Resurrecting 2-Cycle Lawn Tools?

[lbperry]

My brother-in-law is finally in recovery from an extended bout of bad health to the point he wants to get back to doing some yard work. This is great except that his leaf blower and string trimmer were put away about 3 years ago with gas in the tanks (a regular 10% ethanol gas/two stroke oil mix, I'm sure). As you'd expect, they won't start, even with fresh load of non-ethanol gas.
My plan is to leave them sitting a few days with the fresh gas in them, then pour out the gas and put a good dollop of Sea Foam in them, let that sit a few days and then add fresh non-eth gas and see if I can get them going.
Does this sound like a reasonable/workable plan? Any other tips or procedures that might work better?
Any help or input would be appreciated,
Thanks

 

[itsvegas]

dump the old gas, clean the carb, put in new gas.

 

[jkwilson]

dump the old gas, clean the carb, put in new gas.

+1 and you might as well rebuild the carbs while you are at it. A lot of them can't be cleaned without major disassembly.

 

[chris142]

I don't think seafoam will unclog the tiny jets like a small wire will

 

[jakemac]

While you have the blower apart, replace the gas filter and fuel lines so it doesn't clog the carb again.

 

[G_P]

Rebuild the carbs and replace all the fuel lines and primer bulbs. Might as well give them new air filters and plugs while your at it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Your approach might work. If you are lucky !

Rebuild the carbs and replace all the fuel lines and primer bulbs. Might as well give them new air filters and plugs while your at it.

These steps will result in a high probability of success !

 

[scaron]

like many before me have said, resurrecting these should be pretty straightforward. you'll follow a process that will start by draining the gas tank and throwing away all the old fuel line; get any fittings and try to clean them out with carb cleaner, berryman chemdip, parts washer, whatever.

if you have a plastic tank you don't have to worry about rust, just maybe get a little fresh gas in there, swish it around a little bit, drain... for a metal tank, that may have some rust, you may want to flush a few times or even shake some pellets or sand in there or something; you want to try to eliminate rust in the fuel system as much as you can.

now, totally tear down the carb and give it a good cleaning with carb cleaner, the parts washer, etc. it will probably be full of nasty residue and varnish. you might just have to replace jets, needle, float and bowl, etc... no way to know until you check it out.

put the carb back together; re-run the fuel system with fresh hose, put it all back together with the clean fittings.

i always like to replace the spark plug after a "full overhaul" like this.

gas it back up with fresh 50:1 pre-mix, choke it good and go to town; it should start pretty easily, assuming electrical system is good; they didn't totally leave it to sit and rot under the elements, etc.

as a (2-stroke) moped mechanic i always keep in mind the holy triad: spark, fuel and compression. this overhaul process will ensure spark and fuel and if whatever yard machine in question was running fine when stored last time, compression should be given.

 

[G_P]

Blowers and trimmers probably wont have float bowl carbs.

 

[FlatBlackBlaze]

What brand are they?

 

[RedneckWelder]

Rebuild the carbs and replace all the fuel lines and primer bulbs. Might as well give them new air filters and plugs while your at it.

I might also include anointing the two stroke Engine of Damnation with motor oil and laying it on an alter made of several stacked parts/tools/Northern Hydraulic catalogs and praying over it to the Gods of Internal Combustion. Seems to help.

But seriously, carb rebuild and fresh lines and such will get you where you need to go usually. They can be aggravating but stick with it.

 

[lbperry]

I'll take a shot at an carb overhaul. Haven't worked on a small engine carb in years. I'll get a kit and see what happens. The last one I worked on had a float bowl; it doesn't look like this one does. Well, I'm not to old to learn something, I'll have a go at it.
Thanks for all the replies and the consensus for an overhaul, that makes me confident that it's the fix.

 

[cheechi]

You don't mention what brand. from my experience that makes a huge difference in this situation. if it's a homelite/poulan/red cman then you will probably have to do all the above items. If it's something nicer, say husq/stihl or even a black cman, you might be able to get away with just spraying carb cleaner into a partly-disassembled carb or even through the throttle depending on the design.

I had a husq saw that wouldn't start for a while, but I knew it had spark & compression, and I knew getting the fuel to the carb wasn't the issue. I put in 95 octane no ethanol gas and pulled till it started. Now it starts again on first or second pull, and that was all the steps needed.

No matter what, after sitting that long I would change every single air filter regardless of how it looks. Couldn't hurt to change the plugs either, even if they are ok they went through a lot of pulls with no starting i'm sure they're worse for wear now.

 

[gungatim]

If you haven't worked on a 2-stroke diaphragm carb in a while, you'll be better off just ordering a new carb for it rather than messing around trying to clean it out and adjust it properly. last one I bought was only $35 online for a Bolens that was about 8 yrs. old. only a few bucks more than a rebuild kit and well worth it. If they are cheapo home center tools, you may be further ahead putting them on CL and just buying new. But like others said, new fuel line, filter, plug, primer bulb, rebuild carb, and you'll be good to go. I just don't usually mess around with the cheapo brands unless it's a Husqy, Stihl, etc. it's usually not worth the effort and they go in the spare parts pile...

 

[Davefr]

Add fresh mix and make sure the fuel lines are not rotted or gummy.

Before you start rebuilding anything try putting a spoonful of mix into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole.

That will often get them started and then engine suction will take over and may be enough to get the fresh gas pulled from the tank. Let it run for awhile. That may be all that's needed.

Try that and go from there.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Rebuild the carbs and replace all the fuel lines and primer bulbs. Might as well give them new air filters and plugs while your at it.

It's the only right way to do it.

Tell him that he should NEVER put alcohol in small engines and to use Stabil every time he fills the gas can.

 

[lbperry]

It's a red Craftsman. Knowing my BIL, it didn't cost over $100 or so. Yeah, I was thinking that the carbs on those were pretty much non-serviceable. I'll continue working the chemical fix, Including the spark plug and mixture in the sparkplug hole suggestion. In the meantime I'll price carb kits and a new carb and decide which way to go.
Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. I'll let you know how it works out.