GardenKit

It would be just under £3.00 cheaper for a 5litre can, Stephen. Or roughly the cost of one cappacino.

Tom, the magneto clearance should be 10 thou (the thickness of an average business card). But I have to agree with ADW, and I thought the same last night after posting my reply, that it does sound a little like a micro switch problem. If these switches play up they rapidly make and break contact causing the ignition to cut in and out. As ADW said, if you locate the earth wire from the coil to the wiring loom and disconnect it then you can rule that one out, or not, as the case may be. Good luck

We can supply Aspen by mail order in minimum quantities of 3 cans, which is not an overly large quantity. Its just the delivery charge which hurts at £24.00 inc vat.(not highlands and islands) Aspen can only legally be shipped by carriers approved and trained for inflammable goods. Standard, cheaper, carriers would not transport it if they knew what it was, although I know some online suppliers of Aspen are shipping it this way, which is really a bit naughty. Should such a carrier find some in his system it would be impounded and not delivered.

To be honest Beau, whilst I accept your point, I have not had similar comments from any of my many regular users. I guess everyones sense of smell is different. Also, if the Aspen you tried was the stock you bought from me a few years ago then it was the old formulation. The new Full Range Technology formulation has a totally different oil, thus a different smell. If it was only the smell putting you off, then maybe try some of the new FRT. It is only the oil content that gives the smell, the actual Aspen fuel is completely odourless when burning as can be proven when sniffing a 4 stroke exhaust burning Aspen 4. So it would be feasible to use Aspen 4 and use your favourite flavour of two stroke oil, such as Redline.

Stephen, I bet you will drink Liddl's own brand before you give up your Aspen.

Many Aspen users have found that the higher price does not make as much difference to their profits as they first thought. But the benefits of Aspen makes a much bigger difference to their lives than they could have ever imagined.

Welcome to the forum Tomit Interesting problem you have there. Just a few thoughts in no particular order. How are you testing compression?, You should not really be able to get 130 psi at cranking speed because of the decompressor on the camshaft. If its running lean you will have a very light grey/white plug so thats worth a check, but if it is lean running thats the problem you should be able to smooth out the engine with the choke partly on, this could help to diagnose. Running lean could get the engine hot, but in reality if there is fuel starvation there won't be much power so not much heat build up. Exhausts do get very hot very quickly so yours may not be over hot and you may be reading too much into it. These engines are prone to head gasket failure. It usually manifests as burning oil though, and as you have had the head off you should know if the gasket was OK, I guess you did fit a new one? Carbs are not too expensive, but you need to be sure thats the trouble before fitting a new one. Make sure the fuel tank is breathing OK, try it with the cap removed. Also check the fuel flow through the primary fuel hose twixt tank and filter, just in case its partially blocked. It could be that it runs OK on the first full float bowl which does not then fill fast enough to keep it running. Might be just worth checking the timing (flywheel key) and the magneto to flywheel gap. Barrie

Had Sonia not noticed that before,then Jon? Or had you managed to keep it a secret?

Why ruin a perfectly good MS200T? They are a scarce commodity. Rear handled saws are plentiful.

Alec,If you let me have the model number and product code I will have a look on the IPL's and see if its still available. Barrie

Its strange how we dealers have to take the blame for everything that happens to a machine after we have serviced it. I don't mind accepting liability for things we may have not done correctly, or not noticed needed doing. Thats only fair after all. But what is not fair is when we get the blame for operator induced problems. Today a mower was brought in that we serviced 2 months ago. "it was only serviced two months ago and we have not used it but the engine is hunting badly. i want it sorted" said customer. So I had a look. The mower was caked up underneath with grass and the blade was blunt. There was paint missing all over the front and sides but the cause of the hunting was bits of grass in the petrol in the carb bowl and main jet. A quick clean got it going well but customer not inclined to pay as he said he had not used it since service. The thing is, our services always include a thorough clean of the machine, the blade is sharpened obviously, and the underside of the deck power washed then wax oiled. The topsides are cleaned and resprayed over any missing paint. And the fuel tank is drained and blown out with airline. The carb bowl and jet are blown out and then the machine is filled to the brim with Aspen. No way was any grass in the fuel system, or anywhere else on the mower when it left us, and it had obviously been well used, the Aspen had all been used and refilled with petrol. Why do the customers think they can lift my leg with their lies?? Do they really think I am daft enough to believe their claims? Rant over, calm now.

Sorry for the long delay in replying Duncan. I expect you have it fixed by now, but just in case you have not you need to buy a front RH stub assembly.

Now we have a bit of a problem. A challenge has been issued by mesterh and accepted by Jon, so both parties have to honour the agreement. Mesterh has to pay the £100, and in return it would seem Jon has to 'tone down' his posting. But how do we know by how much Jon needs to 'tone down' and how can we judge that he has? Maybe just one thought that pops into Jons head and does not reach his fingers will be enough? I personally find Jon's posts very entertaining and would hate to lose his input from the social side of this forum. Sometimes I am not in the mood to read his threads so I simply do not bother. Simples Mesterh could have saved £100 with the same philosophy.

That's because I'll bet there is no spark anyway Steve!!! No Spark, No big flame! Good point though.

With respect, that may be the wrong course of action. Although those machines are very prone to coil failure there are many other things it could be. I would test the spark first, the simplest way is just to put a good plug in the lead, but not screw it into the engine. Then you have to ensure the metal body of the plug is earthed to the engine block. That's not an easy task on the FS55 due to the tight plastics. You may need a length of wire and some vice grips. Then pull the engine over and see if there is a spark. But the spark is not always easy to see, and not as strong as you may imagine, so do it in the dark! If you have a spark you probably have another fault.

Without more details it is impossible to diagnose the FS55, but I would put money on it being a dud coil. Stihl just never get it right, the Tanaka is a far better machine.

You will not need the bottom flange for a Jet Fit, just the nut and the top flange, which should always stay with the gearbox (yes they fall of when the heads off, but must always be back on before fitting any tool) The 25.4mm recess in the top face of the Jet fit fits over the register on the lower face of the top flange, ensuring its kept centralised for balance.

We obviously use a card machine in the shop. We do not surcharge debit cards, but surcharge credit cards at 1.5%. The result is that we now handle very little cash and very few cheques, which is great. We do not have a portable machine, so when we deliver a serviced mower back to a customer we try to get payment by card over the phone before we deliver, but this does not always work. Some give us a cheque when we deliver, but no matter how many times we ask them in advance to have it ready for us they always seem to keep the driver waiting for 10 minutes while they find the cheque book and slowly write the cheque, a right PITA when we are busy. Invariably, if given the chance to 'send the cheque on' it will be weeks before it arrives, but strangely, if given the chance to 'pay online' they will pay within 12 hours.

Nice idea Jon, which appeals to the 'social side' of Arbtalk. But I suppose that, after all, Arbtalk is a small business and hopefully makes profit from the advertisers. So a stand at a show would be viewed by the organisers as being for publicity purposes. If Steve stood to gain from such publicity then there should indeed be a cost incurred. Arbsafe, on the other hand, offers a free service to the arb community. I wonder if there is some mileage in having a free stand purely in the name of Arbsafe? No gain, No pain.

I am guessing you actually have a TCG24EASP commonly known as a TBC240S. I sell shedloads of these and they, in common with most Tanaka products have very few problems, but we are seeing just one issue occurring on this model fairly early in its life when used as a hedge trimmer rather than brush cutter. Hedgecutting takes very little power and full revs are seldom used so exhaust temperature is kept down. If the 2 stroke oil used is of a cheaper nature and maybe dosed a little heavily then unburnt oily deposits can quickly block the spark arrestor. This is easy rectified by undoing the 2 little screws holding the exhaust outlet to the muffler. The screen sits under the plate and can be removed for testing. Full revs should quickly be restored. Its also just worth checking the black fuel pipe from tank to carb, they can get hitched in a twig and pulled a little way out of the tank and then kink, partially or totally blocking fuel supply. If this is the case just open the tank filler and use some long nose pliers to pull the hose gently straight. Of course it could also be that the throttle cable was not tighten properly on PDI (behind airbox) and has loosened preventing full throttle, or even loosened and become detached from the carb barrel. Or, as Spud says, the problem could stem from tightness of the blades due to gumming or damage. But my money is on the blocked spark arrestor. Great machines though. Good choice!

Hi Mow, it looks like you are one step ahead of me and have tried just about everything. I suppose it could be down to valve clearances, but I would have thought they would also effect starting. As the cam wears the clearances will increase so the valves would not be open for long. I suppose this may mean they are not open for long enough to allow top rev fuel through, but I would have thought it would just stop full revs being reached. I don't see many of these so am not an authority on them, but I dis buy a secondhand one in last week which I intend to service ready for putting on sale tomorrow. I will have a good check and see if I can locate any problem areas.

I cant really see it being the coil as it starts straight away. A faulty coil usually dies when hot and wont restart until it cools. Testing it cold will not be of much help I fear. I would run it with my spark tester in line and watch the spark. I would try to see if the spark failed just before the engine died, although it all happens so fast its difficult to see. I tend to think its more fuel related though, and a thought that comes to mind is fuel vapourisation. This is caused by heat and can be accelerated by vibration. If you are running fresh fuel it should not be a problem, but its just possible that if you are running an ethanol rich fuel (Tesco type) and it was bought some months back (i.e. winter grade) that you are getting vaporisation. Winter grade fuels are mixed to vaporise more readily to aid starting in cold conditions, but can cause these issues if used in the warmer weather. I would change the fuel for new, non supermarket, fuel and try again. Its easy to do and worth a try. The other thing that maybe worth checking is the exhaust filter. I have seen the odd example (in general, not necessarily on a Honda GX25) of carbon crusted filters which get forced harder together by increased exhaust flow at high speed and then suddenly block of the exhaust port completely. Again, this is a quick ,easy check and costs nothing. I always like to eliminate the simple things first.

Take the kill wire off the coil and try it. If this cures it then the issue lies with the kill circuit.

You really need to remove the flywheel to check the key and the taper for damage. If it has been damaged or worn it will need renewing.

I agree with you Spud. The only times I have had a true backfire have been all down to a loose flywheel with a sheared (or damaged) key. The saw starts almost normally but as the crank accelerates the flywheel slips back and retards the spark. But as the crank decelerates, the flywheel overruns and advances so that when the saw is switched off the crank is in a good position for a start. I would check that before anything else. And in response to Harveys question about the effects of a tracking plug, it simply means that the coils energy will track to earth within the plugs body rather than having to jump the gap.So either a weak spark or no spark at all.