String Trimmer Help

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. May. 23, 2015 8:56 pm

That was a very scary picture. :bag:

Flyer5 · Post by **Flyer5** » Sat. May. 23, 2015 11:02 pm

SWPaDon wrote:That was a very scary picture. :bag:

I bet I can guess who she voted for.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. May. 23, 2015 11:07 pm

Flyer5 wrote:
SWPaDon wrote:That was a very scary picture. :bag:
I bet I can guess who she voted for.

I bet you are correct.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 12:03 pm

Rob R. wrote:My Stihl trimmer is in its 6th season and continues to run well. Fresh gas is very important.

I had to take some of my own advice and dump a gallon of mixed gas. It was only about 5 weeks old, but I couldn't get my trimmer to run correctly. I thought there was something else wrong with it...I went so far as to remove the carb, give it a thorough cleaning (even though it looked fine), new spark plug, and cleaned the screen on the muffler. Even after all of that it did not idle well and would "bog" when ever I hit the throttle. I tried to richen it up a little, but that seemed to make very little difference.

Is there a shelf life on the 2-stoke oil? I have been using the same Stihl "HP Ultra" oil for the last 4-5 years, so I decided to try something different. I bought a few pouches of Opti-2 synthetic and mixed it up with a gallon of 91 octane marine gas. After I fired the trimmer up with the fresh gas I was shocked. It runs like a completely new piece of equipment! Idles perfectly, crispy throttle response, no visible smoke! I am not sure if the old gas was just poor quality, or if the change in oil or non-ethanol gas was the cure.

Post by **franco b** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 12:24 pm

I use the Opti 2 oil and Stabil as well. runs fine on 2 year old gas.

grumpy · Post by **grumpy** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 12:36 pm

franco b wrote:I use the Opti 2 oil and Stabil as well. runs fine on 2 year old gas.

Thats what I use, my gear runs really well on it...

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 1:10 pm

Rob, I've never seen an issue with the age of 2 cycle oil. The problem always points to the GAS,ethanol gasoline only has a short life span if not treated with an enzyme product. I have used Star*Tron for many yrs now with great results,but I always use premium grade gas too. Some day I would like to find a source close by for ethanol free gas to use in all outdoor power equipment.Regardless of the brand of treatment used,always make sure that the product is an enzyme fuel treatment product,not just a fuel stabilizer treatment as the old formula Stabil is.

grumpy · Post by **grumpy** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 1:19 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:Rob, I've never seen an issue with the age of 2 cycle oil. The problem always points to the GAS,ethanol gasoline only has a short life span if not treated with an enzyme product. I have used Star*Tron for many yrs now with great results,but I always use premium grade gas too. Some day I would like to find a source close by for ethanol free gas to use in all outdoor power equipment.Regardless of the brand of treatment used,always make sure that the product is an enzyme fuel treatment product,not just a fuel stabilizer treatment as the old formula Stabil is.

http://www.buyrealgas.com/Pennsylvania.html

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 1:27 pm

Thanks, Grumpy. My problem is that I have 2 gas stations 1/2 mile away,it is hard for me to think in terms of driving 20+ miles for ethanol free gas. We probably use an average of 8 gallons weekly with our use & what is used in customer equipment in our shop.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 1:31 pm

Two months ago my local station (2.5 miles) replaced all their tanks and pumps and now sell 91 octane non ethanol instead of 93 octane E10. I have switched all my small equipment over to 91.

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Sun. Jun. 28, 2015 2:19 pm

Starts at 9:00 the beginning of the process of cleaning the carb ...

Post by **Rob R.** » Sat. Jul. 04, 2015 8:22 am

I spoke too soon. Trimmer ran like a bandit for 2 days and now won't start at all, blows gasoline out the exhaust when I pull it over.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Jul. 04, 2015 11:38 am

I'm using some mixed ethanol gas left over from last summer. It even smells old. I do need to run the choke slightly engaged for it to have snappy throttle response. I should probably mix up some fresh.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Jul. 04, 2015 3:31 pm

Lightning wrote:I'm using some mixed ethanol gas left over from last summer. It even smells old. I do need to run the choke slightly engaged for it to have snappy throttle response. I should probably mix up some fresh.

Continued use of that old,nasty fuel will cause you far more grief than the fuel is worth.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Jul. 04, 2015 4:40 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:Continued use of that old,nasty fuel will cause you far more grief than the fuel is worth.

Yeah, you definitely could be right with that..