hold. Which aspect are you missing with your BCS?
Diesel saw things a bit differently, but the basics hold. Which aspect are you missing with your BCS?
CalG
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my usual first pass,after checking for spark, is to squirt some fuel down the carb bore. Sometimes it takes a pull or two to clear a flooded condition, but if it pops off, you can usually tell if it's a fuel delivery issue.
jcraftenworth
Silver Member
Not to thread hijack, but I will say this on my acme 10hp aln330. Runs smoothly once started. Compression feels and sounds normal when turning. I drained last fall's gas and put in ethanol free 91 octane. I cleaned and blew out the carb with degreaser, soaked parts in alcohol 24 hrs, blew everything well with compressed air, put in a new plug and verified good spark, but it is has just gotten very hard to start. Too hard to rope start, so that's why I'm using the cordless drill. I have to choke it full to get it to start firing, then take the choke barely on or even just off to actually get it to sustain combustion. It also stalls if I set the gas on the lower range of the handle lever adjustment. Wonder if it's a gas flow issue when starting, but once it starts going it's able to keep feeding enough gas? Was a 2-3 pulls rope starter when I got it just last fall but this season it's a beast to start. started out the season starting ok but just degraded to where I can't realistically rope pull start it. and the weird thing is that it runs strong and smoothly once started, rototilling 8 inches deep 30 inches wide on the 10hp gas, only once or twice when it really started digging deeper than normal (and the machine and wheels sinking into the ground) did it get close to stalling from load issues.
Thanks for posting the service manual. That's going to be a big help in figuring out how to get this my engine started. I'll try out the power drill technique
super55
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Years ago when I worked landscaping we had an old BCS that had an Acme power plant on it and it was a beast to start as well. Wouldn't even sputter and you would keep pulling and then all the sudden magically the thing would fire up. Shut it down or if it stalled from the tiller sinking so deep you would go through the whole ordeal all over again. When it was running it ran great just never wanted to start.
We ended up changing out the Acme motor for a Briggs and Stratton. After that the BCS always started right up even after months of no use. I don't know why but that Acme motor was one of the most finicky motors I had ever dealt with.
We ended up changing out the Acme motor for a Briggs and Stratton. After that the BCS always started right up even after months of no use. I don't know why but that Acme motor was one of the most finicky motors I had ever dealt with.
jcraftenworth
Silver Member
m7040
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The issues with my hard starting BCS is the plastic carburetor float gets saturated and therefore the fuel level is off in the carburetor. The parts are no longer available so the fix is a new Kohler engine from Earth. Hope this will help someone
