I have a Mantis 20 2-cycle tiller that I am working on for my Aunt. I
cleaned the entire carburetor today with carburetor cleaner, and I put a new
fuel line with a new fuel strainer in the fuel tank. I also completely
cleaned out the fuel tank as well.

It acts like it will not pull gas into the carburetor from the fuel tank.
Does anybody have any insight into what I might could do next? I can't
imagine that the carburetor diaphragm would be so bad that it wouldn't pull
gas in.

I sure would appreciate any help you can give me. Please email me at
with responses. Thanks!

Barry

Jeremiah 29:11

On Sun, 16 May 2004 00:38:01 -0400, Access4Less Email wrote:

I have a Mantis 20 2-cycle tiller that I am working on for my Aunt. I
cleaned the entire carburetor today with carburetor cleaner, and I put a
new fuel line with a new fuel strainer in the fuel tank. I also completely
cleaned out the fuel tank as well.

It acts like it will not pull gas into the carburetor from the fuel tank.
Does anybody have any insight into what I might could do next? I can't
imagine that the carburetor diaphragm would be so bad that it wouldn't
pull gas in.

I sure would appreciate any help you can give me. Please email me at
with responses. Thanks!


When you said that you cleaned the whole carburetor, does that mean you
took it off the engine? If so, then you'll need to purchase the seal kit
for it. You may want to get the complete carburator seal kit which
includes the needle float also. It's quite possible that you have the
supply line connected to the wrong tube under the squeeze bulb. Switch the
tubes around and see what happens.
The mantis engine is basically the same engine that echo uses for their
string trimmers. The output shaft is in a different place, but all else is
the same right down to the air filters. I believe that the mantis has the
zamma carburator. I was told that echo treats the carburator as a
maintaince item now and that they need to be changed ever 100 hours!!
That's a bunch of B.S for us customers but the carburator replacement is
around 40 dollars. It wont put you into the poor house to fix it but it's
sad that quality has gotten so low with things nowadays.....

Btw, it's bad form to for ask help in a public forum and then request that
answers be sent to you via email. When that happens no-one else get's the
information and mis-takes can not be corrected or debated. Hope you stop
back here to see your replies......

Jeremiah was talking about tillers and not string trimmers. He also has
the right to ask for replies anyway he prefers. (it was a good idea to
mention Usenet ettiquette to him in case he didn't know)

"Believing your best days are just ahead",

J

Timothy wrote:
=

On Sun, 16 May 2004 00:38:01 -0400, Access4Less Email wrote:
=

I have a Mantis 20 2-cycle tiller that I am working on for my Aunt. I=

cleaned the entire carburetor today with carburetor cleaner, and I pu=
t a
new fuel line with a new fuel strainer in the fuel tank. I also compl=
etely
cleaned out the fuel tank as well.

It acts like it will not pull gas into the carburetor from the fuel t=
ank.
Does anybody have any insight into what I might could do next? I can'=
t
imagine that the carburetor diaphragm would be so bad that it wouldn'=
t
pull gas in.

I sure would appreciate any help you can give me. Please email me at
with responses. Thanks!
=

When you said that you cleaned the whole carburetor, does that mean you=

took it off the engine? If so, then you'll need to purchase the seal ki=
t
for it. You may want to get the complete carburator seal kit which
includes the needle float also. It's quite possible that you have the
supply line connected to the wrong tube under the squeeze bulb. Switch =
the
tubes around and see what happens.
The mantis engine is basically the same engine that echo uses for their=

string trimmers. The output shaft is in a different place, but all else=
is
the same right down to the air filters. I believe that the mantis has t=
he
zamma carburator. I was told that echo treats the carburator as a
maintaince item now and that they need to be changed ever 100 hours!!
That's a bunch of B.S for us customers but the carburator replacement i=
s
around 40 dollars. It wont put you into the poor house to fix it but it=
's
sad that quality has gotten so low with things nowadays.....
=

Btw, it's bad form to for ask help in a public forum and then request t=
hat
answers be sent to you via email. When that happens no-one else get's t=
he
information and mis-takes can not be corrected or debated. Hope you sto=
p
back here to see your replies......

-- =

Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky
2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business. Quoted by the Ho=
uston
Chronicle Lazy Gardener as 1 of 7 best gardening websites in Houston.
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

On Sun, 16 May 2004 08:41:03 -0500, J Kolenovsky wrote:

Jeremiah was talking about tillers and not string trimmers. He also has
the right to ask for replies anyway he prefers. (it was a good idea to
mention Usenet ettiquette to him in case he didn't know)

Did you not read my post before you replied..? It's the same engine!
String trimmer or tiller. The parts for each are just the same.

Great... he can ask for replies off line, but it doesn't add to this
public group nor does it help to build community. This, as with all usenet
groups, only exist due to the community of like minded folks who take the
time to make it happen. Posting replies instead of mailing them has lots
of advantages for furture users of this group. All of the posts are
archived at google and many basic questions can be answered with a quick
search there. Also, please note that I never stated that he didn't have
the right to ask for off line replies, but merly suggest that it was bad
form.

As far as usenet etiquette goes, let me the first to 'gently' point out to
you the errors of top posting:
http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?Top-...bottom-posting

Thank you for pointing errors of top posting. I think I knew that for
the last 10 years. I prefer this way. In this case, forego the comment
about Usenet ettiquette. However, I do agree that posts should more
often than not be public and the responders chose when they go private.
I forgot that replies are archived at Google and thank you for that
reminder. I do love Google. Good friend.

Mantis and Echo. I figured they were the same engine. I have 7 Echo
products and called my distributor and asked him about this $40
carburetor deal. On the newer string trimers, there appears to be a
design difference. There is a part in the carb that is plastic and wears
out with a flat side after 100 hours. The workaround is to not replace
the carb every 100 hours but to install a stainless steel part to
replace the plastic one. When you stated saying that quality of things
has gotten low, I balked. However, now knowing this has made me an
informed consumer about Echo. I'm sure it figures into gross profit with
manufacturing costs but in this case if the stainless part permanently
resolves the issue, the person more than likely with have the product
for a very long time with regular maintenance. The Echo and Honda
engines, in my opinion, are the best small gas powered engines around.
Good advice about the gas supply lines under the squeeze buld and the
carb seal. Some folks mat overlook that type of stuff if not
experienced.


Timothy wrote:
=

On Sun, 16 May 2004 08:41:03 -0500, J Kolenovsky wrote:
=

Jeremiah was talking about tillers and not string trimmers. He also h=
as
the right to ask for replies anyway he prefers. (it was a good idea t=
o
mention Usenet ettiquette to him in case he didn't know)
=

Did you not read my post before you replied..? It's the same engine!
String trimmer or tiller. The parts for each are just the same.
=

Great... he can ask for replies off line, but it doesn't add to this
public group nor does it help to build community. This, as with all use=
net
groups, only exist due to the community of like minded folks who take t=
he
time to make it happen. Posting replies instead of mailing them has lot=
s
of advantages for furture users of this group. All of the posts are
archived at google and many basic questions can be answered with a quic=
k
search there. Also, please note that I never stated that he didn't have=

the right to ask for off line replies, but merly suggest that it was ba=
d
form.
=

As far as usenet etiquette goes, let me the first to 'gently' point out=
to
you the errors of top posting:
http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?Top-...bottom-posting

-- =

Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky
2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business. Quoted by the Ho=
uston
Chronicle Lazy Gardener as 1 of 7 best gardening websites in Houston.
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

On Sun, 16 May 2004 13:02:00 -0500, J Kolenovsky wrote:

Thank you for pointing errors of top posting. I think I knew that for the
last 10 years. I prefer this way.

..........sigh........
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and
I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein

I'm sorry about posting my email address, but I wasn't sure how soon I would
be able to get access to newsgroups this week.

I took the carburetor off the engine, took it completely apart and pulled
the gaskets out without tearing them to pieces. I cleaned the carburetor
with carb cleaning spray, but now I might better make sure that the gas
intake at the bottom of the carburetor is completely cleaned out. If it is
not, I don't know what to do to it.

I'm not sure what you mean about having the wrong tube connected... there's
only one fuel line that comes out of the tank. The other is a vent line that
goes up, and I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding you. I didn't look really
closely because I was in a hurry Saturday, but does this 20 model even have
a squeeze bulb?




"Timothy" wrote in message
s.com...
On Sun, 16 May 2004 00:38:01 -0400, Access4Less Email wrote:

I have a Mantis 20 2-cycle tiller that I am working on for my Aunt. I
cleaned the entire carburetor today with carburetor cleaner, and I put a
new fuel line with a new fuel strainer in the fuel tank. I also
completely
cleaned out the fuel tank as well.

It acts like it will not pull gas into the carburetor from the fuel
tank.
Does anybody have any insight into what I might could do next? I can't
imagine that the carburetor diaphragm would be so bad that it wouldn't
pull gas in.

I sure would appreciate any help you can give me. Please email me at
with responses. Thanks!


When you said that you cleaned the whole carburetor, does that mean you
took it off the engine? If so, then you'll need to purchase the seal kit
for it. You may want to get the complete carburator seal kit which
includes the needle float also. It's quite possible that you have the
supply line connected to the wrong tube under the squeeze bulb. Switch the
tubes around and see what happens.
The mantis engine is basically the same engine that echo uses for their
string trimmers. The output shaft is in a different place, but all else is
the same right down to the air filters. I believe that the mantis has the
zamma carburator. I was told that echo treats the carburator as a
maintaince item now and that they need to be changed ever 100 hours!!
That's a bunch of B.S for us customers but the carburator replacement is
around 40 dollars. It wont put you into the poor house to fix it but it's
sad that quality has gotten so low with things nowadays.....

Btw, it's bad form to for ask help in a public forum and then request that
answers be sent to you via email. When that happens no-one else get's the
information and mis-takes can not be corrected or debated. Hope you stop
back here to see your replies......

On Mon, 17 May 2004 14:23:26 -0400, Barry Brown wrote:

I'm sorry about posting my email address, but I wasn't sure how soon I
would be able to get access to newsgroups this week.

I took the carburetor off the engine, took it completely apart and pulled
the gaskets out without tearing them to pieces. I cleaned the carburetor
with carb cleaning spray, but now I might better make sure that the gas
intake at the bottom of the carburetor is completely cleaned out. If it is
not, I don't know what to do to it.

I'm not sure what you mean about having the wrong tube connected...
there's only one fuel line that comes out of the tank. The other is a vent
line that goes up, and I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding you. I didn't
look really closely because I was in a hurry Saturday, but does this 20
model even have a squeeze bulb?


This model 'should' have a primer bulb on it. This model 'should' also
have 3 tubes... 1 tube as a gas feed, 1 tube as a return to tank and 1
tube as a vent. Take another look and see if there are 3 tubes, if not
then I'm not all too sure then. Must be a rather old model I haven't seen
before.

When you take the carb off and apart you almost always have to
change all the paper seals. Even though you didn't rip them, the seals
compress only once. After that it's very if'ie that the seals will be air
tight again. You may also have damages the diaphram that is inside of the
carb. Kind of plastic like black thing with a metal center..?

There are two routes that can be taken here imho. Buy a complete carb seal
kit (10 to 20 dollars) or get a new carb (40 to 60 dollars).

As far as your email address goes, I *highly* suggest that you 'munge' you
email address. Look at my email address for an example or google 'munge
email' to figure out how. If not you'll end up with tons of spam. The
usenet get's harvested by programs (spiders) that look for email address
in posts. Unless you want 'penis enlargement' adds filling your box... lol.
Good luck.

Sorry... it doesn't have a primer bulb on it, and it only has 2 tubes - one
as a gas feed and one as a vent. Maybe it is an older model.

I guess my best route to go is to get a new carburetor, but if that doesn't
solve the problems I have I'll be more than a little ticked...

Barry

Jeremiah 29:11

PS... that email address is practically all spammed out already.


"Timothy" wrote in message
s.com...



This model 'should' have a primer bulb on it. This model 'should' also
have 3 tubes... 1 tube as a gas feed, 1 tube as a return to tank and 1
tube as a vent. Take another look and see if there are 3 tubes, if not
then I'm not all too sure then. Must be a rather old model I haven't seen
before.

When you take the carb off and apart you almost always have to
change all the paper seals. Even though you didn't rip them, the seals
compress only once. After that it's very if'ie that the seals will be air
tight again. You may also have damages the diaphram that is inside of the
carb. Kind of plastic like black thing with a metal center..?

There are two routes that can be taken here imho. Buy a complete carb seal
kit (10 to 20 dollars) or get a new carb (40 to 60 dollars).

As far as your email address goes, I *highly* suggest that you 'munge' you
email address. Look at my email address for an example or google 'munge
email' to figure out how. If not you'll end up with tons of spam. The
usenet get's harvested by programs (spiders) that look for email address
in posts. Unless you want 'penis enlargement' adds filling your box...
lol.
Good luck.