Zama, Walbro Carb issues/rebuild

[Stubby]

6 hours ago, Macpherson said:

 

I get it that you're totally on the ball as regarding protecting your engines against the damage done by ordinary fuel, but as a life long engine repairer I absolutely know that fuel stabilisers protect fuel from phase separation or going off for usually longer than claimed by the manufacturers [ a number of years ] while also protecting against the failures you mention and more for very little cost.

 

I understand that Alkylate fuel is a far better fuel, but it's cost would prevent it being used in may engine uses :

Gennies, Classic vehicles, lawnmowers, outboards farm vehicles etc, so if you want to protect these type of machines from crap fuel stabilisers are the answer... petrol and diesel.

 

I know it's an Arb forum but although they cost a lot of money, chainsaws are really quite cheap when compared nearly everything else petrol / diesel powered that's being damaged by crap fuel.

 

Cheers.

All you say above is true but .....with an alkylate fuel ( I use Husqvarna Xpower ) you don't get the carbon deposets that you do with pump fuel .If you run a new machine from the get go on alkylate fuel for a year then strip it down t inspect it looks like it has only been run for a day or two .  

[Tree monkey 1682]

9 hours ago, Macpherson said:

 

I get it that you're totally on the ball as regarding protecting your engines against the damage done by ordinary fuel, but as a life long engine repairer I absolutely know that fuel stabilisers protect fuel from phase separation or going off for usually longer than claimed by the manufacturers [ a number of years ] while also protecting against the failures you mention and more for very little cost.

 

I understand that Alkylate fuel is a far better fuel, but it's cost would prevent it being used in may engine uses :

Gennies, Classic vehicles, lawnmowers, outboards farm vehicles etc, so if you want to protect these type of machines from crap fuel stabilisers are the answer... petrol and diesel.

 

I know it's an Arb forum but although they cost a lot of money, chainsaws are really quite cheap when compared nearly everything else petrol / diesel powered that's being damaged by crap fuel.

 

Cheers.

Chainsaws are more expensive than an engine on a mower, genset and smaller plant , last time I used brigs and Stratton fuel stabiliser  I put one shot to 20 litres of fuel in the bottom of a jerry can ,then filled it up with top end petrol .

It still did not stop the dumper (honder engine) carb from buggering up ,even though I brim the machine. 

Its not as good as it claims, then u have the fecking around on site and a shite bottle of crap that didnt work. Yes I did try it in other machines.

Diesel machines are another chalice of 💩.

But they've seemed to have got better or should I say diesel has .

But ultimately machines font like being stood up and not being used.

I use aspen on anything  and everything , its in the chipper,  dumper, chainsaws - if people think its cost prohibitive then you really need to look at your pricing structure  and work out cheap fuel versus down time, carbs and sized engines .

 

[Tree monkey 1682]

3 hours ago, Stubby said:

All you say above is true but .....with an alkylate fuel ( I use Husqvarna Xpower ) you don't get the carbon deposets that you do with pump fuel .If you run a new machine from the get go on alkylate fuel for a year then strip it down t inspect it looks like it has only been run for a day or two .  

All my machines have been on it from new, its also better for your lungs and the working environment .

 

[Macpherson]

14 hours ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Chainsaws are more expensive than an engine on a mower, genset and smaller plant , last time I used brigs and Stratton fuel stabiliser  I put one shot to 20 litres of fuel in the bottom of a jerry can ,then filled it up with top end petrol .

It still did not stop the dumper (honder engine) carb from buggering up ,even though I brim the machine. 

Its not as good as it claims, then u have the fecking around on site and a shite bottle of crap that didnt work. Yes I did try it in other machines.

Diesel machines are another chalice of 💩.

But they've seemed to have got better or should I say diesel has .

But ultimately machines font like being stood up and not being used.

I use aspen on anything  and everything , its in the chipper,  dumper, chainsaws - if people think its cost prohibitive then you really need to look at your pricing structure  and work out cheap fuel versus down time, carbs and sized engines .

 

 

OK then , what would you do with a collection of classic cars for instance... run them all on Aspen ?

My point I suppose is that saws are only a tiny percentage of engines that don't get used every day and need protecting from shyte fuel...

..and as an engine builder I've used fuel stabiliser to mitigate against the consequences of Ethanol in fuel since I first started to notice the damage it was causing around 15 years ago.

 

I know that Alkylate fuel is a much superior option particularly from a fumes pov and I'd say that the world would be better place it was the only fuel option, but unfortunately it's not.

So I'm sorry that your experience with stabiliser was negative but I won't be using Aspen in my greedy outboard anytime soon but it still needs protected and it's a lot more expensive in every way than any saw.

 

Not looking for an argument, just passing on my experience of mitigating against the massive increase in engine damage since this crap was added to ordinary fuel which previously never caused any of these problems.

[Tree monkey 1682]

11 hours ago, Macpherson said:

 

OK then , what would you do with a collection of classic cars for instance... run them all on Aspen ?

My point I suppose is that saws are only a tiny percentage of engines that don't get used every day and need protecting from shyte fuel...

..and as an engine builder I've used fuel stabiliser to mitigate against the consequences of Ethanol in fuel since I first started to notice the damage it was causing around 15 years ago.

 

I know that Alkylate fuel is a much superior option particularly from a fumes pov and I'd say that the world would be better place it was the only fuel option, but unfortunately it's not.

So I'm sorry that your experience with stabiliser was negative but I won't be using Aspen in my greedy outboard anytime soon but it still needs protected and it's a lot more expensive in every way than any saw.

 

Not looking for an argument, just passing on my experience of mitigating against the massive increase in engine damage since this crap was added to ordinary fuel which previously never caused any of these problems.

Wasn't spoiling for bickering either , I dont know why we can't supply aspen at the pumps, it surely would be better for all types of petrol engines,  and bring the wholesale cost down rather than pushing battery powered shite.

It must have been  2003 when I took saws into a dealer 11 of them, all of them with gammy carbs, told the dealer to keep the good ones , scrap the rest .. did the whole lot and cost £1500.. didnt use them again.

In regards to outboards alot of the local guys with small to midrange boats use Aspen due to the lack of use or cost of repairs and better fuel economy .

With regards to classic cars, is the not a water fuel seperator inline filter ? We've also done that to certain machinery it does work and doesn't restrict fuel flow,  you always had issues with metal tanks condensation,  and then issues with crappy fuel ontop of that!

The is no straight answer -just methods  to get around situations .

Edited 6 hours ago by Tree monkey 1682

[Oldfeller]

On 10/10/2025 at 05:30, Stubby said:

All you say above is true but .....with an alkylate fuel ( I use Husqvarna Xpower ) you don't get the carbon deposets that you do with pump fuel .If you run a new machine from the get go on alkylate fuel for a year then strip it down t inspect it looks like it has only been run for a day or two .  

not to dispute your findings Stubby, but I have saws here that go back the early 50,s none of which have seen aspen or its equivalents, and would even been run on straight motor oils of the day mixed with the petrol. many have stood for years and show no or very little corrosion of fuel parts, and surprisingly clean internals, I wonder myself if the quality of the components has any bearing on the longevity on these old saws, I doubt present day stuff will still be usable or even present in 50 years time. most of it is won out in 5 seasons or less. unless a large dose of "triggers broom" is adhered to.

[Oldfeller]

On 10/10/2025 at 08:30, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Chainsaws are more expensive than an engine on a mower, genset and smaller plant , last time I used brigs and Stratton fuel stabiliser  I put one shot to 20 litres of fuel in the bottom of a jerry can ,then filled it up with top end petrol .

It still did not stop the dumper (honder engine) carb from buggering up ,even though I brim the machine. 

Its not as good as it claims, then u have the fecking around on site and a shite bottle of crap that didnt work. Yes I did try it in other machines.

Diesel machines are another chalice of 💩.

But they've seemed to have got better or should I say diesel has .

But ultimately machines font like being stood up and not being used.

I use aspen on anything  and everything , its in the chipper,  dumper, chainsaws - if people think its cost prohibitive then you really need to look at your pricing structure  and work out cheap fuel versus down time, carbs and sized engines .

 

one shot [10ml] of fuel fit is required for each ltr of fuel, 

for 20ltrs you would require 200 ml.  ie; 20 shots.

could be why it didn't work?

[Tree monkey 1682]

54 minutes ago, Oldfeller said:

one shot [10ml] of fuel fit is required for each ltr of fuel, 

for 20ltrs you would require 200 ml.  ie; 20 shots.

could be why it didn't work?

Dunno ive might have quoted the measurements wrongly but I do genuinely follow the instructions on the bottle, maybe that was a poor example on my behalf , not being arsey