A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

TTRfan · Super Guru

Power washer blues!

peteBLUEttr · Super Guru

I just go to the garage and use the jetwash. It only costs £1.50 per ride. Karchers are £80+ plus the expense of using lots of water, plus the Karchers normally break after a while as yours has Brian, so I just think whats the point..

TTRfan · Super Guru

I see where you are coming from Pete but I use mine mostly for parts rather than the whole bike. Engines, panels, etc.

Also the nearest jet wash is about 4 miles away cry

Brian

locky · Guru

I got a cheap thing from Asda and it lasted 7 years. I now have a cheap Makita one. Fingers crossed :)

Cubber · Super Guru

I've got a Karcher K4 Premium ECO bought from the local B&Q one of their Thursday Senior Sales.

I must admit that I prefer to wash my bikes with buckets and sponges and things.

The K4 is mainly used to clean our block paved drive and other areas.

Martyn

hanzo · Senior Member

I had two karchers both packed up the same problem ...I bought a cheap AA 110 bar washer for 19.99 from a local pound shop and its still going well 3 years later biggrin I even got a free GB map book with it ! Bargain .not the most powerfull but ideal for general cleaning muddy bike ect .

AA HPW 110

-- Edited by hanzo on Thursday 16th of July 2015 03:10:51 PM

TTRfan · Super Guru

I am not good at throwing stuff out so decided to have a look inside the K2.

K2 a.JPG

Stripped it out and got a good spill of oil from the pump mechanism that I wasn't expecting!

Another "screechy" engine situation - can't see anything wrong

I was expecting to see a split or broken plastic moulding....

K2 b.JPG

So I decided to put it back together and run it without the cover to see where the water is escaping but.....

..... a spring and ball bearing dropped out and darned if I can work out how or where exactly it goes back in disbelief

K2 c.JPG

I am pretty sure it came from the soap dispenser pump mechanism coz that was what I was handling at the time - as arrowed above.

But I can't find a way that it will go in such that it is partially trapped. It has to have been not to have fallen out as soon as I took the mechanism apart confuse

I think I am going to have to try the local Recycle Centres for a scrapper to tear apart......

What a time waster eh?

jasparach · Senior Member

It is the pump that goes in them and they are a sealed unit and are
quite frankly rubbish because they cannot be repaired, new pumps have to be
fitted which is not cost effective. A guy that sell pressure washers here in ireland
told me that the only pressure washers to buy are the ones with the brass pumps
and fittings, not the plastic and alloy ones because the seals go in the pumps.
Like you Brian i had two go like that on me and a friend of mine bought one and paid
good money for and it went the same way and when opened could not see anything wrong
in it, took it to be repaired and would have cost as much again to fix it.

John.

TTRfan · Super Guru

Good advice John!

However, I am going to persevere with trying to get this K2 back together again as a learning experience wink

I have realised that the other end of the soap attachment is actually the pressure relief valve hence the ball bearing and spring.

K2 c.JPG

I still can't work out how it goes back in confuse

The ball bearing will sit happily in the white plastic circular part shown on the LH side of the picture. This part moves in and out and switches the motor on and off via an external rod. But how does the spring stay in place confuse

I think I will go and search the bench to see if I can find another part that may have fallen out with it!

Brian

jasparach · Senior Member

I found a parts diagram on ransomspares.co.uk but the link wont
work when i post it on here, and according to that the spring goes first
and the ball bearing sits on top if that makes any sense. That clear plastic
washer type thing that is on the bottom of the smaller piece in your picture, does that
go in first then the spring and the ballbearing followed by the small piece?

TTRfan · Super Guru

You are an absolute star John!!!

I had guessed correctly this afternoon that the ball and spring went behind the plastic cap - just need to check that I have them in the right way around now wink

The next challenge is to work out how the switch goes back together. It sort of popped apart when I took it out and my photos that I took before dis-assembly aren't as good as I had hoped disbelief

K2 e.jpg

comeragh · Senior Member

Had a k2 and now a k4 .
They have both been reliable .
I never turn it on without first running the water through to get air out of system and always release the pressure when finished then spray wd40 into intake .
Maybe i have been lucky .
The k4 is worth the extra money .
Read on a forum that they give problems if put away with water in the system so always drain it and spray i some wd .

TheWizardofOdds · Senior Member

I gave up on them years ago, Brian. I bought a quality hozelock reel and gun with all the gizmos. It cost about £100 +/-and is fantastic. Just use a brush to agitate any ridiculously dirty areas and spray off. Far more reliable than a power washer and good for cars too. Kids love them.