Issue w/ weedeater engine - doesn't stay on

Question

So, here's the problem. I'll prime my weedeater, put full choke on, pull the cord a few times. Now, BEFORE, the engine never started with full choke. I would need to move it to half choke, pull the cord again, let it warm up for 30 seconds, then take the choke off. But now, the engine stays on with full choke on. When I try move the choke to half choke, it dies. The engine NEVER used to stay on when the choke was 100% on. It would "kind of" turn over a second, then die (as expected), and that was my cue to put it on half choke and start it.

What I did to try to fix the problem:

1. I took the muffler off, cleaned it.
2. I took the throttle body off, did what I could to clean it by shooting compressed air through it.
3. Took off all the fuel hoses, and made sure they weren't clogged.

What I noticed before I did all of this was that the fuel bulb was hard to inflate back, when I pressed it. As if there was a clog or something. But, after I cleaned out the fuel hoses, I press the bulb (deflate it), and it almost instantly inflates again.

Any ideas what might be the problem? I can't keep the weedeater's engine on when the choke is not 100% on.

Answer 1

Your carb is plugged, probably due to ethanol gas. It is heck on these small engines. The easiest way to fix this is to replace the carb. The crud from the ethanol gets into the very small orifices and clogs them up. There is enough of a draw from the vacuum created under full choke for it to draw gas and keep it running, but once you take the choke off, the gas stops. There is almost no way to get this carb rebuilt without a huge hassle. Most small engine carbs are very cheap on the internet and are easily found.

For future reference, use Sta-Bil (or other like fuel stabilizer) in your fuel for the weedeater. This will prevent just this type of problem. Also, when you are done with it for the year, empty out all the remaining gas in the tank, then start it up and run it until it dies (carburetor down for best fuel flow), that way the carb will be devoid of any fuel. Just fill and go next year.