G'day all,
I'll start from the start. If you get bored, skip to the end.
In 1999 I bought a Ryobi 2 stroke line trimmer. I used it regularly until 2003 when I went away for a few years. During that time I had a 2 stroke water cooled bike, so I just ran it on the same silkoline fully synthetic I ran in the bike. The important thing was it got used every month or so, year round.
So 2003 I went overseas. I drained it, ran it dry and stashed it away until I returned in 2009. I fueled it up and used Ryobi 2 stroke oil because it was cheap and available in small containers. It was a bit of a pig to start and over the years got harder to keep running. I was ok with it but it drove my wife mad. In 2013 I put a service kit through the carb, replaced the fuel hoses and primer bulb. It was like a new machine and ran like a clock.
Now the difference between 2003 and 2015 is I'm married with a small child and my wife likes to do the garden work and she does no gardening over winter, so the unit sits idle from about May to September and does not get winterized because she likes to be able to go out and just grab it off the rack and go. Consequently last year come September I had to strip and clean the carb to get it to run right. This year I tried a different tack and simply removed both the high and low speed jet screws and blasted them with carb cleaner. Same result in that it now starts and runs perfectly.
Obviously either the fuel or the oil is turning to muck in the carb and blocking things up, but I'd rather not have to remove the screws, clean it out and re-tune it if I can avoid it.
What would be a valid winterizing method for a small two stroke? I was thinking of just dumping the fuel and running the carb dry, but if there is a tried and proven method that will stop me having to pull things to bits come September I'm all ears.
I'll start from the start. If you get bored, skip to the end.
In 1999 I bought a Ryobi 2 stroke line trimmer. I used it regularly until 2003 when I went away for a few years. During that time I had a 2 stroke water cooled bike, so I just ran it on the same silkoline fully synthetic I ran in the bike. The important thing was it got used every month or so, year round.
So 2003 I went overseas. I drained it, ran it dry and stashed it away until I returned in 2009. I fueled it up and used Ryobi 2 stroke oil because it was cheap and available in small containers. It was a bit of a pig to start and over the years got harder to keep running. I was ok with it but it drove my wife mad. In 2013 I put a service kit through the carb, replaced the fuel hoses and primer bulb. It was like a new machine and ran like a clock.
Now the difference between 2003 and 2015 is I'm married with a small child and my wife likes to do the garden work and she does no gardening over winter, so the unit sits idle from about May to September and does not get winterized because she likes to be able to go out and just grab it off the rack and go. Consequently last year come September I had to strip and clean the carb to get it to run right. This year I tried a different tack and simply removed both the high and low speed jet screws and blasted them with carb cleaner. Same result in that it now starts and runs perfectly.
Obviously either the fuel or the oil is turning to muck in the carb and blocking things up, but I'd rather not have to remove the screws, clean it out and re-tune it if I can avoid it.
What would be a valid winterizing method for a small two stroke? I was thinking of just dumping the fuel and running the carb dry, but if there is a tried and proven method that will stop me having to pull things to bits come September I'm all ears.
