Great white
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2009
- Messages
- 175
I inherited my Dad's little pressure washer when he passed several years ago. Mom had no use for it, sister didn't want it and my brother wouldn't know what to do with it if you showed him.
It's a Karcher G2000 MK:
Nothing really special, entry level stuff at the time. Some type of Honda copy engine (Legacy 87cc), 2000 psi and 2.0 GPM pump. Wand/gun works, but isn't anything special. Pressure hose is about as hard as a solid piece of plastic, only about 20 ft long and will kink off the water if you look at it wrong.
It gets used spring and fall to clean the house siding and the front and rear deck as well as washing the cars through the summer.
It's somewhere around 20 years old and Dad was a "use it until it dies" kind of guy. He used it a couple times and left it out in the shed over winter every year he owned it. I have no idea how it didn't freeze and split as dad never really did much maintenance on his stuff so I'm sure he put it away full of water. It still had the original "Chinese" spark plug and I doubt he ever even changed the oil. Preventative maintenance just wasn't his thing. It's somehow still a healthy pump though as it will cut wood on the tightest stream and has no problem blasting the black moldy stuff that accumulates on the deck boards with a reasonably tight fan pattern. Seems to be one tough little ******.
When I got it. it was pretty cosmetically "distressed", but seemed to work well enough. I changed out the spark plug and changed the oil and do the same at the end of every season.
This year, I did a big tear down on it as I had to go over the carb anyways. It's slowly been needing more and more choke to keep the rpms from going through the roof, so I figured jets and/or passages were getting varnished up and going leaner and leaner. Carb base gasket tore when the carb was removed, so I just glued it back together and used it as a pattern to cut a new one out of a roll of gasket paper I always keep on hand. I've got some old small engine stuff hanging around and you just never know when a gasket isn't going to be available anymore.
Tore it down to the frame, leaving the internal engine bits intact and the pump installed. was running fine before tear down, no need to take it apart to inspect it. Tearing it down further just woudl have meant more expense and possibly ruining "unavailable" parts.
Carb went into the ultrasonic and came out spotless.
Spark plug and oil changed obviously.
A lot of the black plastic had gone that whitish haze, so a little Meguiars "Back to Black" refreshed it nicely.
The shroud got a compounding, polishing and a wax, bringing the red back to its original color.
Muffler was still in good shape but the heat shield had seen better days. A little flat black header paint refreshed it nicely.
Mud wasp nests and sorted grease and grime was cleaned off the engine assembly.
The frame got a cleaning, as the paint is still OK. It's a "crinkle" paint so there were a few white paint scrapes (where it had been dragged against something white) that I had to clean out.
At this point, I figured it was worth spending a little extra on the old rig since it's always given me good service. Keep in mind my prices are in Canadian dollars, USD would be a little less.
The original wand/gun still works fine, but attachments are virtually nonexistent for it by now. I needed something with a 1/4" quick connect for what I had planned. Amazon turns up something for 50 bucks that looks at least halfway decent:
I figured for 50 bucks, I could at least use the fittings if it's junk. It arrives and it turns out it's pretty good! Everything fits nicely, the plastic doesn't creak, flex or move and everything inside is either brass or stainless. The black parts are "rubberized" and it fits nicely in the hand. It's perhaps a little on the heavier side, but I account that to the solid feeling construction. trigger pull is a touch heavy and it doesn't come all the way flush with the grip, but what can you expect for 50 bucks. You could buy an MTM gun instead and not have to deal with that stuff, but you're going to pay 3-4 times more for it and no attachments. For the price break, I can deal with a few "shortcomings" in a home use environment. Maybe if I was a car detailer it might be a different story, but I'm not. I'm just an average homeowner and the price break is worth it (so far).
Then I look for something to wash the undercarriage. We live in a heavily salted area in winter, so being able to spray the undercarriage off occasionally is helpful. We undercoat, but getting the salt off only helps quell corrosion issues. Another $50 gets me this:
You can find them cheaper, but this one looked like a little bit better construction. Shows up and yes, it is fairly well built for a Chinese product. A nice side bonus is the extensions will work with the gun extensions, which will make reaching the eaves on the house siding a little easier. The wash mitt is junk, so it goes in the back of a cabinet somewhere. I might use it for something that's not "scratch critical" sometime. Like washing the mower deck or similar.
The original pressure hose was still good, but it's short which required dragging the pressure washer around several times when even just washing my truck. Major pain. I figure a 50 footer would be better and settle on the "Flexilla" brand:
That cost me a little more than a hundy, but all the hoses seem to be expensive if they're the "better" ones.
Then, a set of quick connectors for the pressure hose so I don't have to fight the o-rings on and off the pump/gun when I coil up the hose:
25 bucks, stainless. I ended up ordering a second set for other accessories as well.
I've never owned a "Foam gun", but I figured I'd try one just to see what all the fuss was about if nothing else:
Most reviews seem to indicate the differences between "expensive" and "cheap" guns aren't that great until you get into the really expensive guns, so I picked one that used the same gun portion as the wand I ordered. I figured if nothing else, one could be used for parts if the other breaks.
I also read that changing the foam cannon nozzle out to a 1mm nozzle (vice the 1.25 most of the cheap ones come with) gave better foaming action, so 10 bucks gets me a set with filters:
Couldn't hurt and only 10 bucks so can't get too hurt in the wallet if they don't do anything.
Finally, 30 years in Helo SAR has my bod pretty busted up. Bending down with a wash mitt can get pretty painful and if not painful, it tires me out really fast. So I took a 30 dollar chance on a microfiber wash brush:
One of the few that gets decent reviews and makes specific mention of it NOT collapsing once extended. Comes with a couple microfiber covers. I'll see if it's worth it once it gets here. Big determining factor will be how the microfiber is as I'm always careful to make sure nothing scratches paint or leaves those "spiderweb/paint swirl" effects.
Here's Dad's old pressure washer after it's refresh:
I didn't bother with that small spot of missing paint on the frame as that's where I rest my foot when starting it. Touching it up would only mean it would be abraded off again after a couple starts. Now that I think of it, I may cut a little piece of rubber mat and glue it on that spot. Better grip for my boot and a bit of weather protection for the steel frame. Will look better too.
I'm looking to either fabricate or 3d print something to hold the accessories and wands on the pressure washer so I don't have to go hunting for them when/if I need them.
Not too bad for something roughly 20+ years old that was pretty much abused for most of it's life. Dad would be impressed with it now, but more that I've got it still running and looking good. As I mentioned, he was a "use it until it dies" guy....
It's a Karcher G2000 MK:
Nothing really special, entry level stuff at the time. Some type of Honda copy engine (Legacy 87cc), 2000 psi and 2.0 GPM pump. Wand/gun works, but isn't anything special. Pressure hose is about as hard as a solid piece of plastic, only about 20 ft long and will kink off the water if you look at it wrong.
It gets used spring and fall to clean the house siding and the front and rear deck as well as washing the cars through the summer.
It's somewhere around 20 years old and Dad was a "use it until it dies" kind of guy. He used it a couple times and left it out in the shed over winter every year he owned it. I have no idea how it didn't freeze and split as dad never really did much maintenance on his stuff so I'm sure he put it away full of water. It still had the original "Chinese" spark plug and I doubt he ever even changed the oil. Preventative maintenance just wasn't his thing. It's somehow still a healthy pump though as it will cut wood on the tightest stream and has no problem blasting the black moldy stuff that accumulates on the deck boards with a reasonably tight fan pattern. Seems to be one tough little ******.
When I got it. it was pretty cosmetically "distressed", but seemed to work well enough. I changed out the spark plug and changed the oil and do the same at the end of every season.
This year, I did a big tear down on it as I had to go over the carb anyways. It's slowly been needing more and more choke to keep the rpms from going through the roof, so I figured jets and/or passages were getting varnished up and going leaner and leaner. Carb base gasket tore when the carb was removed, so I just glued it back together and used it as a pattern to cut a new one out of a roll of gasket paper I always keep on hand. I've got some old small engine stuff hanging around and you just never know when a gasket isn't going to be available anymore.
Tore it down to the frame, leaving the internal engine bits intact and the pump installed. was running fine before tear down, no need to take it apart to inspect it. Tearing it down further just woudl have meant more expense and possibly ruining "unavailable" parts.
Carb went into the ultrasonic and came out spotless.
Spark plug and oil changed obviously.
A lot of the black plastic had gone that whitish haze, so a little Meguiars "Back to Black" refreshed it nicely.
The shroud got a compounding, polishing and a wax, bringing the red back to its original color.
Muffler was still in good shape but the heat shield had seen better days. A little flat black header paint refreshed it nicely.
Mud wasp nests and sorted grease and grime was cleaned off the engine assembly.
The frame got a cleaning, as the paint is still OK. It's a "crinkle" paint so there were a few white paint scrapes (where it had been dragged against something white) that I had to clean out.
At this point, I figured it was worth spending a little extra on the old rig since it's always given me good service. Keep in mind my prices are in Canadian dollars, USD would be a little less.
The original wand/gun still works fine, but attachments are virtually nonexistent for it by now. I needed something with a 1/4" quick connect for what I had planned. Amazon turns up something for 50 bucks that looks at least halfway decent:
I figured for 50 bucks, I could at least use the fittings if it's junk. It arrives and it turns out it's pretty good! Everything fits nicely, the plastic doesn't creak, flex or move and everything inside is either brass or stainless. The black parts are "rubberized" and it fits nicely in the hand. It's perhaps a little on the heavier side, but I account that to the solid feeling construction. trigger pull is a touch heavy and it doesn't come all the way flush with the grip, but what can you expect for 50 bucks. You could buy an MTM gun instead and not have to deal with that stuff, but you're going to pay 3-4 times more for it and no attachments. For the price break, I can deal with a few "shortcomings" in a home use environment. Maybe if I was a car detailer it might be a different story, but I'm not. I'm just an average homeowner and the price break is worth it (so far).
Then I look for something to wash the undercarriage. We live in a heavily salted area in winter, so being able to spray the undercarriage off occasionally is helpful. We undercoat, but getting the salt off only helps quell corrosion issues. Another $50 gets me this:
You can find them cheaper, but this one looked like a little bit better construction. Shows up and yes, it is fairly well built for a Chinese product. A nice side bonus is the extensions will work with the gun extensions, which will make reaching the eaves on the house siding a little easier. The wash mitt is junk, so it goes in the back of a cabinet somewhere. I might use it for something that's not "scratch critical" sometime. Like washing the mower deck or similar.
The original pressure hose was still good, but it's short which required dragging the pressure washer around several times when even just washing my truck. Major pain. I figure a 50 footer would be better and settle on the "Flexilla" brand:
That cost me a little more than a hundy, but all the hoses seem to be expensive if they're the "better" ones.
Then, a set of quick connectors for the pressure hose so I don't have to fight the o-rings on and off the pump/gun when I coil up the hose:
25 bucks, stainless. I ended up ordering a second set for other accessories as well.
I've never owned a "Foam gun", but I figured I'd try one just to see what all the fuss was about if nothing else:
Most reviews seem to indicate the differences between "expensive" and "cheap" guns aren't that great until you get into the really expensive guns, so I picked one that used the same gun portion as the wand I ordered. I figured if nothing else, one could be used for parts if the other breaks.
I also read that changing the foam cannon nozzle out to a 1mm nozzle (vice the 1.25 most of the cheap ones come with) gave better foaming action, so 10 bucks gets me a set with filters:
Couldn't hurt and only 10 bucks so can't get too hurt in the wallet if they don't do anything.
Finally, 30 years in Helo SAR has my bod pretty busted up. Bending down with a wash mitt can get pretty painful and if not painful, it tires me out really fast. So I took a 30 dollar chance on a microfiber wash brush:
One of the few that gets decent reviews and makes specific mention of it NOT collapsing once extended. Comes with a couple microfiber covers. I'll see if it's worth it once it gets here. Big determining factor will be how the microfiber is as I'm always careful to make sure nothing scratches paint or leaves those "spiderweb/paint swirl" effects.
Here's Dad's old pressure washer after it's refresh:
I didn't bother with that small spot of missing paint on the frame as that's where I rest my foot when starting it. Touching it up would only mean it would be abraded off again after a couple starts. Now that I think of it, I may cut a little piece of rubber mat and glue it on that spot. Better grip for my boot and a bit of weather protection for the steel frame. Will look better too.
I'm looking to either fabricate or 3d print something to hold the accessories and wands on the pressure washer so I don't have to go hunting for them when/if I need them.
Not too bad for something roughly 20+ years old that was pretty much abused for most of it's life. Dad would be impressed with it now, but more that I've got it still running and looking good. As I mentioned, he was a "use it until it dies" guy....
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