Plate compactor running rough

britishboy7 · 29 Jul 2020

Bought a Rocwood plate compactor to help level ready for a new patio and only used it about 6 or 7 hours and it’s suddenly started running rough. It’s full of fuel, oil level is fine, air filter cleaned (was quite dusty)

even on full revs it seems to be misfiring slightly, or not revving enough to move itself - any ideas please guys?

It didn’t come with an engine instruction manual so they’re sending one out, but thought I’d ask here as it’s bound to be something silly

Got a week off and was hoping to get it all compacted down

britishboy7 · 29 Jul 2020

Just tried letting it idle with the air filter removed and it ran a lot better, so guessing the filters blocked? It says to clean it with solvent the soak it in engine oil? That sound right?

Burnerman · 29 Jul 2020

By all means clean a foam filter with a solvent, but if its a paper one then replace it or blow it out with compressed air.
If its foam, lightly oil it afterwards.
John

Old Salt · 29 Jul 2020

Be careful which solvent you use, it may melt the foam.

Bodgedbuild · 29 Jul 2020

Remove the filter, look where the throttle lever is and you will see a sprung rod going to the governor. you will find if you pull that rod you can rev the engine. If you rev the engine and block the intake with your hand, you can create a large amount of suction in the carb, normally this will pull through any old spiders legs etc that may be caught in the jets.

britishboy7 · 28 Aug 2020

Thanks guys, i cleaned the filter element and washed the foam outer part and been running fine. Then, it got left out in the rain last week for a day and since then, the thing hasnt been able to start.

Any ideas? Ive pulled the starting cable loads of times, and it sounds like it almost wants to start, but not quite. Apologies for all the questions as you can tell im new to all this

Burnerman · 28 Aug 2020

Sorry for the late reply, take the spark plug cap off and dry it thoroughly then take the plug out and pull the engine over a few times. Dry the plug, pop it back in, cap on and try again.
John

britishboy7 · 28 Aug 2020

Thanks John - currently tipping it down here down South so as soon as it stops I’ll give it a try. Bought a new spark plug so will replace it while I’m out there tomorrow (hopefully - as I’ve still got 6 tonnes of type 1 to shift and compact)

Thanks again

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Plate compactor running rough

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