George wrote:
Hello there,

I have had the above strimmer for many years now and I am very happy
with it, however I recently started it again after the winter and
found that although it started and ran OK at low revs, when I rev it
up, it seems to not reach full speed and splutters a bit. I have
looked at and cleaned the plug and it seems OK, - a light brown colour
and as I said it starts and ticks over OK. When I removed the cover
and the carburettor and looked down the throttle, I could see that
the throttle valve was fully opening and the choke was OK, but at full
throttle there was a spray of petrol which did not seem to be sucked
in as I would think should happen, in fact the filter was wet with
petrol when I took the cover over the carb off. I blew out the carb
with compressed air to remove any blockages, but it still behaves in
the same way. I bought a new plug, but it is still the same.

Before I go any further and dismantle the engine, which I am reluctant
to do, as I can see through the inlet hole that the piston seems in
very clean and good condition, do you have any suggestions of what
could be wrong? I stopped the flow of petrol and it did not speed up
before the engine stopped, so I do not think that the mixture is too
rich and it certainly does not look too lean. I have a full workshop
and so do not have any problems with mechanical work, should this be
needed. Do you think the problem is electrical, fuel, or
mechanical? Does this engine have a reed valve in the inlet
anywhere?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

George Bell.

Before you do anything, run a tankful through to basically get it back
into shape.

These are crude engines, and I would not think a soping wet filter was a
sign of anything much.

My ryobi failed to start one year after a winter layoff. I had let it
run dry the last cut, and the clunk in the tank had got clogged with
dried oil and petrol.

I managed to wash it in fresh fuel and blow the crap out.

Spluttering is generally indicative of too little fuel. Too much is
clouds of blue smoke.

So a partially blocked fuel system is possibly indicated.