On Sunday, October 18, 2020 at 10:53:02 AM UTC-4, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 10/18/20 9:32 AM, J wrote:
So, this is due to my own stupidity, but I believe I've seized (or mostly seized) the engine on my leaf blower. This group seems about 90% off topic these days, but maybe some of y'all are still answering repair questions, so I've come to find out if it's possibly salvageable.

Because of back problems, I hadn't used my leaf blower in a couple of years, but was feeling up to it this year. Due to a fit of stupidity and just not thinking, for some reason I believed it took straight gas instead of a mixture of gas/oil. And for some even dumber reason, I didn't bother to confirm this suspicion.

After a couple of (small) tankfuls of gas, it conked out. I left it to cool down for a while and came back to it and the pull-cord would not pull at all. I took it partially apart and was able to spin the engine by hand, which loosened up the pull-cord. Now I can pull the cord and it will spin, but not start. The spinning is not smooth, it catches a little at one point in the rotation.

It was at about this point that it dawned on me what I had done (not too quick on the uptake). My question is, is it junk at this point and should I list this in the column of lessons learned the hard way, or since it will rotate and slightly catch at one place, is there a way to lubricate the engine and get it going again (and fill it with the proper mixture of gas/oil this time)?

It''s a green Hitachi (RB24EAP I think), maybe about 3 years old. Thanks

-J

It's the chicken and the egg as far as off topic posts.
The group is getting more like a bunch of people at the local coffee
shop and discuss what ever comes to mind. The normal denizens have a
wide range of backgrounds. One was a mechanic and another an electrical
inspector.
Do you have spark? Pull the plug and find a way to hold it
against metal of the blower. Your local hardware store should have some
sort of jumper wire with clips at each end if you can't hold the plug
against steel. It should spark when you pull the cord with the switch
on.
Does the blower spin freely with the plug removed? I'm wondering
if the slight catch
is the top of the compression stroke.

+1

I'd remove the spark plug, see if it spins freely. If not, spray some
lube or light oil in there and see if it will free up. If it does,
see if it will start. Nothing to lose. IDK exactly what happens though
when it's run without oil like that, like does the cylinder typically
get scored so it's shot? If so, even if it's free now it could be toast.
Testing for compression would be a key factor, but OP probably doesn't have
a tester.