Throughly confused...

I don't have the means to do V/P test, and there is only one crank seal besides the backplate O ring.

It's in pieces in a box at the moment while I decide what's next. I was in the process of buying the seal when it vanished from my cart and by then I was fed up with wasting time on it today.

 

Interesting design with 1 seal, I'm way behind the times.

 

I suppose a pressure test would help in locating leaks, but I've never found these inexpensive consumer grade engines to hold much in the way of compression.
If I recall correctly, they mostly rely on the ring being forced out from the compression stroke and ignition itself to get any kind of seal against the cylinder wall.

Anyway....
Cylinders are still available pretty inexpensively, but I've limited income for playthings each month and the King demanded his various road taxes and fees this month. Kinda stinks cause the leaves are starting to fall in earnest and I use it to collect outlying debris that my lawn sweeper misses.

On the other hand, that also means that John and Sally average will be out doing the same soon, so I expect the ratio of leaf blowers with gummed up carbs to increase shortly in the scrap pile at the dump, so maybe...

 

Sounds like a switch to a different oil is in order.

 

Without reading back through, are you 100% sure the fuel is good?

 

Checked the chrome inside the bore and it is in still place, if I had the specs I have snap gauges and Mics but since the plating is so thin to begin with I'll just assume as long as it's still there it should be close enough for a ringed engine.

So ordered a "seal kit" that has the crank seal, backplate and cylinder base sealing rings, and various gaskets. I cannot see anything obviously out of sorts, so when the kit arrives I'll try again.

In the meantime I've been looking at the dump, CL, and FB Marketplace for fixer uppers but per usual other peoples garbage is
..."won't start, $100"... and just doesn't cut it. Would only serve to leave me in the same position I'm already in but out another $100.

Far too many unexpected expenditures this month already, otherwise I might swallow my pride and just get something, dare I say, ...newer and better... egads!

 

Still thoroughly confused.

Put a seal kit in, crank seal, cyl base, backplate, carb seals, and same result, runs very very weakly and gets hot fast. I pulled the muffler off and it ran faster but nothing like it should.
I even pried the muffler apart thinking maybe the catalytic(?) mesh was clogged and removed it, same same again.

With wide open throttle it runs but slowly with an odd "soft" sounding exhaust note.
I did get it to idle but nothing sounds or acts like it should.During this time I did adjust the carb so I know the needles are working.

The new ring is breaking in and it's never had such good compression, all the seals are new, the muffler gutted except for baffles, fuel lines/fuel filter new, carb is new and switching to the old carb nothing changes, coil and plug new, I just don't know.

If you ask me it acts like the timing is way off, but it just cannot be unless the key inside the flywheel is broken/shifted. I think I need to borrow somebody's flywheel to see if maybe I'm just not seeing something.

In the meantime, the leaves they be fallin'...

 

Try bottle feeding it with new fuel maybe?
Wondering if it's suffering from pre-ignition of this batch of fuel.

 

What a strange problem to still exist after a full rebuild.

 

That possibility was taken care of way back and it works fine in the weed whackers.

I use gas from (2) 5gal jugs to feed everything, no problems noted. I put Stabil in it when I fill them JIC it sits any length of time, but it never does. Grass, weeds, fallen limbs/trees, leaves and snow, and generator keep it fresh.

My old Gravely Model L likes gas ...a lot... about 1gal an hour, but that thing has saved my bacon (and tried to kill me) more than a few times.

 

Not entirely sure it was worth it (yet) but I've gone this far so, ...yeah...

Maybe, if I'm not too disgusted I'll check the coil gap again today and stare at it some more. Everything I've seen says .010-.014 coil and .025 plug, but this thing has me second guessing everything in hopes I find I did something stupid.

 

I may have missed this but did you put a new quality plug in it? Like an NGK, Denso or champion. Those Chinese Torch brand plugs are problematic. So much so my nephews shop automatically throws them away when a unit comes in with one.

 

Yeah I got a drawer full of off brand chinesium plugs for dire emergency, but I don't use them. If I had my druthers I'd get NGK but the hardware store had champion, i even bought 2 of them because I don't trust them fully either.

 

Well I'm calling it.

Got it running with the same weak results. Sprayed around with wd40 while it was still cold looking for leaks and noticed some leakage between the carb spacer and carb even though there's a gasket, so thinking it was causing the pump to falter, I spread a thin coating of right stuff on it and didn't help a thing. Played with the needles and it died with another backfire and wouldn't start again, and I had finally got sick of trying.

I can't imagine it's compression because it ran fine with a completely stuck ring, and it has 110% better now with a new ring.
Carb, new one or old one both get the same result.

The backfire and the way it ran makes me think timing, but that's pretty much impossible. Looked at a new jug, piston and flywheel and not gonna happen. Don't think I've ever been defeated before or it was long enough ago, I do not remember. I've got some CRS going anyway...

I usually bide my time and wait for the dump to supply me with what I need, but the trees say NOW and they win. Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, and I think I'll swing by the Davisville flea market this coming Sunday.

I drive past that all the time but haven't gone in in I don't know how many years.

 

You never answered if you dumped the fuel out to try fresh?
I got bit hard by bad fuel one time...guy said he just bought it at the local Marathon station, then his Honda 250 Big Red 3 wheeler just started running bad and quit...we did all kinds of stuff to it before actually testing the fuel (oops) turns out it was bad ethanol fuel, full of water...only way it would burn is if you held the torch on it, it went out as soon as you pulled back (small amount of gas in a steel pan, outside) the fuel smelled fine, and looked good, til it was dumped out into a clear container, then you could see that it was not right.

 

Oops, missed that...

 

Brought it back to where I got it at the dump with a note outlining everything I'd replaced, what I had done and how it was acting, followed by "Good Luck" for the next guy.

Called independent Echo dealer in Concord and snagged this puppy. Decently below MSRP, but $10 more than I could find it for online, but if you add shipping it was actually cheaper. Plus I have a place to bring it to if something happens during the 5 year warranty period.

I looked at the parts breakdown for Husquvarna, Stihl (good luck with that one) and Echo to look at the mechanics and engine design, decided to go with it, besides it matches my trimmer.

Kinda strange actually having something brand new, 50-1 oil ration!? What? I mean who has ever even heard of such a thing? Good enough for me to blow the leaves along the woodlines, gully's and other impossible to reach areas onto the grass, so my sweeper can get at them. That and all the other little chores I use one for.