ECHO gs pole saw

[check 6]

I have had this tool for several years and recently it has become very hard to start unless the engine is warm. So much so whereas it use to crank on the second pull now even a strong young man has to pull it ten to twenty times…. I’m not young any more .
ihave checked the plug and it is clean the machine is developing good strong spark. The air cleaner is new and the exhaust is unobstructed. The gas is Fresh and 50 to 1 91 octane no ethanol. I have never run ethanol based gas in it . it is feeding gas to the cylinder.I’m stumped as is the dealer . Suggestions

 

[ArlyA]

Plugs are cheap, I change them every year. Your pump might have a hole in it and weak.

 

[2manyrocks]

Could be that the membrane inside the carb that is supposed to pulse fuel has hardened so that it isn't pumping gas like it should.

 

[5030]

Sounds to me like a crank seal issue. Take it to an authorized Echo dealer and have them do a compression and leak down test on it. I quit using pre mix long ago. I now use Echo Red Armor 50-1 canned gas.

 

[Cycledude]

Sounds to me like a crank seal issue. Take it to an authorized Echo dealer and have them do a compression and leak down test on it. I quit using pre mix long ago. I now use Echo Red Armor 50-1 canned gas.

Well that doesn’t make much sense both are pre mix

 

[5030]

Has nothing to do with it in reality. Crank seals wear out and need to be replaced. Like I said, you need to do a compression-leak down test to ascertain what is transpiring. Not hard to do actually, you block off the exhaust and intake with a rubber gasket and then pull the plug and use a Mighty Vac to pressurize the cylinder and then pull a vacuum on it and observe the needle drop under both conditions. Needle drop indicates leaking crank seals or bad impulse hose among other things. There should be little to no drop in pressure or vacuum at all.

I quit using corn squeezed gas for pre mix long ago.. Besides the shelf life on syn gas is 5 years. All my 2 stroke engines run better on it as well and it don't stink when it burns either. It's not cheap compared to pump gas but with me, cheap don't enter into the equation at all. I can let my saws and trimmers sit all winter with syn gas in them and they start right up and run fine in the spring. If I was a big user, I might run pump gas and bottled oil but I'm not. Crank seals as well as impulse hoses are really a consumable item on a 2 stroke.

 

[5030]

My other issue with using bottled oil and pump gas is, how do you really know the ratio is correct. Always a bit of oil left in the bottle when you mix it in the gas whereas the syn gas will always be 50-1 or 40-1 unless the blender focked it up which is highly unlikely. Much easier for me to not have to guess.

 

[5030]

Plugs are cheap, I change them every year. Your pump might have a hole in it and weak.

Pumper carbs don't get holes in them but the diaphragm's do get hard. Just as easy to buy a new carby and be done with it. They are pretty cheap, especially the Chinses clone carbs that sometimes work and sometimes don't. Usually a hard diaphragm is an indicator of using corn squeeze gas.

 

[Roadworthy]

If unused for several years the crankcase seal could be dried out and leaky, or it could have just failed on its own. My old Echo chainsaw did that. If it is really hard to pull at first it could be flooded. Instead of three pumps on the primer button try zero pumps. There's a balance and combination of that and choking and you may just have to figure out what works best.

 

[5030]

Crank seals aren't hard to replace but you do need specialized tools to pull off the mag and remove - replace the seals and any good dealer will have those tools.

Like I said, only way to find out is a leakdown test.