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I just bought a Titan strimmer/hedge cutter combi. I used it yesterday and have to say i'm very impressed with it for the money. That said, I know cheap 2 strokes can be prone to reliability and I'm not looking forward to the day I go to start it and it doesn't burst into life.
We have a largish garden but even so it will be used reasonably irregularly.
So how can I try and prolong the life and reliability of the thing? So far I intend to:
- Run the engine until the petrol tank is empty after every use
- Use fresh petrol
Anything else I should/shouldn't be doing?
Personally I’d by some of the stihl premix petrol. One thing that’ll bugger it up quicker than anything is too rich or too lean with the oil. In addition to this, it keeps for up to 5 years meaning you don’t have to worry about running it dry. You can buy it in litre bottles too, about £6 a bottle but saves the faff.
Use aspen fuel. More expensive, but much better for the engine and environment. No mixing and you can leave the fuel in the machine all winter, so there is no waste.
Use aspen fuel
Just had a look and Aspen seems to be a 50:1 mix. The manual for my engine says to use a 40:1 mix.
Don't run the tank completely empty, the oil is a lube.
Use Castrol A747 for premix and you wont care about longevity when it smells so good!
The Aspen stuff sounds good though if you can leave in all the time and no varnishing occurs.
Head off, get the squish down to 0.5mm and machine the cumbustion chamber to get the compression ratio back down to where it should be, blueprint the barrel and match it to the cases, chuck a decent spanny on it and you're set. Whack an extra base gasket in it to raise the ports a bit and this-
Use Castrol A747 for premix and you wont care about longevity when it smells so good!
times a million!
bit late for you now, but I bought a ryobi one battery strimmer after years of spending more time dicking around with shit two stroke engines than actually strimming.
bloody brilliant. does about 30min on a charge which is enough for my garden, can leave it in the shed all winter, pick it up and start strimming instantly.
Stan Stephen's Stage 3?
ah missed the bit about reliability...
kayla11 you forgot to shave 10 thou off the keyway
The Titan strimmers are really good, we just run them out of fuel before putting them away. Has worked for the past three years we've owned it.
Is there any danger with leaving some fuel in the tank? I've never let mine run dry and aways used a mix with slightly more oil than stated. As said above the oil is to lubricate the engine.
Small engine normally 'fail' due to the carb becoming clogged. As the petrol evaporates from the carb leaving residue that clogs them up, than an issue with fuel in the tank. Turn off the fuel supply (if it has a tap) and drain carb/run the motor till it dies from fuel starvation to avoid it.
EDIT: I like the idea of battery power units knowadays, but getting feedback on their usefulness seems to be an issue
Adding more oil makes the mixture lean and can cause it to run hot and seize.
Nothing to add to above other than to mention that Stan Stephens used to "fettle" my motocross bikes, KX 80, KX 125 and KX 250, the guy is a genius and it's good to see he is still tuning at the age of 73.