Stihl FS45 Strimmer-Aftermarket Carb Gone Wrong!

[@steveriggenbach90]

He should be happy because you’re an honest mechanic. Didn’t sound correct when pulling the trigger. But then it smoothed out. I like that carb adjustment graphics. Great job.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

I wish there was a way to automate that graphic but it does get the point across even if its not always technically accurate.

[@oddbodhobbies2840]

The aftermarket carbs are so cheap, and have a lot of people saying that they are plug and play, that a lot of people buy them. Yes some start right away but just because it's making noise and working whatever it's attached to doesn't mean it's running right. It take all five senses to tune a carb right and it takes practice. You guys on youtude make it seem so easy but people forget that you have years of trials and errors to build your skill base. Thanks Scott for sharing those skill and showing us the right way to do small engine repairs.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for that and thanks for watching!

[@marriedwithsmallengines]

Ooh, a Stihl 😊

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Just another broken piece of equipment 🙂

[@luvegg7890]

Excellent fix as usual. Those red spots are usually the Dirko or Pactan6075 sealer used to seal the crank case etc.. It's only posh silicone so is swells up in the fuel vapour and bits break off into the cylinder. Doesn't do any harm though..:))

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thats a great answer. Thanks!

[@ls2005019227]

Excellent repair; really enjoyed the carb adjustment graphics- Thanks!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for watching!

[@Chucky-b7v]

Good one sorting that one out, Scott 👍🏼

[@chrischiampo7647]

Clogged Exhaust Screen When The Air Filter Has Spit Back and Boggs I See A lot But This Unit Sounded Pretty Decent Scott 😀 These Models are Notorious For That 😩 I Really Like the “Carb-O-Meter” 😀

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

This guy obviously was working on this unit. Maybe it was plugged all along and he bought a carb, fiddled with it and still couldn't make it run. Then he found the plugged screen, cleaned it but the carb was too far out wack for him. It could happen :-)

[@michaelmcclure8673]

Nice repair .😊 Erica sent me here .

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Shes so smart 🙂Thanks for watching!

[@TheVespap200e]

Thanks Scott! Excellent video.

[@mattwickert736]

I don't work on many Stihl trimmers now, but I did quite a few a coupe years back. Almost EVERY aftermarket carb needed the screws turned out to richen up

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Good to know. Thanks for watching!

[@tedneitzel]

I can see it being not so easy to get it right if you haven't ever done it before. Sounds good now!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Agreed. Ya can't fault the guy for trying.

[@larryvankirk7423]

Nice diagnosis Scott. Funny how those carb adjustments can require changes as everything comes up to temperature. Laaaaaaaaater.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Yes and then I let the cool down and try a cold start. I used to find I needed to richen the low speed to keep the equipment running but now I kinda build that into this initial adjustment.

[@MrRmh3481]

Good Job!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for watching!

[@KevinMaxwell-o3t]

The Chinese carburetors you can find on Ebay are pretty good. In my opinion. I bought one for one of my Homelite chainsaws: Can$16 vs Can$140 for an authentic Tillotson. I dismantled it and can't really find anything to complain about. The quality seems just fine. This is the third one I've bought for one small engine or another, and so far they seem to work well. Have I just been incredibly lucky, or are they better than some people will admit?

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

My experience has been about 50/50. Its usually not that they don't work, rather that they don't fit. Impulse holes not lining up, wrong style linkage or wrong gasket.

[@TGMForum]

Nice Job. Those aftermarket carbs do tend to vary quite a bit in the way they respond to adjustment. Worked out good though. 🎅🎄

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Ya who knows why it initially gave him grief. Once he started turning screws it was all over.

[@TGMForum]

@@TheGreasyShopRag Think it was just like you said in the video, the customer thought throw on a new carb and it should jump into life. Sometimes they get lucky and sometimes it just takes a bit of knowledge to seal the deal. 😉

[@Philjr-h7j]

Great video and thanks for sharing it it was very helpful and a great tool to work on when I get one

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for watching!

[@HayChaffandSawdust1]

Nice!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for watching!

[@rooster3019]

Scott, that air filter and plug electrode isolator might be showing K&N oil. Maybe the owner thought if its good for cars its good for strimmers. Aerosol schmutz!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

That could be the case. I don't buy many of these aftermarket kits and was hoping someone would chime in and say their air filter/spark plug looked the same.

[@mea56]

Why is there pressure in the fuel tank? I thought the fuel vent kept pressure from building in fuel tank.

[@wheellifecycling]

That's funny i just got one given to me a month ago. She is running fine. Just need new string. Do you use the premix stuff in a can or just oil and high octane gas?

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

At home I use canned fuel and at the shop I use gas/oil unless I know the unit is going into storage or isn't used a lot.

[@wheellifecycling]

@@TheGreasyShopRag roger that.

[@ovemalmsten9706]

I wish you a Merry X-mas, but later!

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Thanks for watching!

[@academicmailbox7798]

Lumber Capital Logyard has episode, learn how to service LT70 Woodmeizer (the thing that Grandpa, who grew up running diesel engine oil rigs, he emphasized was to fill fuel filters with some oil). His expression was that if you don't offer enough oil to diesel engines, what they end up doing is pulling air through them instead. And his point was, you don't want to go down that avenue. This strimmer, brushcutter machines made my Husky or Stihl, these aren't like regular garden weed wackers. They've got real engines in them (even that still model there the price tag on it might surprise you). Was there any chance that the fuel got blocked and it pulled more air through from the pink air filter. For example, if something such as two-stroke oil had been absent? And the machine was set up to mix more air in with fuel than normal? These small engines on some of these brushcutters are just powerful enough, they might surprise you. I had a look lately at air filter on my Husky 545RX machine, and it's a serious piece of kit. A lot more serious than air filters I typically check on my chainsaws. The housing and enclosure for the air filter on the Husky 545 brushcutter is very carefully and robustly made to fit the tough looking air filter part it takes (I've been busy making parts number lists and creating an inventory of things for new year). Typically it makes more sense to utilize longer days later for work, and create a parts cache now in winter to have then. Not that I ever was this smart in my younger days, but maybe I'm smarter now.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

So to answer your question, no it can't pull more air in. Air is pushed in from atmospheric pressure and the only way to get more is to get closer to sea level.

[@academicmailbox7798]

@TheGreasyShopRag Second question, there is something referred to as air filter oil, I'm no up on what it does. My hunch was that with guys changing out their air filters, putting in various foam contraptions as their air filters. That maybe in addition to using foam filters they also service those with an air filter oil. So if the air filter in question here was oiled by some manner or means, the oil travels with the air in through pink air filter, and the pink deposit for whatever reason got left on the spark plug. Which might make sense, the spark plug obviously was brand new. The carb settings were lean, not rich. The brushcutter bogged and shut down. And the pink residue got left behind on the spark plug. Is putting oil on air filters a thing (the owner changed out his carb, carb gasket, his air filter and his spark plug). Doing probably, the least that any of us should do with our tools (i.e. instead of using 'a carb kit' of new gaskets and such, he swapped out the whole unit). Excessive maybe, but others replace the whole carb on top-handle saws now, they don't try to repair those carb's.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

@@academicmailbox7798 Your explanation is plausible but in this case the filter was dry to the touch. Also filter oil is often limited to foam or cotton? (think K&N). These things are funny because sometimes you'll ask the customer what he did and you'll get a weird answer like, "I sprayed the air filter with ether to try to get it running"

[@academicmailbox7798]

@@TheGreasyShopRag Here is the thing, I retired several old pieces of handheld two-stroke equipment that were on the property this year (my grandpa's old Stihl '57 saw is on the shelf, and I've no idea how it runs or when it did last, except my father told me that his father bought it second at an auction sale some time in the 1960's decade). And mainly, that old man was into buying, rearing and selling horses, not two stroke engines. So it goes to show you, even back then they were learning new things. Even with re-refreshing my existing fleet (I don't presently own any engine powered generators, cement mixers, water pumps or such, but they would not be uncommon on lots of properties where I'm from either). Even with everything saw, brushcutter etc I now run upgraded to new Husqvarna. What I notice is how incredibly complicated it becomes. Different maintenance, parts, components for different sized brushcutters, saws etc. Even where they are all the one brand and one age. Consider the track record that lots of people have juggling different branded equipment (lets throw things like old construction saw tools in there too, that I've seen knocking around). No one knows who owned those tools, where they originated from, what they're proper maintenance procedure should be. Two stroke equipment can become orphaned real quickly, in communities such as builders, farmers, handy men, care takers. Where folks are picking up different pieces of half-right information from here, there and everywhere. Only lately, I looked at the motor oil geek, who worked on a Nascar racing team. They had got their viscosity levels down to 15 he explained, because he had championed that in the Nascar team. And now, I think his daughter's new vehicle had oil viscosity of less than five. This is a guy who is 'an oil geek', and his mind is blown at what is changing, how fast it is. All of these past sacred cows being slaughtered, in something as mundane as engine oils. So from the perspective of the average 'tool consumer' out there, if the motor oil geek can't handle the truth, then how is the average Joe Soap going to manage?

[@Broddi169]

This dude is lefit. Been in his ahop

[@francislang5075]

did it ever work right

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

I guess if you're not a Stihl fan you could make that argument.

[@dujeamizic3588]

I WOULD STIK TO THE BOOK OR STIHL RULES!EVRYTHING ORIGINAL

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

They certainly seem to run better on original parts. Thanks for watching!

[@1966poker]

Trufuel. Leaves that nasty red die on everything. I did the building inspections on that plant here when it was built and opened for production. Owner gave me a gallon can to try. Turned everything red and even died my white plastic tanks red. Gummed stuff up bad. Never used it again.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Good to know. I hear a lot of complaints about that product but also know of a lot of people that like it. I wonder if they make bad batches?

[@Randpage]

The knockoff carbs off amazon and ebay tends to be a waste of money in my experience.

[@TheGreasyShopRag]

Ya about 50/50 for me which isn't good enough odds.