Leaking Weed Eater

[c24k]

I have a Dolmar MS 251.4 weedeater (line trimmer) with a 25cc engine. From what I have been able to determine this weedeater was last manufactured in Nov. 2011 but it was sold "as new" to the company I work for, we had to buy these out of pocket for $426. There is no warranty nor does Dolmar even offer any support from what I have been able to gather.

Now onto the leak. My leak appears to be coming from the transmission gear on the front of the engine right where the shaft starts. I have no idea what would be causing this and was hoping anyone on here had an idea why this would suddenly happen or maybe anyone knows something about Dolmar weedeaters. The weedeater gets used 5-6 days a week 8+ hours a day and I run it hard and almost always WOT. I change the oil regularly (as soon as it is black) with the spec'd 10w-30, of the Mobil 1 variety.

 

[Donald]

I am not familiar with Dolmar. But a $426 weedeater (wow) and no warranty (double wow).

Do the 4 cycle ones have a transmission? I think for the 2 cycle ones, the shaft is just connected to the engine with no gears.

You are running these things hard however.

 

[c24k]

it's a 4 cycle i forgot to mention that (and this weedeater was purchased in May and its just now August there shouldn't be this serious of a problem, and it does appear to have a transmission and gear i don't know what else to call it and there isn't a manual for this weedeater anywhere i've looked for months. and believe me i was very [censored] when i found out i paid almost $500 for what is most likely a remanufactured weedeater

 

[bvance554]

Thats one expensive weedeater

 

[KD0AXS]

That's not a Weed Eater. Weed Eaters are $69 at Walmart and come with a warranty.

 

[c24k]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
That's not a Weed Eater. Weed Eaters are $69 at Walmart and come with a warranty.

Lol I know it's not the brand Weed Eater. Weedeater is southern slang I'm from the Deep South (Mississippi country boy) excuse my strange grammar, and no we are not all a bunch of back woods idiots. some, but not all

 

[wag123]

Dolmar is a part of the Makita group. http://www.dolmarpowerproducts.com/productcatalog/string_trimmers_brushcutters/index.html
Does this look like what you have? http://download.dolmar.com/manuals/995700285C.pdf
Or is this closer? http://download.dolmar.com/manuals/17471.pdf This model has a flexible drive cable, the flexible cables have grease on them and the grease can crawl up the cable and leak out by the handle.

 

[c24k]

The last one is closer its the Power Edger 251 (PE) Mine is the MS(whatever that means) 251.4 although they are somewhat similar mine is still pretty different especially the engine they are totally different the PE 251 looks much more modern than what i have

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: c24k
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
That's not a Weed Eater. Weed Eaters are $69 at Walmart and come with a warranty.

Lol I know it's not the brand Weed Eater. Weedeater is southern slang I'm from the Deep South (Mississippi country boy) excuse my strange grammar, and no we are not all a bunch of back woods idiots. some, but not all

I know, people here up north call them all weed eaters too.

I guess my point was that you get a warranty with a cheapo $69 trimmer from Walmart. If I'm buying a $400+ "quality" trimmer, it [censored] well better have a warranty.

 

[c24k]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Originally Posted By: c24k
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
That's not a Weed Eater. Weed Eaters are $69 at Walmart and come with a warranty.

Lol I know it's not the brand Weed Eater. Weedeater is southern slang I'm from the Deep South (Mississippi country boy) excuse my strange grammar, and no we are not all a bunch of back woods idiots. some, but not all

I know, people here up north call them all weed eaters too.

I guess my point was that you get a warranty with a cheapo $69 trimmer from Walmart. If I'm buying a $400+ "quality" trimmer, it [censored] well better have a warranty.

right there with ya buddy! I was thinking I was gettig a totally different trimmer due to the fact that I was only given the engine displacement before purchase, so long story short got the trimmer and I was confused to see MS 251.4 which led me to investigate further to discover its a discontinued model for almost 2 full years my only guess is either it's old left over stock or a remanufacture.

Oh! And the jack___ that sold us these tried to say we only had to change the oil in them once a year u der extreme commercial use!! Hahahahaha!

 

[c24k]

Update on the trimmer.

This morning before work I put in a fresh oil change. Oil capacity is 2 1/2 us fluid oz. I mixed 1/2 oz of MMO with 2 oz of Mobil 1 vanilla 10w-30. Also added MMO to the gas tank half ounce to 1/4 gallon gas.

Not sure how well the MMO is working, I did find out from the repair shop that it is leaking from the bottom ( don't remember exact name) gasket which is a main gasket on the trimmer I also noticed some grease coming from the clutch not tranission gear as I thought. Additionally there was some oil leaking out of the carbuerator not sure why that is.

So my question is would it be worth it to get say mobil 1 high mileage 10w-30/40 and still add MMO I change the oil daily sometimes every two days.

Thoughts?

 

[wag123]

If there is oil coming out of the engine on the output side it will be getting on the flywheel which will fling it out and make one HECK of a mess (a little bit of oil can make a BIG mess), not to mention a lot of smoke and smell when it flings oil onto the hot cylinder!
What I suspect is that you have a flexible drive shaft cable and not a solid steel drive shaft. Nothing wrong with this, all Echos have cables. The shaft goes directly into the clutch drum on top, there isn't any kind of transmission between the engine and drive shaft, just the clutch (the only transmission is on the bottom by the cutting head).
What is more than likely coming out is grease that has "walked" up the shaft and is leaking out of the top. You can separate the shaft tube from the engine, pull the drive shaft out, and wipe-off SOME (but not all) of the grease from the drive shaft. This will help.

 

[wag123]

Why in the world would you put MMO in that trimmer (especially at such a high concentration)? What did you think it would accomplish? IMO, this is a very bad idea!

 

[c24k]

Originally Posted By: wag123
If there is oil coming out of the engine on the output side it will be getting on the flywheel which will fling it out and make one HECK of a mess (a little bit of oil can make a BIG mess), not to mention a lot of smoke and smell when it flings oil onto the hot cylinder!
What I suspect is that you have a flexible drive shaft cable and not a solid steel drive shaft. Nothing wrong with this, all Echos have cables. The shaft goes directly into the clutch drum on top, there isn't any kind of transmission between the engine and drive shaft, just the clutch (the only transmission is on the bottom by the cutting head).
What is more than likely coming out is grease that has "walked" up the shaft and is leaking out of the top. You can separate the shaft tube from the engine, pull the drive shaft out, and wipe-off SOME (but not all) of the grease from the drive shaft. This will help.

It's a Dolmar (German made) trimmer not an echo lol and it does have a solid shaft as well. Everythig else u seem to be dead on about. As for the MMO idk I just added it because I thought maybe it would help I don't know much about it other than mixed reviews some great and some snake oil, who knows. By the way echo trimmers cost half as much as this hunk of scrap does and the echo lasted much longer probably coulda lasted longer but most of the guys are careless and abuse the dog [censored] out of the equipment

 

[c24k]

 

[c24k]

Update for today: ran the weedeater long today and so far the MMO appears to be working. I did buy some Mobil 1 10-40 HM to run without MMO. I guess ill just keep on updating incase anyone else happens to come into ownership of one of these trimmers. Based on my experience with the trimmers and their power blowers I highly recommend that no one purchases these. The equipment falls apart way to fast for such expensive commercial grade equipment. Buyer beware! We have gone through multiple blowers and possibly string trimmers next.

 

[Donald]

I worked at Lowes one summer for exercise and we would use backpack blowers to blow out and clean the outside lawn and garden area over to the Walmart parking lot.

We went through a couple of Troybuilt ones before we got a Husqvarna and it worked like a champ despite people treating it pretty bad.

 

[c24k]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I worked at Lowes one summer for exercise and we would use backpack blowers to blow out and clean the outside lawn and garden area over to the Walmart parking lot.

We went through a couple of Troybuilt ones before we got a Husqvarna and it worked like a champ despite people treating it pretty bad.

I've heard great things about Husqvarna. Personally haven't used one but I would def give them a try without a second thought. Their 2-cycle oil is top notch. were those blowers 2-stroke or 4-stroke?