Pulled out two hedge trimmers from the shed for first use this year. First one wouldn't pull. Cord ran so far and no further.
Second one was the same except it pulled past the first stop so I worked it a few times and away it went

Went back to first one again and gingerly pulled it through the stopped position and eventually it performed fine also.

I have never experienced this before What might the cause be ? Is there anyway to remedy it ?

Presumably the long lay up caused the problem but it never did before and I don't fancy having to start them every 4 weeks during the off season.

Can you still get Redex. Would a squirt of that down the plug hole at lay up time be a good idea. Or possibly just a shot of plain 2 stroke oil ?

Or are both engines on the way out ?

On 8/16/2017 11:44 AM, fred wrote:
Pulled out two hedge trimmers from the shed for first use this year. First one wouldn't pull. Cord ran so far and no further.
Second one was the same except it pulled past the first stop so I worked it a few times and away it went

Went back to first one again and gingerly pulled it through the stopped position and eventually it performed fine also.

I have never experienced this before What might the cause be ? Is there anyway to remedy it ?

Presumably the long lay up caused the problem but it never did before and I don't fancy having to start them every 4 weeks during the off season.

Can you still get Redex. Would a squirt of that down the plug hole at lay up time be a good idea. Or possibly just a shot of plain 2 stroke oil ?

Or are both engines on the way out ?


Rust formation on piston rings and/or cylinder can give this sort of
symptom. The usual fix is to remove plug, add some oil, put plug back
in, leave to soak with cylinder vertical and plug at the top. Not
terribly critical what sort of oil you use IMHO. Once it frees up,
remove plug, drain surplus, give a few firm pulls to clear remaining oil
otherwise there is a risk of the plug oiling up when you come to start
it. For starting, often helps to remove the plug and heat it up maybe to
200C with gas torch or hot air gun. Or you can just heat up the
cylinder, heat will conduct to the carburettor and help overcome loss of
volatiles in the fuel. May or may not be necessary to use "fresh" fuel,
seems less necessary with modern than older engines. I suspect sparks
have got fatter with better magnets, or electronics in the low tension side.

On Wed, 16 Aug 2017 03:44:10 -0700 (PDT), fred
wrote:

Pulled out two hedge trimmers from the shed for first use this year. First one wouldn't pull. Cord ran so far and no further.
Second one was the same except it pulled past the first stop so I worked it a few times and away it went

Went back to first one again and gingerly pulled it through the stopped position and eventually it performed fine also.

I have never experienced this before What might the cause be ? Is there anyway to remedy it ?

Presumably the long lay up caused the problem but it never did before and I don't fancy having to start them every 4 weeks during the off season.

Can you still get Redex. Would a squirt of that down the plug hole at lay up time be a good idea. Or possibly just a shot of plain 2 stroke oil ?

Or are both engines on the way out ?

Lubrication is the achilles heel for two strokes. So adding a
teaspoon full of oil through the plug hole and turning the engine over
to cover the bore before putting them away at the end of the season is
a good idea.

It depends on what was jamming up. I personally doubt it was the cylinder
itself, quite honestly.
Brian

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"fred" wrote in message
...
Pulled out two hedge trimmers from the shed for first use this year. First
one wouldn't pull. Cord ran so far and no further.
Second one was the same except it pulled past the first stop so I worked
it a few times and away it went

Went back to first one again and gingerly pulled it through the stopped
position and eventually it performed fine also.

I have never experienced this before What might the cause be ? Is there
anyway to remedy it ?

Presumably the long lay up caused the problem but it never did before and
I don't fancy having to start them every 4 weeks during the off season.

Can you still get Redex. Would a squirt of that down the plug hole at lay
up time be a good idea. Or possibly just a shot of plain 2 stroke oil ?

Or are both engines on the way out ?

In message , Brian Gaff
writes
It depends on what was jamming up. I personally doubt it was the cylinder
itself, quite honestly.

I have had a similar odd experience with an electric start 4 stroke lawn
tractor.

This turned out to be fuel leaking through the carburetter from the over
head tank. Cured by a shut off valve in the fuel supply pipe.

Piston would approach TDC and jam. By the 3rd or 4th. attempt it would
shunt the excess fuel into the exhaust and then start.

--
Tim Lamb

Brian Gaff expressed precisely :
It depends on what was jamming up. I personally doubt it was the cylinder
itself, quite honestly.
Brian


Rings are a form of cast iron, bore is likely cast iron, so the chance
is good of between them their leaving a rusty mark part way down the
bore. On the first attempt to turn the engine over, the rings will
likely bind on the rusty mark until it is cleared.

Adding a few drops of oil via the spark plug hole is always a good
idea, before laying up an engine, especially true for a 2T.

On Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 8:14:32 AM UTC+1, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , Brian Gaff
writes
It depends on what was jamming up. I personally doubt it was the cylinder
itself, quite honestly.

I have had a similar odd experience with an electric start 4 stroke lawn
tractor.

This turned out to be fuel leaking through the carburetter from the over
head tank. Cured by a shut off valve in the fuel supply pipe.

Piston would approach TDC and jam. By the 3rd or 4th. attempt it would
shunt the excess fuel into the exhaust and then start.

--
Tim Lamb

Thanks for the suggestions. ISTR that Volvo recommended squirting some oil into the cylinders of their marine petrol engines before laying up for the winter. Never bothered of course.

On 8/16/2017 8:50 PM, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , Brian Gaff
writes
It depends on what was jamming up. I personally doubt it was the cylinder
itself, quite honestly.

I have had a similar odd experience with an electric start 4 stroke lawn
tractor.

This turned out to be fuel leaking through the carburetter from the over
head tank. Cured by a shut off valve in the fuel supply pipe.

Piston would approach TDC and jam. By the 3rd or 4th. attempt it would
shunt the excess fuel into the exhaust and then start.

Hydraulic locks like this fairly regularly wreck big marine diesels and
stationary engines, I am told. One of my old colleagues investigated a
case on a megawatt sized emergency generator.