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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Help, interwebz, help! I have a Honda string trimmer with a Honda four-stroke engine. I bought it used about a year ago and it's always been a little fussy -- I have to let it warm up a couple minutes before I can rev it up. I can deal with that. Now, every couple of minutes it coughs and sputters and if I do nothing, it will stop. Having owned several Honda motorcycles, I am pretty good a blipping the throttle and keeping it from dying, but sometimes it still does. It'll usually start again right away if I give it some choke. I tried OT's solution of squirting Berryman's Carb Cleaner into the carb throat. That didn't work so well: the throat of the carb is about the diameter of a pencil, and even the smallest squirt I could squirt made it die. The previous owner said he "rebuilt" the carb and there is a piece of cut-to-fit gasket where the carb mounts to the intake. The gasket has started to tear off around the mount, but doesn't seem to be torn between the mating surfaces. Any ideas? This weekend I'll start with the usual "fresh gas" and see if that helps.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I learned to use a gas preservative when running small outboards. Might help
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Modern gas messes up carburetors pretty quickly if the motor is allowed to sit unused. Fuel stabilizers help a little but are not 100%. Using race gas solves the problem but it’s expensive and not always easy to find. You’re probably going to have to boil out the carburetor.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Mine has a two-stroke engine, and requires a combo of gas and oil, mixed in the gas canister. | |||
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Is that the same as dipping it in solvent that will dissolve the accumulated [technical term]gunk[/technical term] inside the carburetor? | |||
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
After owning a few mopeds and scooters, a Suzuki GT380, a Suzuki GT550, two chainsaws, a string trimmer, and something else I'm forgetting, I have sworn I will never own another two-stroke engine as long as I live. Auto mixers never worked right. Premix is a pain in the butt. I'd invariably end up with one that requires 25:1 and one that requires 50:1. I bought a Ryobi four-stroke trimmer off the return/clearance rack at Home Despot a couple years ago. It was great. It also seemed to have more torque than the two-strokes. It was stolen out of my carport. Then I bought the Honda. Oh, I remember... many years ago my now-ex bought me an Echo (two-stroke) backpack blower for my birthday. I used it a couple of times then sold it to my neighbor. I find a broom and a rake work just fine. My current scooter not only has a four-stroke, it also has fuel injection... or at least an automatic choke that works perfectly. At this point in my life, two-strokes would be fun to tinker on, but not what I want for a reliable source of power.
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Minor Deity |
I just bought a cub cadet 4-stroke strimmer (as they call them in the UK!) and I have to let it warm up a minute or so as well. I can't believe I'd ever hear myself saying this, but I will never get a 2-stroke engine again either!
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
There's a gas station about ten miles from me that sells alcohol-free gas at regular prices. I may go out there this weekend and grab a gallon. I think the carb doesn't have a float bowl since it works at (almost?) any angle. Not sure if that makes a difference in trying to clean the thing out... on a bike, I'd pull the float bowl off and spray de-gunker up through the jet.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
That's actually one of the beauties of Oklahoma. Many gas stations, including the one closest to the house, sell ethanol-free gas. It's a few dimes per gallon more expensive, but it ain't $15 a gallon like racing fuel is. | |||
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Well, if I decide that the carb is fubar, a new one is a whopping $14. The rebuild kit is $6. Yootoob has videos showing the complete rebuild. Also for a valve adjustment. Oh, and the guy in the one video I watched said never to use carb cleaner on a GX31 carb because it will damage the plastic bits. Lessee... the rebuild video is 25 minutes. Let's call that half an hour to include a potty break. If my local shop charges $50 an hour, plus parts, I'd probably shell out at least $40 for a rebuild. Or I can get a replacement carb for $14. Hmmmm...
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Huh. So who is supporting the local corn-based ethanol economy?
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
By the way, I have another trimmer out at my trailer. It's a LEHR and runs on propane. It's awesome. No need to store gasoline and keep it from going stale from season to season. Just screw on one of those little 16.4 oz bottles and go. It is also a 4-stroke engine. Unfortunately, it appears LEHR has stopped making the trimmers. They were available on amazon, at Sears (branded Craftsman), and elsewhere. I'd buy another one for home in a heartbeat.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Well, here it is, a year later and I'm still having the same problem. The strimmer starts fine, but after 15 or 20 minutes of strimming, it won't idle -- below about 1/4 throttle, it just quits. No, I haven't picked up a gallon of ethanol-free gas, yet. Maybe I'll do that this weekend when do my Costco run. One thing that *may* be at work here... I rarely open the thing up beyond 1/2 throttle. I'm not trying to cut down anything too monstrous. So, I'm wondering if the thing is getting gunked up from running at just-above-idle for long periods. I do vary the throttle as I'm using it, both from the natural sweeping side-to-side, and if I'm just buzzing grass, I only run it as fast as needed to do the job. Any further thoughts?
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
 Did you get a new carburetor?
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Does it have a fuel filter or a strainer in the petcock? Those symptoms sound like there could be a partial clog on in the fuel line.
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