My weed wacker SHOCKS me!

[riptides]

Yep, literally.

It starts and runs fine, but darn, the other day, I was dripping with sweat, went to hold the metal pole and ---- what bzzzt was that?

Did it again, sure enough, bzzt, bzzt, OUCH.


So now I got a big right arm, had to finish the job, ya know.

Any metal part when running, bzzt......

What gives? These things have grounds, other than me?

At least I did not pass out from the heat! Electro-shock treatments kept me busy......

It's a yard-Pro special, nothing fancy.

 

[MoKelly]

Only explanation I have is that somehow the spark plug is energizing the metal pole. The spark plug is all that can generate the shock. Did you remove the plug and look around that area?

MoKelly

 

[riptides]

I should remove the plug and look around like you said, I have not yet. Maybe this w/e. Or maybe it is time for a new one?

 

[skipmarcy]

Not the spark plug, look over the spark wire and coil assy and the wire from the coil to your kill switch ...

 

[jonyyuma]

Put on a nice pair of leather gloves if you don't find the "Leak". It could give you the Jolt of your Life.. Cheater fix:: wrap the metal part in 33 scotch electrical tape if you can't part with it..Mine has an Atom ignition module on it and doesn't shock...

 

[Fixemall]

Wait till dark and start it, if the plug wire is arcing you will see it. If not your most likely culprit is the kill switch is grounding to the tube, carefully unscrew the throttle/kill assembly and follow the wires to where they enter the assembly, most likely that is your pinch/trouble spot. Wrap the exposed wire with electrical tape and the tube area that it could potentially touch and you should be good to go.
The problem with trimmers in general is lots of vibration due to unbalanced heads and cheap clutches.

 

[Linda Albert]

Remove the main plug and check carefully...

 

[hill]

If you start and run it at night or in the dark somehow you might see the insulation leakpoint that's making you more lively than you've been in years.

It probably isn't the sparkplug itself since they are grounded by their threads and make sparks by jumping current from the insulated center to ground - they're supposed to do that but some of your available current is leaking out to ground before getting to the plug and robbing your trimmer of some of it's power and ease of starting.

Probably needs a new magneto with the sparkplug wire. If it's actually the wire leaking you can hold off the need to replace by wrapping with electrician tape - insulating tape.

 

[riptides]

I never did find the root cause of this, but yesterday, it developed "new string trimmer sickness". It stopped running. Odd, in the middle of the tank. Today, I tore into it, all looks OK, carb must be wacky.

It is ten years old, rather than play with it, I'll just go get another one. Twas a yard-Pro 31cc. Had the umph, I need for the miles of fence line, while easy on the back.

Oh well. Thanks for all the input.

 

[riptides]

The saga is over.

My wife went out and got me an Stihl FS90. We have a pretty good tag-team when it comes to turn-key operations. She saw me strugle and whimpering try to repair it and made the call.

I hope to try it out thsi weekend. The Stihl notes in this forum helped. Thanks!