Originally Posted by
voyager_663rd
As said, I only removed the back plate and carb, not the head.
BUT watching an unrelated dissassembly vid, I note that there is also carb O-ring. Now, I really don't remember if/what I did with it. Hopefully I put it back in place? Dunno. I really have to remove the engine and partially disassemble it again and see what's what. If it is missing, it's probably where my leak is and not the rear gasket.
Thanks for the tips but I have some work to do so until next time ........
Just checked one of my New-In-Box, and yes there is an o-ring. Not super critical as to size, as long as you can compress the new enough to get the retaining screws back in. Your local hardware store may have "close enough". Since you have to remove the engine, take it all with to the hardware store, so you can try out different sizes. Not having one would surely cause the issues you have seen with poor ability to draw fuel and set the needle. Good to hear you didn't disturb the head/liner, so unlikely you have any issue there. Just check the head bolts for tightness. If there is a shim/gasket for the head (I haven't torn mine down to check), it will be metal and not bothered at all by the cleaning method.