Stihl bg55 just fed up

[nomochevys]

Originally Posted By: FNFAL308
Originally Posted By: kasedian
[censored] dude! Chill the [censored] out! If you're that [censored], throw it in the dumpster, and go buy a Homelite!

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Originally Posted By: kasedian
throw it in the dumpster, and go buy a Homelite!

LOL, he will probably be able to find a Homelite in the dumpster. Homelite is NOT what it used to be!


LOL, now that's FUNNY!!
The Homelite stuff even now has a name but the Rep is LONG gone.. There was a time they made quality stuff but those days are ancient history..

To the OP~
These units are "usually" very good and not prone to any specific maladays.. As mentioned I "suspect" your problem is fuel related.. I am of course assuming that you have tried to standard/correct STIHL starting procedure..

660mag mentioned checking the Spark Arrestor screen and without seing the unit I would second that.. I had a BG55 just he other day in for a "NO START" Complaint and found the Spk Arrestor screen pretty much 100% blocked. In this case I suspect it was a combo of improper fuel mix ratio and LOW speed running partly becuase the customer was running the unit W/OUT the correct length tube.
I cleaned the screen, made a minor carb adj and the unit now starts and runs perfectly..

FWIW, I personally own/use a BG85, I've had it for a few years and have found it to be an excellent unit. Like I mentioned above these blowers are very good and don't really have any "issues"..


This blower has not had three tanks run through it as mentioned above. I have three other two cycles that run perfectly on the same gas. Two stihls and a shindiawa weed wacker. FWIW, the Shihndiawa is the best starting and running of the bunch.

WE just got a lemon. Im going to take it to my simplicity guy who sells stihl and gives excellent service. I think I have a dealer problem more than anything. So frustrating and has left a sour taste in my mouth. I will let you know what they find.

AS far as homelite, my Dad had one that lasted almost 20 years with no issues. They may not be any good now a days but he got a good one.

This blower has just sit around because we got so frustrated with it and went out and bought a Shindiawa. It starts and runs great. I believe they are a cut above Stihl even though I have had good luck with the older one. I have drained the gas and repeatedly tried to get it to run. I wonder if the newer ones have different carbs due to epa stuff?

 

[steve20]

When I get to that point, I use 'em for target practice--you would be surprised at the amount of gratification it brings


Steve

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: steve20
When I get to that point, I use 'em for target practice--you would be surprised at the amount of gratification it brings


Steve

 

[Ross]

I have a one year old stihl blowe and a new this year trimmer. The sales person told me not to prime them. Just put the chocke on pull 2-3 times. It will sputter a little on 2-3 pulls, then take choke off, they both start with 1 or 2 more pulls. No priming needed. Seams to work for me.

 

[Pipski]

Hi all-

New member. Sorry to bring this post to the top, but it made my day! I too, own several Stihl products (chainsaw, hedger, trimmer and another blower), and bought a new BG55 3 months ago. It has approx 30 minutes on it, and I suddenly experienced the same problems as "nomochevy", and, was infuriated with my local hardware store/Stihl dealer charging me 30 bucks and telling me it was "bad gas" (forget the fact that every other 2 cycle machine at my house is running just fine off the same container of gas mix). Brought it home after I was lighter in the wallet, and couldn't get it to fire. Took it back and the mechanic struggled to get it started, and when he finally did, he said "You flooded it". I could have smacked him, particularly since I have rebuilt several 2 cycle machines on my own in the past. I just wasn't in the mood to start tearing down the carb on a brand new blower!!

Anyway, MechJames nailed it. Followed his directions to a "T" and got it started today. I do find it ridiculous that I have to use a "special" starting method to get it cranked.

But my blood pressure has now settled down. Great site; glad I discovered it!!!

 

[nomochevys]

I thought I would update this thread in hopes that it may help somebody else someday. I am mad at myself, my lousy dealer, and stihl.

I am getting ready for a giant yard sale and find the bg55 in the corner where it has sit for over a year not running. I consider selling it as is or putting a 22 caliber 55 grain hollow point through it out of a 220 swift rifle at 4000 feet per second. Then I decide to try one more time to work on it with a cool head.

I pull the carb off (which is made in china by the way) and it looks fine. Put in a new plug, new gas and after cranking on it a while I get it to come to life. I get it good and warm and go back for a screwdriver to adjust the idle and it dies. It wont start again. HA HA. Same old same old. This same deal goes on for days. Once it gets hot you can forget about it starting. Some days it would not even start cold and sometimes it would. Ha ha. I go as far as checking compression and its a 130-132 psi. I have fuel, air, fire, compression and when it runs it runs good.

So, I happen to remember an old man in my area that worked on small engines all the time and stop by to see him. I give him my sob story and it pauses for millisecond and tells me to change the coil. He claims that they can fire but be weak.

I go home rip apart my old blower and swap coils. I give the new blower one pull and it fires up and runs perfect. I shut it down a dozen times and each time it starts right back up like it should. Hallelujah!!

UPon futher investigation it seems stihl has had a bunch of problems with coils. Dont know if they have a new supplier or what. It would not surprise me if they were sourcing them from China now.

Anyway, I wanted to post this in case somebody else has similar problems. Dont dismiss the coil on a STihl as being defective even if you have a new piece of equipment!!

 

[lars11]

Yes, look at ignition too! Even though everyone seems focused on "bad gas", etahnol and carb rebuilds, I have had the most difficult problems with the ignition:
- rusty fly wheel magnets made trimmer start but die when warm
- Bad chinese spark plugs. Real plugs can make some things feel like new.
- Broken ignition wire inside the rubber, worked sometimes-sometimes not. Difficult to find.
- Bad main shaft seal can make any 2 stroke a pain to get going.
- On off button and wires bad or semi bad.

 

[doitmyself]

Thanks for following up. It's how we learn here.

One of my worst faults as a diy'er is to put on "blinders" during the diagnostics and focus on preconceived ideas. But, in this case, even the mechanics were stumped.

Good for you. I hope you write to Stihl, let them know your problem, and see if they reimburse you for the faulty part.

 

[Quest]

I've seen too many mechs and shops casually throwing in the "bad gas" or "E10" did it excuses.

Fact of the matter is: these are the gas we use and there's no way around it. If the manufacturer(of OPE or automobile) cannot, at this moment, produce a product that runs reliably/satisfactorily on E10 gas, shame on them.

E10 is not going anywhere, and will not go away soon.

*Reality check*

Q.

 

[mpvue]

this was a fascinating thread; I have a stihl trimmer, IIRC it is a 55 also. I haven't had any issues with it (and I don't even take care of it properly) but each spring I take it out of the shed, gas it, prime it, choke it, pull it, start it!
my dealer was great too, Cantelmi's hardware. they had set it up for me new, spent like 20 min with me to get familiar with it, they even filled it with gas and filled out and sent in my registration card!

 

[nomochevys]

Everybody is always quick to jump on the bad gas band wagon but it never pans out for me. Plus like I said I have 3 or 4 other 2 strokes run out of the same can of gas and I have never ever had problems with any of them.

I too had my blinders on thinking it was the China carb causing problems. I didnt even know it was made in China until I pulled it off and boy the cuss words were flying then lol.My sorry dealer made matters worse by telling me I was flooding it and telling me my parents could not pull it hard enough to start it. That really got to me because I had the blower and they had mine because mine was the good one that ran good. I gave them an ear full over that. They had it three seperate times and kept it forever each time and never did fix it. Needless to say they will never ever see another cent from me and I have told everybody I know in the area.

What I learned here is that coils can fire but be weak and cause havoc. I assumed incorrectly you either had fire or you didnt. The blower would run at WOT but started to stumble at idle and die. It was really wierd and as the coil got hot it got even weaker. Lesson learned for me. I hope it helps somebody else down the road.

By the way, where online is the best place to purchase a coil? I wont be buying from my local Stihl dealer even if they are giving them away.

 

[clarklawnscape]

i dont personally own stihl products, but i had heard their carb prices were dirt cheap now. since you hate your stihl dealer, most all if not all john deere dealers now sell stihl

 

[SOHCman]

A precaution for the ignition parts life: I just purhased a FS70 and in the manual it states that you should let it idle for a short time before you shut it off so the fan can cool the motor (and the ignition parts) or otherwise you will shorten the ignition parts life from the heat.

You could also just have a fan handy where you store it, and run the fan on it awhile after shutdown? Kinda like an electric radiator fan on a car after shutdown. OCD, I know.

 

[RF Overlord]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Thanks for following up. It's how we learn here.
I second that. Sorry you had to go through such a headache, but at least there's a happy ending and your efforts will most likely help someone else here.

 

[nomochevys]

Originally Posted By: SOHCman
A precaution for the ignition parts life: I just purhased a FS70 and in the manual it states that you should let it idle for a short time before you shut it off so the fan can cool the motor (and the ignition parts) or otherwise you will shorten the ignition parts life from the heat.

You could also just have a fan handy where you store it, and run the fan on it awhile after shutdown? Kinda like an electric radiator fan on a car after shutdown. OCD, I know.


Thanks for the tip and I think you may be on to something. Im going to pull out my owners manual on all of my 2 strokes. I should have done this a long time ago. Im guilty of reading the instructions as a last resort when all else fails. I know better and just never take the time.

In the case of my blower it never run long enough to hurt anything but I have some old stuff I need to take better caution on. You would think an ignition coil should last forever but like anything else they wont in certain cases and you can get a bad one right out of the box new like I did.

By the way, the ignition module was made in Mexico that was bad. The new one I put on did not have any markings on it. Stihl, like everybody else has farmed out parts to where ever they can get them the cheapest. I used the blower today and its so nice not to have to fight with it to get it to start. I can tell its stronger than my old BG55 that is 13 years old now. I never noticed it being a tad weaker since it wears slowly. Both are running good and that is what matters.

 

[JetStar]

I bought a new McColluch weed eater about 15 years ago. It was the most contankerous 2-stroke I'd ever owned. If you shut it off hot, you were done until it cooled off. I nearly wrapped it around a tree out of frustration. One day I decide to fix it. Very weak spark. Pulled it apart and discovered the coil to flywheel gap was about a quarter inch. slid it in to about 0.035 and put it back together. Problem solved, I just handed it down to my nephew, who is still using it today.

 

[nomochevys]

Originally Posted By: JetStar
I bought a new McColluch weed eater about 15 years ago. It was the most contankerous 2-stroke I'd ever owned. If you shut it off hot, you were done until it cooled off. I nearly wrapped it around a tree out of frustration. One day I decide to fix it. Very weak spark. Pulled it apart and discovered the coil to flywheel gap was about a quarter inch. slid it in to about 0.035 and put it back together. Problem solved, I just handed it down to my nephew, who is still using it today.


I know the feeling trust me. I never gapped the coil to the fly wheel because I didnt know what to set it at. I read some where it was supposed to be about the width of a playing card so I just eyeballed it. I must have got it close is all I know.

 

[One]

Just to second what the others have said about changing out the ignition coil, I was ready to chunk my BG55 stihl blower (13 years old) and I came across this thread, changed out the coil and used a business card as my gap gauge and the blower now runs great (easier to start initially and even after It has been running for about 10-20 minutes).
I just joined the forum to post this thread, since it saved me from buying a new blower.

 

[super20dan]

I don't buy any sthil products any more . their use of zama carbs is most of the issue. changed many a bad ing coil also. worst by far is their policy of not selling parts or even access toa parts diagram via the internet. this leaves you at the mercy of the dealer and who waits on you. do your selves a favor and don't buy any more sthil products either.

 

[PantherFan88]

Originally Posted by super20dan
I don't buy any sthil products any more . their use of zama carbs is most of the issue. changed many a bad ing coil also. worst by far is their policy of not selling parts or even access toa parts diagram via the internet. this leaves you at the mercy of the dealer and who waits on you. do your selves a favor and don't buy any more sthil products either.

Zama diaphragm carbs themselves are not the issue in most cases. 95% of all "homeowner" problems with their 2-stroke equipment comes from using old/improperly mixed/too low octane/etc fuel AKA not knowing what one is doing.

What other brand products do you buy instead of Stihl? Because Echo, Shindaiwa, Poulan, Husqvarna, and most other OPE manufacturers use Zama cube carbs on the majority of their 2-stroke products...

Do you also realize that the Zama group is part of the Stihl Holding Group and Stihl owns 100% of Zama factories? Just because they are "Made in China" does not mean they are inherently bad. They are under pretty tight quality control... I have never encountered a Zama carb that had a failure due to the internal components or casting of the carb. 95% of the time it needs cleaned, a new fuel pump/metering diaphragm and gasket set.