Blower died

[Essex]

I had a similar issue with a blower. Would run and then shut down. Spark plug was the problem

[Guest]

Ahh! Spark plug - seems so obvious now you've said it. Cheers Essex. I've just got to rebuild my carb now LOL!

[lurkalot]

Reason we leaped on the Carburettor thing was your original description, it "sounding like it was being choked"  There's a big difference between a ignition problem and a fuel problem, and you can usually hear it to be honest.  From your description I would have said carburettor, or blocked exhaust.   If it was stuttering, or misfiring and stopping I'd have said plug, or coil.  

[openspaceman]

4 hours ago, Essex said:

I had a similar issue with a blower. Would run and then shut down. Spark plug was the problem

Yes I posted about my makita backpack blower, it ran fine for 20 seconds then stopped, rest a minute and repeat. I put it away thinking I would need a coil but by chance changed the plug a few moths later and it still runs fine now.

[billpierce]

Prolly worth checking the kill switch and wires. If it sounds like its switching itself off, it might be !

[lurkalot]

2 hours ago, billpierce said:

Prolly worth checking the kill switch and wires. If it sounds like its switching itself off, it might be !

There is actually a known issue with the wiring harness on these machines, but usually they won't turn off.  I'm not saying it's not possible for the harness to cause this, just I've never seen it in all the ones that had broken harnesses, and I've had to change quite a lot of them for the very same issue. 

[Guest]

Thanks for all your help -gives me something to do on a pissy-wet afternoon. That or watch another columbo.

O -and just one more thing!.....

[spudulike]

2 hours ago, lurkalot said:

There is actually a known issue with the wiring harness on these machines, but usually they won't turn off.  I'm not saying it's not possible for the harness to cause this, just I've never seen it in all the ones that had broken harnesses, and I've had to change quite a lot of them for the very same issue. 

Now we know what model - yup, these blowers tend to wear through the kill circuit wires near the top of the recoil cover and have repaired a fair few. The usual sign is that you cant turn the machine off but I guess you could get a short of some sort.

I have seen a few with metering arm issues where the arm has jammed open or the machine will run for a few seconds due to fuel starvation and lifting the arm a tad has sorted it hence my earlier comment.

[GardenKit]

My money is on the ignition module (coil, if you prefer). It's quite common on this model. Easily tested with a spark tester. Just to be 100% sure whip the recoil cover off and pull the kill wire off to eliminate a short in the kill circuit. Put recoil cover back on and test the spark.

[spudulike]

Hi Barrie....where have you been....had a weird coil once, the blower would idle beautifully for ages, pull the throttle and the thing would die but let it off and it would idle again.....and have had a few non working coils on these blowers same as you.