bigrhino
Full Access Member
What part of SC? I have family in Senaca.
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Should buy Stihl. I have had my Stihl chainsaw and weed eater for 10-15 years also, also with zero problems. I leave them full in the winter. Never an issue, they both start with 1-2 pulls every spring.Where you really run into an issue is where the equipment uses a little rubber diaphragm to pump or regulate fuel.
Most mowers are just gravity feed into the carb, then just your standard venturi effect through the jets.
Those don't really have an issue, unless you store it with fuel in the carb.
With trimmers and chainsaws, you have a metering diaphragm that goes bad.
Say on my chain saw, it's common for it to sit for long periods unused.
I always try and test it before i take it out to loan it or what ever.
I try and keep a minimum of two carb kits on hand for it... lol
If i let it sit with fuel, then i usually need to slap in a new diaphragm at a minimum.
My boat, is a 4 cylinder 1800cc (iirc) two stroke.
It has to pull fuel from a larger tank that sits lower than the engine.
It has two diaphragm fuel pumps.
Those go hard and you end up running lean if you're not on top of it.
Pure gas in theory makes it las longer.
But those diaphragms get replaced yearly, along with the water pump impeller.
I run my saw out of gas after the season is over or if it will sit more than 30 days.Where you really run into an issue is where the equipment uses a little rubber diaphragm to pump or regulate fuel.
Most mowers are just gravity feed into the carb, then just your standard venturi effect through the jets.
Those don't really have an issue, unless you store it with fuel in the carb.
With trimmers and chainsaws, you have a metering diaphragm that goes bad.
Say on my chain saw, it's common for it to sit for long periods unused.
I always try and test it before i take it out to loan it or what ever.
I try and keep a minimum of two carb kits on hand for it... lol
If i let it sit with fuel, then i usually need to slap in a new diaphragm at a minimum.
My boat, is a 4 cylinder 1800cc (iirc) two stroke.
It has to pull fuel from a larger tank that sits lower than the engine.
It has two diaphragm fuel pumps.
Those go hard and you end up running lean if you're not on top of it.
Pure gas in theory makes it las longer.
But those diaphragms get replaced yearly, along with the water pump impeller.
Where in SC? I'm in Spartanburg (NE corner between Atlanta and Charlotte). Nice rig. I have those same headlights.View attachment 370425
Put 1500 miles on her driving to SC & back up to Maryland. Ran great with the exception of the E85 issue
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Should buy Stihl. I have had my Stihl chainsaw and weed eater for 10-15 years also, also with zero problems. I leave them full in the winter. Never an issue, they both start with 1-2 pulls every spring.
I run my saw out of gas after the season is over or if it will sit more than 30 days.
I have always stored my equipment dry with no gas in them.
I do run on non-ethanol premium tho too.
But nit the boat, thats a good point about the boat.
I like Echo, as well. I've had good luck with their trimmers and whatnots.I am a big Echo fan. I run this fuel in my 2 strokes, 95 octane premix with stabilizer. I get it cheap from my job:
For my straight gas lawn tractor and 2 stroke Evinrude I run 89 octane and this year round. I even run some through the Hoe from time to time:
I like Echo, as well. I've had good luck with their trimmers and whatnots.
Their trimmer kicks butt! Very torquey! Runs very strong. Just firing it up and idling gives me a b-o-n-e-r.
A little extra oil never hurt these engines.My SRM-210 trimmer looks like hell but always fires up and has plenty of power. I got it 12+ years ago from a neighbor who got it off the side of the road. It fell off a lawn trailer when a truck passed and skidded under his truck, between the wheels. It didn't run long for him cuz he ran it with no air filter (lost when it fell and he didn't know any better). I cleaned the carb and bought a new air filter and cover and have been wielding it ever since. Once warm, I can start it by pinching the pull handle with my finger and thumb and giving it a very half-assed little yank, maybe one or two compression stroke's worth.
My PB-500T backpack blower (gift from ex-wife) seized after very little use- easily less than 10 hours. I broke it in per manufacturer's specs, always let it warm up and cool down, etc. I rebuilt it and started running 32:1 ratio using synthetic oil and high octane gasoline.
Both barely smoke and it's only visible at idle. 32:1 is a hair too strong but it's harmless and really easy to measure out so I run with that. Between that and the high octane, I've noticed smoother and higher revving from both.
I'd say Stihl is king, but Echo is close in reliability for considerably less cost.