[Shop-talk] string trimmer engine won't run

[Eric Murray]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 09:21:52PM -0700, Brian Kemp wrote:
 
> I had new gas and mixed the oil as I've done for years.  After about 10 
> minutes of use with the brush cutter, suddenly the trimmer lost power 
> and stalled.  I found I could go to full choke, pull the cord, then go 
> the half choke and pull the cord and have it run normally for a few 
> minutes.  No choke and it died.  Once I hit a heavy patch of brush, it 
> would loose power and only idle.  If I pulled the throttle it would 
> stall.  I repeated this several times, with a shorter run period each 
> time till I couldn't make the engine run.


Classic symptoms of a clogged fuel tank vent.

Other possibilities in descending order of probability:
-partially clogged jet in the carb
-leaking crank seal or some other leak allowing air into the cases
-stuck rings/partial piston seizure

if its the latter then it'll be easier to pull but hard to start
because the rings won't seal as well.

Eric