Small Engine question

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Greensboro, NC
I have a Troy-Bilt 4 cycle Trimmer. It's about 3-4 years old and has always started on the 2nd pull until this season. As of right now It's takes a lot of pulling to get it to run and then it will only run for a few seconds. At the start of the season it would run, but it would only run at idle. anything off idle and it would die.

What I've done so far:
rebuilt Carb
swapped carbs
Checked plug
swapped fuel
Changed Fuel cap
Gone through carb 3 times checking for anything I missed.

It feels like it has good compression from pulling the cord. and when it runs, it runs good.

Only way I can get it to run right now is to spray starter fluid and wait about 2 minutes then pull it 6-8 times. Then it'll run for about 15 seconds and die.

It's really starting to piss me off. any thoughts?
 
Get a new one. Honestly. I dealt with this same issue and its just more headache than its worth really. Mine would run for about 5 minutes and then it would be a huge PITA. A nice Echo or Stihl and you won't have these issues anymore. We live in a throw away world these days, not everything's made to last.

Just my opinion, it may be fixable though.
 
New carb or swapped in an old carb?
Rebuilding carbs does not work like it used to now that we have ethanol to eat ateverything.
It should have a fuel filter in the gas tank. Bend a U in a piece of wire and fish it out and replace it.
Load the Pure Gas app on your phone and use ONLY ethanol free fuel in any small equipment.
But as said before, homeowner products are basically disposable.
Also check rubber fuel linesforholes
 
Thanks RQ. The place I stop on the way to work has non-ethanol. I haven't, but I should be using it. as for carbs, I swapped an old carb. I looked at all the parts that are effected by the ethanol and either put in new ones or inspected for problems. All looked good and actually looked brand damn new. Sprayed out all ports and they're clear. But who knows, maybe I missed something or it's not apparent to the layman. I'll try the filter in the tank.
 
Does the carb have a bowl?. if so have you to took the bowl bolt out of the bottom and made sure the holes in it are clean all the way through?
 
Had same problem with my Troy-Built, turned out bearing in trimmer head was bad and bogging motor down under load.
 
Mine done the same thing. It was actually the fuel line inside the tank was brittle cracked and it was sucking air. I would check that while you are checking the filter in the tank.
 
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