MinnesotaEric
Super Member
My brother-in-law is a scrounger and he found an Echo HC150 Hedge Trimmer at the dump. While the engine looked rotted, the trimmer mechanism itself looked to be in good shape. So he brought it to me, and then gave it to me.
I rolled my eyes, but since I'm out of action because of a staph infection in my knee (and it isn't healing up), I took a look at the trimmer.
The fuel tank was full of garbage, the primer bulb wasn't drawing fuel because the check valve it works with had failed (so new carb entirely), the engine looked like somebody kept it on their garage floor exposing it to road salt getting brought in from parking cars in the winter, and the spark was very weak. But I'm stuck at home, and bored, so I removed the carb and fuel tank, hammered on a 3mm Allen 3/8"-drive socket and removed the four machine screws that held on the recoil mechanism, exposing the flywheel and magneto. I then removed the magneto, mounted the mag in a vice and took a wire wheel mounted on an angle grinder to clean the rust off of it. After cleaning up the mag, I used part of an egg roll box to set a 0.020" gap between the magneto and flywheel magnet. The result was a good, strong spark.
With a strong spark, I squirted in some starting fluid to see if the engine could run. After several failed attempts, I decided the muffler may be plugged up, and set about to remove the muffler. Removing the muffler involved getting the plastic engine cowl off that largely functions as a heat shield covering the muffler. One screw was too far gone to hammer a socket onto, and after a quick failed attempt to drill it out, I ended up using my ancient Black & Decker Dremel tool to cut around the plastic surrounding the screw, presuming I'd use either safety wire or use a zip-tie on reassembly to replace the screw.
With the engine cowl removed, I removed the muffler, and indeed it was plugged. But with the muffler off, I again squirted in some starting fluid, and got the engine running. It was at this point, I decided to save this miserable little machine, since a new one costs $350.
Knowing that the engine can run, that I could save the hedge cutter, I ordered in a carb/airfilter/new-fuel-lines-and-primer-kit, and threw the gas tank, engine cowl, air filter housing, and the two parts that make up the muffler into my heated ultra-sonic tank. The muffler needed three half-hour sessions for the tank to heat up enough to work its magic, but the muffler did come out clean.
When the new carb and related bits arrived, I installed everything, greased the trimmer (since it has a zerk), and fired it up.
I rolled my eyes, but since I'm out of action because of a staph infection in my knee (and it isn't healing up), I took a look at the trimmer.
The fuel tank was full of garbage, the primer bulb wasn't drawing fuel because the check valve it works with had failed (so new carb entirely), the engine looked like somebody kept it on their garage floor exposing it to road salt getting brought in from parking cars in the winter, and the spark was very weak. But I'm stuck at home, and bored, so I removed the carb and fuel tank, hammered on a 3mm Allen 3/8"-drive socket and removed the four machine screws that held on the recoil mechanism, exposing the flywheel and magneto. I then removed the magneto, mounted the mag in a vice and took a wire wheel mounted on an angle grinder to clean the rust off of it. After cleaning up the mag, I used part of an egg roll box to set a 0.020" gap between the magneto and flywheel magnet. The result was a good, strong spark.
With a strong spark, I squirted in some starting fluid to see if the engine could run. After several failed attempts, I decided the muffler may be plugged up, and set about to remove the muffler. Removing the muffler involved getting the plastic engine cowl off that largely functions as a heat shield covering the muffler. One screw was too far gone to hammer a socket onto, and after a quick failed attempt to drill it out, I ended up using my ancient Black & Decker Dremel tool to cut around the plastic surrounding the screw, presuming I'd use either safety wire or use a zip-tie on reassembly to replace the screw.
With the engine cowl removed, I removed the muffler, and indeed it was plugged. But with the muffler off, I again squirted in some starting fluid, and got the engine running. It was at this point, I decided to save this miserable little machine, since a new one costs $350.
Knowing that the engine can run, that I could save the hedge cutter, I ordered in a carb/airfilter/new-fuel-lines-and-primer-kit, and threw the gas tank, engine cowl, air filter housing, and the two parts that make up the muffler into my heated ultra-sonic tank. The muffler needed three half-hour sessions for the tank to heat up enough to work its magic, but the muffler did come out clean.
When the new carb and related bits arrived, I installed everything, greased the trimmer (since it has a zerk), and fired it up.
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