Not really about outboards, but..........

My GF's son has some trouble with his 2 stroke string trimmer (inherited from his grandfather that passed away). It start right up with the choke on but will not idle or increase speed with choke off. We tried some carb cleaner first but didn't help. We put it aside and was going to take it to the lawn mower shop next week. Just before dinner today, I tried to run it again and noticed that gas was spitting out somewhere on the engine. I opened the gas tank and the two rubber hoses that come out of it just fell off as in they simply just broke off! The rest of the hoses were inside of the gas tank and when I got them out, they crumbled like dry paper!

Yup, ethanol is the cure! #-o

New fuel lines and diaphrams in the carb. Just did a saw that was doing that.

Toughest part about the fix for that problem (which is very common around here) is to find the correct size fuel lines to replace the old ones with. It's not hard to find the really small line but finding that next size up is always a challenge for me.

The alcohol in the gas ate up the rubber components in the carb/fuel system. My wife works in the landscaping industry and it's a pretty common thing around here. Has become a maintenance item.

lovedr79 said:

New fuel lines and diaphrams in the carb. Just did a saw that was doing that.

Click to expand...

+1, if it's a small two smoke, gots spark, don't run right....needs a diaphram.