# 4 cycle weed eater



## Jody Hawk (Jul 20, 2011)

I bought one of these 4 cycle Ryobi weed eaters. It's getting to where it stalls when I throttle it up. It runs fine as long as it's choked or idling it but once I take the choke off and give it gas it dies. Any ideas?


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## Dog Hunter (Jul 20, 2011)

mine does the same.  i have to run with a little choke.


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## SGaither (Jul 20, 2011)

you can thank the ethanol for that. Sounds like you'll need new fuel lines and a good carb cleaning.


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## chadf (Jul 20, 2011)

Dirty carb !


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## FF-Emt Diver (Jul 22, 2011)

Probably carb as mentioned but my echo does it periodically and I change fuel filter, fixes the problem.....it's an easy try.


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## ASH556 (Jul 22, 2011)

I'd start by checking the air filter, actually.  When I was younger I used to mow this lady's yard with her mower.  It was a Wal-mart thing with a B&S motor.  After every 20 min, I'd have to stop and clean out the oil-soaked sponge that acted as the air filter...her yard had a lot of bare spots and the dirt/dust would totally clog it.  Otherwise, it would sputter and die.


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## rayjay (Jul 22, 2011)

I have come to the conclusion that all our small engines are running lean due to ethanol. I have a JD with a 22 hp briggs twin that I rebuilt the carb on. It ran good for about 3 weeks and then started running lean and finally had to be choked to run at all. Took the carb bowl off and it had green gel in the bottom and the main jet was plugged. 

Cleaned it out and it ran 'good' again but once it got really hot it did show signs of still being slightly lean. Took the bowl off, drilled the main jet out about .005" and the difference was amazing. The motor runs so much better it's unbelievable. I only thought it was running 'good' before. 

Ethanol burns leaner than straight gas and I bet the motors are tuned for straight gas. In the future I am not going to hesitate to drill out the jets if the motor seems to be a bit sluggish after the carb is properly cleaned.


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## erniesp (Jul 22, 2011)

SGaither said:


> you can thank the ethanol for that. Sounds like you'll need new fuel lines and a good carb cleaning.



This


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## Twenty five ought six (Jul 22, 2011)

I've got a 4 stroke Honda weed whacker, and the gas (ethanol) eats up the little filter inside the gas tank.  I'm going out on a limb and guess that Honda didn't design a filter that would dissolve in gas.


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## Jeremiah Glaze (Jul 29, 2011)

Im a small engine mechanic...you most likely have a fuel screen partially clogged in the carb thats only allowing a small amount of fuel threw,  enough to make it idle or run at low speeds but when you try to throttle up its basically running out of gas and making the famous ''bog''... yes ethanol is causing a lotof problems it tends to want to gel an eventually crust inside a carb...we have found a product to run in your small engines and/or cars/trucks but specifically small engines because they typically arent getting used all the time an have time to gel...its called Star tron, mix an ounce per 3 gallons of gas first treatment then an ounce per 6 gallons from there on out...its designed specifically for ethanol...we have noticed an improvenment with a few test products we left gas in for  few months hanging on the wall unused..


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