Ya I have seen that before. A trip to get non ethanol gas would take hours. not worth it
Got my new weed wacker.
- Thread starter Chris142
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Chris, non ethanol gas is readily available in Nevada or at least here in northern Nevada. I mix my own fuel and I have a 30 year old Shindaiwa T260 trimmer that runs the same as when it was new.
After years of running Stihl I went to Echo. I have an SRM225 that's about 4 years old. Ran anything from True Fuel to 90 octane Ethanol Free/Echo Red Armor or Power Blend. Also have a blower and hedge trimmer. The hedge trimmer definitely takes a man to operate and will absolutely wear your arms out. But it's got lots of power and easily gets the job done.
It likely has a cat convertor in the muffler which is why it runs hotter.
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- Feb 5, 2024
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This is likely correct. OP if you wanted to find out, the owners manual usually will state if it has one. My Echo blower ( PB-2520 ) manual stated it was equipped with a cat. Plus you can tell on the muffler, there will be a round spot that is discolored from the heat. I was surprised to find that mine was cat equipped because the muffler is on the loud side and it runs so strong.
IDK if this is common knowledge here, but Echo generally doesn't use the strato type engine design. They still use the regular design, which is dirtier so they need cats. I would rather have a non strato engine with a cat than a strato engine and no cat.
I just bought this blower recently.... exhaust sounds quite good to me. I like the aggressive growl vs my previous blower and even my Stihl fs40.
I bought a Stihl ms180c chainsaw because of my experience with the fs40 trimmer but went with echo for the blower because of price, availability and it's assembled in USA.
seems silly to drive 10 hrs round trip to buy gas. I will just keep buying it at the hardware store. Its been years since I was in Vegas so maybe its available there now. Wasnt any at state line on my last trip
Looks like there is only 1 station in vegas with it.Thats still a 6 hr turn and not worth it unless I had other busisness in vegas which I dont.
The SRM 225 is a good trimmer even though I kind of bash it a bit compared to the older ones. If your gearbox has the flat embossment, drill it out and tap it for a grease plug. They thought it would be a great idea for cost cutting to no longer make them greasable. Dumb of them. If they have cheapened it out even further and no longer have the flat embossment, you have to take it apart and repack every few seasons.
Other than that they are OK and only a slight downgrade on how they were made in 2014.
I wrote up a comparison old 2014 vs the april 2023 model:
Old = June 2014 MSRP was $199 for a true quality lightweight pro-sumer piece of equipment. People used them for pro applications and got decent life out of them. Even more so when they had the 300hr engines.
New = April 2023 MSRP is $229 for what appears to be a 100% homeowner grade piece of equipment. There is nothing pro about it.
Old = My 2014 engine is rated at 50hrs and has a 1 ring piston, and what appears to be some kind of plated cylinder bore.
New = The new 2023 engine is also rated at 50hrs and has the same 1 ring piston, but has what appears to be a bare aluminum cylinder with almost no crosshatching and no visible plating.
Old = My 2014 engine casting is a very smooth aluminum with zero corrosion and its fit and finish is near perfect of the old echo times.
New = The several 2023 engines I looked at are extremely porous, the surfaces do not appear to line up well, and there is already corrosion present on the outside. Looks like a china clone engine.
Old = My 2014 engine has a solid aluminum flywheel.
New = The new 2023 has a black plastic flywheel.
Old = My 2014 has real friction material on the centrifugal clutch, and has a metal clutch drum.
New = The new 2023 has a solid metal centrifugal clutch and a metal clutch drum. (I personally don't know there if there is any benefit one way or another.)
Old= Cast aluminum clutch housing
New= Plastic clutch housing.
Old= Has a removable grease plug in the gear box.
New=Has a flat embossment where a plug would have been, but they decontented it. You now need to completely take your gearbox apart, drill it out, and tap it, than regrease and re-assemble, especially if used commercially.
Old= Rubber isolated metal pole mount (aluminum) with two screws.
New= Black plastic, no rubber pole mount. Appears the plastic clamps directly the pole.
Old= Handle and trigger assy have nice soft vibration foam, and albeit mine is mint, but some say it deteriorated if left outside on a trailer.
New = Some cheap flexible plastic that is rock hard and does not feel very good.
Old= Throttle cable bracket is some kind of plated metal like a rainbow color and has no corrosion.
New = 2023 throttle cable bracket looks like it may not be plated and already has white corrosion on the metal.
Both have very crappy debris shields that require chaps.
Other than that they are OK and only a slight downgrade on how they were made in 2014.
I wrote up a comparison old 2014 vs the april 2023 model:
Old = June 2014 MSRP was $199 for a true quality lightweight pro-sumer piece of equipment. People used them for pro applications and got decent life out of them. Even more so when they had the 300hr engines.
New = April 2023 MSRP is $229 for what appears to be a 100% homeowner grade piece of equipment. There is nothing pro about it.
Old = My 2014 engine is rated at 50hrs and has a 1 ring piston, and what appears to be some kind of plated cylinder bore.
New = The new 2023 engine is also rated at 50hrs and has the same 1 ring piston, but has what appears to be a bare aluminum cylinder with almost no crosshatching and no visible plating.
Old = My 2014 engine casting is a very smooth aluminum with zero corrosion and its fit and finish is near perfect of the old echo times.
New = The several 2023 engines I looked at are extremely porous, the surfaces do not appear to line up well, and there is already corrosion present on the outside. Looks like a china clone engine.
Old = My 2014 engine has a solid aluminum flywheel.
New = The new 2023 has a black plastic flywheel.
Old = My 2014 has real friction material on the centrifugal clutch, and has a metal clutch drum.
New = The new 2023 has a solid metal centrifugal clutch and a metal clutch drum. (I personally don't know there if there is any benefit one way or another.)
Old= Cast aluminum clutch housing
New= Plastic clutch housing.
Old= Has a removable grease plug in the gear box.
New=Has a flat embossment where a plug would have been, but they decontented it. You now need to completely take your gearbox apart, drill it out, and tap it, than regrease and re-assemble, especially if used commercially.
Old= Rubber isolated metal pole mount (aluminum) with two screws.
New= Black plastic, no rubber pole mount. Appears the plastic clamps directly the pole.
Old= Handle and trigger assy have nice soft vibration foam, and albeit mine is mint, but some say it deteriorated if left outside on a trailer.
New = Some cheap flexible plastic that is rock hard and does not feel very good.
Old= Throttle cable bracket is some kind of plated metal like a rainbow color and has no corrosion.
New = 2023 throttle cable bracket looks like it may not be plated and already has white corrosion on the metal.
Both have very crappy debris shields that require chaps.
In that case, just don't let E-10 sit for a long time in it. Drain it over winter and put some cheap 2 cycle oil , undiluted in the fuel tank, and push it through the carb with the primer bulb. Then in the spring, drain that and refill with mixed fuel.
CA residents always have the "race fuel" non-oxygenated, VP C-9 or Sunoco Optima, unleaded fuels option. Not cheap, but it never goes bad. So a 5 gallon pail will last for decades of weed wacking.
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Looks like good stuff, but its $20 a gallon!!
The VP Racing and TruFuels are close to that price around my area.
For my 2 cycle I use E10 with Stabil Marine and Amsoil Saber at 70:1, E0 is almost impossible to get around me. Come end of season I run the 2 cycle equipment dry of E10 and then run it with canned fuel for a bit before I put it away, so far so good.
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You need to do a dealer search for someone selling race fuels and ask price or availability for 5gallon pails. My dealer that I have been using for years has every possible fuel on hand you can't imagine they make that many for any application my last pail I buy one every spring was about $72.00 dollars for a 5 gallon pail of C9.
I did ask our local rebel supplier about E0 and they don't offer it. Only other option here is Shell. I have not called them
Check with Don's Auto Supply in Rimforest and Merit Oil Company in Bloomington. The Sunoco site shows both as selling the Optima fuel in 5 gallon cans.
If I didn't have ethanol free I would probably run e10 mixed 40:1 and put trufuel in it over winter. Straight uncut 2 stroke in the gas tank over the winter probably isn't a bad idea either.