2-stroke no-start saga

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
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Stokesdale-Greensboro
WTF is my problem with 2-stroke equipment. I have a Husqvarna chainsaw (137e from Northern), about 7 years old now, used it maybe 10 times. Last time I used it, it was a bear to start, had to drain the old gas mix out, got it running on throttle body cleaner, then new mix (with premium gas). It didnt run quite right, seemed to stumble and never got to full power, stalled occasionally.
Today, I tried to fire it up with same gas mix, no go. I got it to start and idle a few times, but it would bog down and die with any throttle.
Took the air cleaner off, it didnt look bad, couldnt get it to restart without it.
Spark plug looked OK, a little black/oily, gap was spot on spec (0.025"), and I was getting a decent blue spark.
Figured it had to be the gas mix, so I went got some ethanol free 92 octane 50:1 premix (this stuff) and a new spark plug. Still no start. The new plug had much smaller contacts (electrode and center post?), I couldnt see any spark when I grounded the plug, so I put the old one back in.
One thing I noticed when digging thru the paperwork was that it wants 40:1 mix. Oops, is that gonna be bad?

Now a month ago, I got a reman Husqvarna weed whacker from Northern, used the same old mix, it kept dying on the first use. The pull start rope broke as I was trying to restart, so I jsut brought that back, got my money back.
I've heard ethanol wreaks havoc on power equipment, thats why I've started using premium. Do I need to more careful with the mix, or use some fuel stabilizer, or something else? Guess I just need to get a treeman out here.
 
You need to clean the carb really well. I went through that with my husky saw. Then start using the correct mix and adding stabil to the fuel. They make one thag helps with ethanol.
 
Carb is always my problem on weed wackers, ive had to rebuild two stihls b/c of shit in carb stihl wouldnt fix b/c it was a gas related problem said alot of them been doing it, i was like well shouldnt that mean you need to fix the damn problem!!!
 
My 2 strokes say 87 octane is fine, no need to use 92. Use the right oil/gas mix and I use Stabil in every gas can I fill, no matter if its straight gas for the mower or premix for the weed eater, blower, edger, chainsaw, etc. Stay away from E85. Too much ethenol and it will cause major problems. Just read an article in the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute journal about E85 and my Toro dealer has given me some good info.
 
Any gas with ethanol will cause problems in small engines. Use 93 octane gas, and only use enough to complete the task you are doing. Dont let gas sit in the tank or bowl and the ethanol wont absorb water.
 
- check fuel lines - and there's another line whose name I cannot remember which when deteriorating can cause issues. On weedeaters there's a second fuel line coming from the primer bulb, make sure it's in good condition else the carb will not get it's fuel charge.
 
Hurley said:
- check fuel lines - and there's another line whose name I cannot remember which when deteriorating can cause issues. On weedeaters there's a second fuel line coming from the primer bulb, make sure it's in good condition else the carb will not get it's fuel charge.
Click to expand...
Yep. Pretty much had to change all the lines in my 2 stroke equip (except the new stilh) this year. The pickup tube broke off in the tank on all of them and the rest of the lines were all very brittle. Picked up new lines from tractor supply, swapped them all out and all is good again.

As for the OP, sounds like the carb needs to come apart for a good cleaning.
 
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