"micky" wrote in message
news
In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 12 Apr 2021 16:51:58 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:



Thanks. That's what i was looking for, help with a diagnosis. I don't
know small engines at all.

So I pulled the plug. The piston is only about half an inch inside the
hole, and it doesn't move. If I spin the blade, the piston doesn''t move,
if I pull on the rope slowly the blades spin but the piston doesn't move.

I didn't think I hit something. there was a repeated metallic clanging
noise before it quit, like something was hitting metal on every cycle,
before it quit. But is there any chance there's a safety spline on the
shaft that let go? Or is this one dead and gone?

The last time I had one apart was about 20 years ago. I loaned it to the
neighbor kid, and he brought it
back broken. I took it apart to see, and (I don't know the right terms)
there was a yoke type attachment
on the end of a rod on the piston, and it was broken in several pieces.

I wonder how even the most obnoxious kid could do that.

Just a coincidence?

Yep.