Power Washer trouble

[Larry Browning]

A couple years ago I bought a new Karcher gas powered pressure washer. It worked fine for about 15 minutes, then it started pulsating and losing pressure. I thought that maybe it had clogged up or something like that, but could not find anything, but it still would not work properly. I thought that maybe my water pressure was too low. Anyway, I put it away and didn't even bother with it for a whole year. I made due with the electric model I have had for several years. I took it to a repair shop and 6 weeks and $30 later I was told they could find anything wrong with it.
One day my son asked if he could borrow my pressure washer, and I took the gas one over to his house in town thinking it might work better over there since he had very good water pressure at his house. But it didn't work for him either.
I was inspired to get to the bottom of this problem. I did a whole bunch of googling and found a few tips in there, but nothing has worked. I took the pump off and apart, and I can't see anythng broken of plugged up in there, it just doesn't seem to work and I have run out of things to try. The silly thing has a really nice honda 5.5 HP engine that runs like a top, but it is just useless. I spent over $300 on the thing and it is just a shame that it doesn't work.
I am looking for any advice I can get as to how to fix this thing. But in the mean time I have a question that I cannot seem to find the answer to despite all my googling. One thing that I have discovered is that Karcher is considered to be the lowest of the low end brands. In fact I had trouble even finding a repair shop that would take it on. Most said, "Well the main thing wrong with it is that it is a Karcher, we don't work on those". So I was wondering if anyone knows if there is another brand of pump that would would mount to the engine? I would hate to replace the pump only to have the same problem. All this thing is is a Karcher pump and a Honda engine anyway, so if I replaced the pump with a good one, it would no longer be a karcher.

Sorry this post is so long, but I'm just long winded by nature.

[Rob Russell]

Go to a place like Northerntool. Look at the pressure washers, Accessories section, pumps.

You can get a cat pump for about $300 designed for a 5HP engine. There's even a review of the pump from someone who mounted it on a 5HP Honda and is pleased as punch with it.

Cat pumps have a good reputation.

[Tim Morton]

I might have the same ( or similar ) pressure washer as you. I bought it at HD and it has a beautiful honda motor and a POS karcher pump...which died during the first yesar i owned it. I tried getting service or warnteee and that was useless. A little research produced this pump and it is going on 4 years now with no problems. You just have to match the pump to the style of mounting that yours has.

http://www.pressureparts.com/Pressure-Part-GXH2525A-PKG.aspx

[John Fricke]

I have been around a few of these budget washers. I have no idea if this is your problem but my experience has been that the intake screen plugs or is too restricitive. These pumps don't like to work to get their water. I would try and replace the intake screen with a coarser one or remove it altogether.

[Dave Lehnert]

I own a Lowe's Troy Built and it has worked good for my needs but after purchasing it I found out a few things.

you MUST use the pump saver antifreeze every winter. If the water freezes, the pump is trash.

The pumps on the low end units are only rated for 40 hours of use. No reason to spend extra $$$ for a Honda engine. A Briggs engine will outlast the pump by a long shot.

A PW with a good pump is in the $900 range.

[Larry Browning]

I might have the same ( or similar ) pressure washer as you. I bought it at HD and it has a beautiful honda motor and a POS karcher pump...which died during the first yesar i owned it. I tried getting service or warnteee and that was useless. A little research produced this pump and it is going on 4 years now with no problems. You just have to match the pump to the style of mounting that yours has.

http://www.pressureparts.com/Pressure-Part-GXH2525A-PKG.aspx

Tim, mine is a vertical shaft with a 4 bolt mount directly to the engine body. The one you listed is for a horizontal mount. But that is the kind of thing I am looking for. I guess I am just destined to spend another $300 to get something that actually works.:(

[Larry Browning]

Go to a place like Northerntool. Look at the pressure washers, Accessories section, pumps.

You can get a cat pump for about $300 designed for a 5HP engine. There's even a review of the pump from someone who mounted it on a 5HP Honda and is pleased as punch with it.

Cat pumps have a good reputation.

Rob,
If those will mount vertically I may get one. I think I will call them tomorrow and speak with one of the reps. I will get my model numbers together before I do.

[Larry Browning]

BTW: It is model G2500VH
Here is a link to a picture of it on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WEPDJC/ref=asc_df_B000WEPDJC797583?smid=AW3F53NIH3BR3&tag=dealt3938-20&linkCode=asn)

[Dick Strauss]

Larry,
My cheap electric PW used to do something similar until I realized it was actually air in the line. So I ran more water through the wand with the power off until it quit hisssing and popping. Once the hissing and popping of the air escaping the wand had ended, I let the water run another minute or two just in case. Then I turned on the pump and I was in business.

[AL Ursich]

Air Bound pump.....:eek:

AL

[Larry Browning]

I have always run the water through the unit until it runs steady. It sometimes take as much as a couple of minutes.

What is "Air bound pump"?

I do not believe this is my problem. I think there is something seriously wrong with the pump. Everything I have read about these Karcher pumps is negative. I swear, the stupid thing ran for about 15 minutes and then something broke inside. I have been trying to find a replacement for this pump that is NOT a Karcher, but no joy so far. At this point I am pretty convinced that the mounting hole pattern is propitiatory to Karcher. I will not waste any more money on this piece of junk pump or one like it. If I cannot find a decent replacemnet pump I guess this will just be an expensive lesson. Maybe I can find a use for the engine someday. If anybody has been able to find a replacement vertical mount pump with a square 4 bolt pattern spaced 2.5" apart, plese let me know the source. I found one 4 bolt pattern that has about a 6" spacing, but that is about it. Almost everything is a 3 bolt pattern with a pretty wide spacing. I can't find anything close to the 2.5 spacing anywhere except for a karcher.

[Pat Germain]

I borrowed a gas powered pressure washer from my boss years ago. It worked very well, but my boss said I couldn't let the engine run for more than a few minutes without pressing the trigger and spraying water. He explained it had a relief valve which was designed to pop out if too much pressure built up inside the pump from letting the engine run without spraying water. He also said the pressure washer came with one replacement relief valve, but after that, he'd have to order them.

So, it's a longshot, but I thought I would mention this just in case the Karcher pump may have blown a relief valve. That would explain why it would quit working after only 15 minutes of use.

[Larry Browning]

I have finally discovered the problem with this piece of junk pump.
Turns out 2 of the 3 pistons had the spring keeper come off preventing them from operating. The keepers are made of spring steel and just snap into a grove at the top of the piston. The reason they came off was that part of keeper was broken. Apparently you cannot purchase the keeper separately from the piston so I was going to have to buy 2 pistons at $37 a piece to replace a 10 cent part. ARRRGH:mad: So I thought that before I spent $80 on this piece of junk I would try to fix it with a little southern engineering. I managed to get the keepers back onto the pistons, which was a pretty difficult task even though there was a big chunk of the keeper missing on one side (good thing I thought). I decided to give it a try without even trying to patch the keeper. And to my great surprise it actually worked! I was able to pressure wash the siding on the whole end of the garage (which took about 30 minutes or so). I really don't have too much confidence in those keepers staying in place too much longer, but at least I will know what's wrong when it stops working again. I will then try to come up with a way to patch the keeper or maybe try to rig up some sort of way to replace it with a washer or something.