My weed wacker won't start.

[edweather1]

I have a Craftsman 316.711202. Purchased new in 2017. Probably only used 20 times. Never ran great imo, but it was a gift, and at least it started fairly easily. Yesterday it wouldn't start. Couldn't get it to catch at all. I put fresh gas in it, cleaned the air filter, and checked the plug.....still nothing. Any suggestions?

 

[Nick1994]

Pull the plug and ground the end against the engine and pull the rope, is it getting spark?

The carb might be gummed up inside. I'm no good at those though.

 

[edweather1]

Thanks, yes, it is getting spark.

I even tried spraying some engine starting fluid, and could get it to turn over. That's scary. I have it outside hoping someone will steal it

 

[skyactiv]

I suggest throwing it in the trash.

The battery operated cordless tool which makes the most sense for the yard is a weed trimmer.
Virtually no one will run one till it dies for a single lawn cutting.

Not everyone that has a battery powered mower or leaf blower can say the same.

 

[Whimsey]

I have a Craftsman 316.711202. Purchased new in 2017. Probably only used 20 times. Never ran great imo, but it was a gift, and at least it started fairly easily. Yesterday it wouldn't start. Couldn't get it to catch at all. I put fresh gas in it, cleaned the air filter, and checked the plug.....still nothing. Any suggestions?

From my experiences with gas string trimmers it sounds like the carb is gummed up, easy to do with E-10 fuel. Most likely it's made by MTD so knock off carbs should be available on Ebay for the $20 range. Some of the carbs come with the special tool to change the fuel mixtures to get it to run better. It's easy to do a carb swap. Check on Utube or the internet, there is lots of info on how to. I think Craftsman has a good site for parts info and parts. If you have an ultrasonic parts cleaner you can spray it with carb cleaner then use the ultrasonic cleaner, sometimes that works.

 

[nwjones18]

Its probably a carb/fuel line issue. I'd give it one of the cheapie amazon/ebay carbs and if that doesn't do the trick I'd chunk it and buy a Husqvarna/echo.

 

[MParr]

I have a Craftsman 316.711202. Purchased new in 2017. Probably only used 20 times. Never ran great imo, but it was a gift, and at least it started fairly easily. Yesterday it wouldn't start. Couldn't get it to catch at all. I put fresh gas in it, cleaned the air filter, and checked the plug.....still nothing. Any suggestions?

I had one similar. It never was worth a hoot. I got tired of fooling with it and gave it away. I went out and bought a Echo and it’s been trouble free.

 

[CarLuver]

go on youtube and learn how to clean the carb . its pretty easy. Then get a set of idle mixture drivers and adjust the high and low settings . those thing don't seem to run right unless the mixture is adjusted correctly .

i tuned all my 2 cycle stuff and they run great. i have to tune them everytime i get a new tank of 2 cycle. take a few minutes

 

[Kawiguy454]

^+1 ...carb and dont forget new fuel lines and a filter. the alcohol eats and cracks the fuel linesso they wont pull fuel. It should still fire with starting fluid tho so ???

 

[Lubener]

Is the primer working properly? You should see fuel moving in the fuel lines and fuel should fill the primer bulb as you prime it. It is very common to have a split in a fuel line or the primer bulb itself if it isn't priming. Also, there is a fuel filter in the tank which is on the end of one of the fuel lines. Check these before getting a carb or tossing the unit out.

These rarely ran good out of the box because how the carb is adjusted. Mine ran bad out of the box and a minor tweek of the carb made it run perfectly. You have to have the special tool to adjust it. Once you fix it and get it to start, you may need to do a minor adjustment of the carb afterward.

 

[tiger862]

Check fuel lines. I just changed bulb and fuel lines on my Troy-Bilt. Seems to be a 2 stroke common problem.

 

[Warlord]

Not a two stroke problem. It’s an ethanol problem. It wrecks 4 stroke trimmers just as quick if neglected.

OP you might want to check out the recent threads about fuel for lawnmowers to get some tips on how to avoid a gummed up carb in the spring.

 

[Warstud]

Have you had it running this year ? Remove the spark plug and pour a little gas in the cylinder then start it

 

[Dinoburner]

Before spending money check for spark, if ok check for fuel it should wet the plug if it`s flooded which will need to be cleaned and dried. I use pliers to hold the plug and dry it with a propane torch. This done safely outside of course.

 

[edweather1]

Thanks everyone. Yes it was running last week. It's priming fine. We I use marine gas in it, so don't think there is any ethanol in it. I took apart the carb, and used my ultrasonic jewelry cleaner on it. Will reassemble today. If that doesn't work, it going to the curb. I really don't need a project at this stage in life. I appreciate all the help.

 

[edweather1]

The good news is that it's running. The ultrasonic cleaner must have helped. BUT, nothing is simple. It idles great, and runs well at low and mid throttle. At high throttle, it runs great, sings like a bird, for about 5 seconds, and then tries to bog down, and cut out, unless I back off the throttle. ??????

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

The good news is that it's running. The ultrasonic cleaner must have helped. BUT, nothing is simple. It idles great, and runs well at low and mid throttle. At high throttle, it runs great, sings like a bird, for about 5 seconds, and then tries to bog down, and cut out, unless I back off the throttle. ??????

Sounds like it is draining the fuel bowl

 

[Warlord]

Bad fuel filter or some other sort of restriction in the fuel line?

 

[CarLuver]

The good news is that it's running. The ultrasonic cleaner must have helped. BUT, nothing is simple. It idles great, and runs well at low and mid throttle. At high throttle, it runs great, sings like a bird, for about 5 seconds, and then tries to bog down, and cut out, unless I back off the throttle. ??????

sound like you need to turn the mixture screws to adjust the high mixture. those things are not really designed to run at half throttle. its idle or full on

 

[dbias]

I just tuned my weedeater today. I've been using a heavier string in it and I guess that threw the full throttle setting off. I didn't have one of the special D tools to adjust it so I broke out the dremel tool and cut myself some screw driver notches in the epa screws.