Dan Espen writes:

J writes:

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

Most likely, the piston and cylinder bore are beyond repair.
That's a fairly low powered blower, I'd replace it with an Ego
battery powered blower.

For my own use, I need something more serious and use a higher end
2 cycle back pack blower.

Here's some additional info:

You may be able to remove the exhaust to look at the piston and get an
idea how bad it is.

That Hitachi is 441 CFM, 170 MPH.
An Ego battery powered is 530 CFM, 110 MPH.

So, not nearly the oomph from the electric, but it moves
a lot of air. They both weigh about the same. The electric
is way easier to operate and is quiet.


--
Dan Espen