Leaf Blower engine seized

It's the chicken and the egg as far as off topic posts. The group is getting more like a bunch of people at the local coffee shop and discuss what ever comes to mind. The normal denizens have a wide range of backgrounds. One was a mechanic and another an electrical inspector. Do you have spark? Pull the plug and find a way to hold it against metal of the blower. Your local hardware store should have some sort of jumper wire with clips at each end if you can't hold the plug against steel. It should spark when you pull the cord with the switch on. Does the blower spin freely with the plug removed? I'm wondering if the slight catch is the top of the compression stroke.

Most likely, the piston and cylinder bore are beyond repair. That's a fairly low powered blower, I'd replace it with an Ego battery powered blower.

For my own use, I need something more serious and use a higher end

I'd remove the spark plug, see if it spins freely. If not, spray some lube or light oil in there and see if it will free up. If it does, see if it will start. Nothing to lose. IDK exactly what happens though when it's run without oil like that, like does the cylinder typically get scored so it's shot? If so, even if it's free now it could be toast. Testing for compression would be a key factor, but OP probably doesn't have a tester.

I'll remove the spark plug and see what happens. I'd love to replace with an electric blower, but I fear my yard is too large and leafy for that.

-J

That hard spot in the rotation might be where the piston ring seized ... if it was me (and I love to resurrect lost causes) and I couldn't get it to fire after putting some gas in the spark plug hole I'd toss it and get another . Especially if original cost was less than a hundred bucks . My new line trimmer is a Stihl , entry level commercial unit . A little over 300 bucks but it's probably going to be the last one I buy . I was buying cheap every other year so if this lasts 8 years I come out even .

Here's some additional info:

You may be able to remove the exhaust to look at the piston and get an idea how bad it is.

That Hitachi is 441 CFM, 170 MPH. An Ego battery powered is 530 CFM, 110 MPH.

So, not nearly the oomph from the electric, but it moves a lot of air. They both weigh about the same. The electric is way easier to operate and is quiet.

I got one of these B&D that I am looking forward to trying when leaves come down this fall:

If the plug and gas flow look okay it might be salvageable by lightly honing the cylinder and replacing the rings. Depends on what the piston and cylinder look like.

With 2 stroke dirt bikes it's easier to replace the whole mess but I don't think that would be cost effective for a leaf blower.

Why not>? A leaf blower costs a lot less than a dirt bike, stupid.

I think he was talking about swapping the engine.

I bet that if this thing has any compression at all it will come back. Put some 2 stroke oil in the plug hole. Pour an ounce or so in the carb hole and pull it over until gas oil mix is well distributed. Then put the plug back, open the throttle and pull it until it starts.

He siezed it due to lack of lubrication - so the rings have most likely scuffed the cyl - and it is both not building proper compression in the combustion camber and not building crankcase pressure/vacuum which is required for a 2 stroke engine to run. Call it an expensive lesson and pitch it.

I just bought a Toro electric. Works great - but I DO have 100 ft of

Me too, I'm happy with it.

If I could just find a decent string trimmner ............. nah, not gonna happen.

There was one that had plastic blades that swung out when the trimmer ran. Maybe is was an aftermarket thing. Is string the issue?

I really like my (pretty new) Stihl FS91R . It wasn't cheap ... but I expect it to outlast at least 5 of the cheap ones I've been buying .

I've been using this BD battery trimmer for 2 1/2 years. It's good for about 200' of lawn edging and misc weed cleanup before you need to recharge the batteries.

It hasn't been designed yet - - -

To: jcl541 Re: Leaf Blower engine seized By: jcl541 to alt.home.repair on Sun Oct 18 2020 07:32 am

HusTler

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I love the idea of electric - I'm a big proponent. The issue I have is not the power so much as the amount of time you get on a charge. My yard is not a half-hour job ;-). But maybe things will get better. We had a Nissan Leaf a few years back - it got a theoretical 100 miles on a charge, but less in reality (more like 75), and much less in the winter (you'd be risking it if you had to go 50 miles). Now we have a Chevy Bolt and it theoretically gets over 250 miles on a charge (and not much less in the winter) - and that number seems more accurate (based on estimated mileage and charge remaining - I've never run it out of charge or below about 1/4 charge). Right now it seems a lot more expensive for an electric leaf blower that would require several charges to do our yard - and unlike a gas blower that you can refill in a minute, recharging the electric will take a while. But I look forward to the near future where electric is the standard for this tool. It's tough (and expensive) to be an early-adopter - you often pay a lot of money for something that doesn't live up to the hype. For most of us, waiting a few years is the way to go. For electric cars, we definitely were on the early side, but we leased instead of bought, knowing that major improvements were likely coming. The electric car still has some limitations, but for most driving applications, I think it's there. :-)