marinegrunt

My guess would be the pump is shot. If you got 500 hours out of it I would be happy. I've went through a few homeowner units and failure has always been due to the pump. I also constantly see broken units on craigslist for cheap because there's no pressure. I bought a rebuild kit once for my Honda GC Craftsman homeowner unit once and it fixed the no pressure issue. It was less than $30 too. Instead of buying a whole new pressure washer you could also just buy a replacement pump and throw it on your current engine. The pump is only held on by 4 bolts. Just be sure the pump specs are the same. I think my GC190 came with a pump with 2.8 gpm and 3200 psi pump so you may have a little room to play with in finding the right pump. You can get a pump on ebay for around $80 although I'm sure the quality isn't the best. If you plan on buying a new washer I think I would try and find a decent used pro washer especially if you put a lot of hours on it. The more gpm the better.

Are most hot water pressure washers made to where aftermarket parts will fit and work? Reason I ask is I have a Karcher hds 1200 be and I think it needs a new fuel pump. I know on aftermarket pumps they sell them with different ditection on the rotations. Are the shafts all usually the same size? What about how the pump mounts to washer? Mine slides into a round support bracket and is then held in place by a set screw. I'll try and take it off and post some pictures of it later. Maybe someone would be able to tell if it looks like an aftermarket would work. Thanks!

I ordered a rebuild kit for my Karcher pump. The pump has 6 valves. There were 3 that I was able to tap out from the rear. The other 3 i was not so I tried prying up with a pick. What ended up happening is the top half of the valve separated from the bottom. I can tell they're assembled like that there just wasn't enough tightness to pull the while valve out. The round metal base with o-ring is what's still in the pump. Is there a trick or even a special tool to remove it? Seems like maybe a tiny pair of reverse vice grips would work if they even make them. I've considered heating up the brass body a little so it expands some. I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I do all the time on aluminum when replacing bearings. I do have the valves soaking in Kroil for the night hoping it'll lube them up. I posted a picture of the whole valve and the top half of the valve. I also disassembled one so you can see the metal part that won't come out. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks for the explanation on how the safety valve works. I took it apart just to see and it looked like there was some muck preventing it from closing. It has a little brass piston or valve with a gasket disc on the end. It looks like the only thing that could fail would be the o-rings or that gasket disc. Everything else is brass. Parts are hard to source for this thing. Seems like there is only one place online from the U.S. and a couple other places are overseas. Thanks again!

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong section being that I'm currently just a homeowner but thought it was the best category. My father-in-law recently acquired a Karcher hds 1200 be from a friend's place of work. It supposedly was stored away years ago but ran fine then. Supposedly doesn't have very many hours on it. Father in law couldn't get water to come out of the hose so he gave it to me. There was just muck in the handle. The engine starts but one side has weak spark. New coil will be here tomorrow so I'll know more on it then. It does idle up but was bogging a tad. I guess what I'd like to know is what would you recommend be done to this 1993 machine? Should the pump be rebuilt or only if it shows signs that it needs it? Is there any maintenance that should be done to the heating system or anything else? I did change engine and pump oil already. What's the maximum amount of money I should throw at it? It doesn't seem like there could be too much wrong because it did idle up pick up pressure. I shut it down right away due to the weak spark and engine bog. One thing I did notice is that when started water was coming out of the holes on the safety valve (part number 6412267) right away before warm up. If I get this pressure washer in good working order is it one that could get someone started in a part time cleaning business? With my main job I usually have enough time off during warm weather where I've been considering doing something on my own. If this machine could do just that I figure it may be worth a try. I would probably stick to residential and maybe farm machinery. I'm a busy body and work non-stop around the house even when I'm not working I might as well try and make some extra cash. Anyways, I figured I had better start a thread because I know I'll have more questions about it. I'm okay with the engine work it's just the rest of the unit I might need some help with. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.