Problem with Century MIG welder.

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I have an old Century MIG 160 amp welder that has worked great up until recently. There is a lot of black soot on the steel when welding and excessive splatter compared to previous welds. This welder is at least 20 years old and has worked great until now. Could this be the gas (argon/co2 mix) going bad or the wire bad? Or just the welder giving up. Any help would be great.
Reply:you are getting too much voltage- causes the spatter. Could be you are holding too much stick out, have the voltage setting too high for the wire diameter or your machine's voltag control is malfunctioning.
Reply:Are you sure you are getting gas cover?  Pop the hose off the machine and check for pressure, as you turn up the regulator.
Reply:I too have an old Century 160 that had some problems. I called the Lincoln/Century tech line and talked to someone about it. He said the most common problem with those machine was the depth/tightness of the point where the gun engages the feed mechanism. I wasn't so lucky. I put a scope on the output and got some weird waveform that made me suspect the rectifiers. I took the little aluminum rectifier assembly apart and tested the individual diodes. They all checked out and I cleaned the aluminum sheet and reassembled the recifier. This was a little difficult to get back together tightly. When I got it back together the machine ran fine. I'm still using it. Those early Made in USA Century machines were surprisingly sturdy and I've been abusing mine for over 12 years. I hope this helps.  - Andy
Reply:Originally Posted by ayglassI wasn't so lucky. I put a scope on the output and got some weird waveform that made me suspect the rectifiers. I took the little aluminum rectifier assembly apart and tested the individual diodes. They all checked out and I cleaned the aluminum sheet and reassembled the recifier. This was a little difficult to get back together tightly. When I got it back together the machine ran fine. I'm still using it. - Andy
Reply:Originally Posted by ayglassI too have an old Century 160 that had some problems. I called the Lincoln/Century tech line and talked to someone about it. He said the most common problem with those machine was the depth/tightness of the point where the gun engages the feed mechanism. I wasn't so lucky. I put a scope on the output and got some weird waveform that made me suspect the rectifiers. I took the little aluminum rectifier assembly apart and tested the individual diodes. They all checked out and I cleaned the aluminum sheet and reassembled the recifier. This was a little difficult to get back together tightly. When I got it back together the machine ran fine. I'm still using it. Those early Made in USA Century machines were surprisingly sturdy and I've been abusing mine for over 12 years. I hope this helps.  - Andy