GardenKit

It will not knacker the mower. It will either run or it won't. If it does run it may smoke a bit or a lot If it does not run then fill with fresh petrol and it will be fine.

Why is the forklift not blue?

Is the world really in such a state? I certainly do not think its so bad and I enjoy my life. My earlier post about life in the 60's was about a period only 20 years after WW2 when the world really had been in a sorry state. Financial recover in the post war years was slow but everyone made the best of it. Everyone bleats on about how bad things are now, but I can honestly say I think we have never had it so good. The council street I grew up on had about 40 houses and only about 10 cars, now there is no room to park. Every house has at least 2 cars. Everyone, no matter how poor they claim to be has a mobile phone. Most people have just about everything they want, not just what they need. I went shopping in Exeter on Sunday. Just to see the amount of people in the streets, the amount of cars in the car parks, the quality of clothes that the people wear, the make up and hair on the girls, the number of smart phones in peoples hands, the amount of goods going through the tills and then the thousands of people drinking and eating in the hundreds of food and drink outlets just proves to me that there is very little austerity and a great deal of prosperity. Driving back through Marsh Barton, the new car mecca of the UK just shows the massive market for cars. Then the massive amount of cars outside the equally impressive number of out of town superstores. I have never seen anything like this before. Even though I enjoyed my slightly impoverished upbringing, I kind of envy the life that my kids and grandkids lead now on lower incomes than my parents had. We ain't doing so bad on the whole, and we, as a country, would do a lot better if we stopped moaning.

I grew up in the 60's, lived in a council house. Father on middle management. Money did not simply 'go further', it was stretched to provide for the 'needs', not the 'wants' There was no heating other then open fires, so we went to bed early in the winter and woke up to ice on the inside of the Crittal windows. We heated water with the immersion heater, so only had a bath once a week, but we had to have it even if we did not need it. Clothes were washed once a week in the boiler, and wrung out through the mangle before being hung out to dry. The clothes were then darned (mended) when holes developed and patches were sewn on to jacket elbows. We were lucky, dad earned just a little more than some others in the street so we had a car where neighbours on each side did not. We also had a telephone and the neighbours used to come to use it. And we had a telly, black and white. But we could not afford one so it came from Radio Rentals. We either watched the telly, played board games or read a book (from the library) We walked 2 miles to school, the library, the doctors and the shops. Why did we not drive? because Dad had the car at work and the shops all shut at 5 and never opened on Sunday. We grew veg in the large garden (no grass here!) and Mum was always baking or preserving produce from the garden or the hedgerows. I seldom had new clothes, hand me downs were the usual. I always had a bike, but never a new one. So mum never worked, she simply never had the time. We were not poor compared with many and had everything we needed. But believe me times were hard and life was good.

There are a lot of Mountfield Ride ons about. It may help to be more specific with model and serial number.

Very similar effect Stubby. With a blower, if you block off either the inlet or outlet completely the engine comes off load as the fan has nothing to move. The revs will soar. Just like an outboard when you give it too much too soon and the prop just spins in its own little world, or a car engine when the wheels hit some slippery stuff. You can actually use this to tune a blower as you can get it to 4 stroke under no load, which should then two stroke when working correctly and under load. Normally a blower is running on full load as soon as it is started.

The size of fan, inlet and spout are all finely balanced. If either the fan inlet or blowing pipe are restricted the fans load reduces and the revs increase. Increasing engine revs by fuelling or porting reduces the blow, as the fan cannot grab enough incoming air, or get more air down the tube. The science of fans is fascinating.

Give it a weeks work, then let us know what you think.

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.” John Ruskin

The balance is something you cannot do anything about except get used to it, it may be not as bad as you think, just different. Gutless? An Echo will be tight to begin with (both engine and blades) and will improve with use. Always assuming that it has been correctly set up by the supplying dealer in terms of carb adjustment.

Crap in what respect? Power, weight, balance, quality of cut etc.

Pretty much as Dan says. Easily achieved in 30 minutes, although the pump itself can be a bit more difficult until you know what you are doing as it has to be withdrawn from below. About £25 labour should cover it at most dealers.

If it was a saw from a 'pro user' I would give it a full service (inc new plug!). I would replace a damaged chain catcher and worn sprocket without communicating with the customer. However, I would not change the bar and chain as the true 'pro user' probably has this in hand. In fact they often send a saw in for service having already taken off the good bar and chain, just putting an old one on for me to be able to test under load. I would of course mention it to the customer when they collected the saw and offer replacements. But if it was a domestic user I would confirm extra costs over and above the service and get authority before doing the work. With the cheaper, sub £180 saws, the cost of a new bar chain and sprocket, on top of the service, is seldom viable.

Let us hope not! Man 'has sex with tree, claims he is God and tried to stab cop with badge while high' - Mirror Online

A very valid question. Alkylate fuel is the base product for Aspen and is produced from gases that would otherwise have gone to waste and be burnt off at the refinery and polluted the atmosphere, so from that point it has to be positive. The containers are non returnable. The costs, and carbon footprint of transporting empty containers back to Sweden for cleansing and refilling would be astronomic. The cost would of course have to be applied to product and, lets face it, its expensive enough as it is. But they are recyclable, and are exactly the same material as milk bottles. The volume of Aspen containers emptied each day is tiny compared with milk bottles.

No, Easy Start is sprayed into the carb throat so does not enter the float chamber. The picture shows the main jet housing which is constantly immersed in the fuel in the float bowl.

The carb shown is a genuine Honda carb from a 1999 mower. You may well not have experienced problems in your machines, but that does not mean that issues do not exist. In my career I have also seen, serviced and repaired many engines that have suffered no problem at all with pump fuel. But I have also seen very many that have.

And for those that do not believe that ethanol damages carburettors.

I have absolutely no idea if its legal or not, or if its been tested in court. I just know thats the way it is. The reason is quite simply that carburettor issues that occur after a successful PDI are always the result of the fuel, and as such are not covered by the manufacturers warranty. Of course they do not warn not use petrol, thats just a stupid question. But they do obviously state that only fresh and clean fuel must be used.

In a way some do. Honda, for instance, will not warrant their carburettors on new machines once they have left the dealers premises after PDI as they realise the problems that often occur from usage with petrol.

No, I do not know for sure, hence my reserved statement. But I have spent a lot of time trying to find any evidence of any 'high grade' fuels that contain no ethanol, and so far have found none. Maybe you can find some evidence for me Dave, as I have given up. My belief, until proven otherwise, is that all UK pump fuels contain ethanol in rates up to 10%.

Pretty sure that all petrol, even the so called 'high grade' in the UK now contains ethanol, as the oil companies get heavy penalties on any that does not. Anglo American get heavy penalties on Aspen as it contains no ethanol.

Spot on Stubby. The Aspen that Beau tried, if it's the can he bought from me, was in fact the old blend. The new 'FRT' uses a totally different oil.

Thats really bunny

The difference is that those who hate marmite have tried it.🙂