Interesting set of pressure washer problems

[quentintl17]

Put together a pump, unloader, and motor from different excel pressure washers. Now I have a ton of resistance on the pull cord and have to turn over the pump manually with a ratchet to loosen up and allow it to pull starter. Then motor dies abruptly after a few seconds and is back to high resistance as if it has built up a ton of pressure, but I have the unloader backed way off and no pressure hose or wand attached. Water flows freely through pump.

Is this a bad unloader?