pleasant

I would 'do a back to the future' and go back into time with a sports results book and a few quid in my pocket.

That's the thing that really gets me......you can spend more time on diagnosing the problem than it takes to cure, but when you try and charge out accordingly punters think you should work for nothing. More often than not we have to trim our hourly rate on a machine that is difficult to cure simply because if we charged our normal hourly rate it wouldn"t be economical to repair or customer wouldn"t pay....so we have to make less profit. I don't know many other trades whereby you have to do that. My accountant, solicitor, and other 'professional' service providers certainly don"t do it.

No worries. Just pleased I was right about an air leak. 😁👍Merry xmas to all

Drove to post office at lunchtime yesterday. Had a small jiffy bag packet to send....was going to use a courier but going to northern ireland so the premium was quite dear hence decided to use the post office. Woman at post office window said 'sorry we've been told not to take in any parcels or letters over the counter as they are on strike today and they already have such a back log they dont want you adding to it. Not taking any parcels in until wednesday so bring it back then' ....no love, í'm not jumping through hoops to appease you or the post office, so i went home, printed off the dearer label for a courier and dropped it into them on my way home. Another customer lost.

'both' ......so just the two then?

...agree those breathers had a it of a reputation back in the day. Certainly worth checking whilst changing that hardened pipe he says it has.

It's always nice to know though isn't it? Not from a points scoring perspective, but just knowing we have helped to some degree.

A fair point

Watch this video, and see if his symptoms ring bells with yours:

To be fair, mine needs doing- has needed that 'last cut' for a few weeks, and I would if it were drier.

Symptoms seem to suggest an air leak......the carb seems all over the place

Personally I would start with the easiest and most likely cause which you have already alluded to, and fit a new hose, then check everything else after.

That last video shows it seemingly running very rich

Crack in the mangesium casing, failed o-ring on the filler cap, gasket failure between casing halves, tank vent valve failure, oil hose perished or chafed

Chain oil or fuel leak- can't tell as it's soaked into the cardboard. I would guess chain oil leak given the pic locations, but you never know.

I think you are thinking of all the tv adverts now

Do you have a can of carb spray with one of those long plastic nozzle adaptors? If so, set it up like you have and start it up. Gently spray the carb cleaner using the nozzle in or around the recoil area- ensure you don't get to close to the carb/filter area as you don't want a false reading. If you have a crank leak on the recoil, side then by spraying the carb spray in that specific area the revs will increase, or it will possibly stall due to it being too rich with the spray, but normally it will rev up momentarily. If you are unsure if you have a leak around the intake boot etc, then use the same trick- but like I say but a barrier between the intake boot and the carb intake. It's quick and easy. If you want to do it really properly, then remove the starter with the engine running to expose the flywheel, then apply the spray- just be very careful removing the recoil on a running engine. Would suggest before starting you remove three of the four screws and just leave those in place that take most of the pressure when pulling the rope. The ones you have left in place, loosen them first then lightly screw them back in before starting. That way less pressure will need to be applied to remove them. There are several videos on youtube showing this proceedure if you want to check them first if you are unsure. Here's one for example:

To be fair, in the beginning the formation of unions did improve workhouses etc, and an awful lot of what we take for granted now came about as a result of their campaigining. However, what with the constant progress and improvements in working practices and the regular introduction and updating of legistaltion to protect not only workers, but employers as well, the modern day unions (in the UK at least) are having trouble to justify their existance (and their subs from their members) so they have to be seen to 'be doing something' And more now than ever.

The longest OE bar from stihl that will fit the 231 is the 18" off the 251. Recommended bar length for the 231 is 16" although for occasional use it will cope with the 18" just, even so, it will cut effectively on both upper and lower rails. The extra 2" wont highlight the issues the OP has.

Your statement can be taken either way in the context of the question.

You can blame bliar for that. His policy was to get everyone into university....overnight the value of all but the highest academic degrees were devalued to the point everyone of even mediocre intelligence were getting a degree in media, arts etc. That was when companies looking for the best to recruit stopped looking fior one degree, but two....or only considering candidates with the top half dozen academic degrees. We joked at the time we would be looking for a cleaner with a degree before they even got an interview. Now they realise that, and are looking at going back to apprenticeships and professional qualifications....gone full circle.

The only way out if you are on the bottom rung and you want to earn more is to improve your qualifications to go up a pay grade or leave, but at the end of the day, a manual job with no qualifications is going to pay roughly the same across the board anyway....but without a lot of the benefits of working for the nhs

Yes, but that is the same in all walks of life, not just the NHS, but they seem to think theirs is a unique issue which it isnt. Give those at the bottom a pay rise....justified or not, then quite rightly those higher skilled above will want a re set of the differential and so it goes on up the ladder. And at the end of it all the ones at the bottom are actually no better off because everything has increaed

Any one and every one ? Still want a pint at the pub when on strike, still want your paper and your fags, still want a takeaway. Still want some one to fix your broken machines.

If they get the 19% they are after then the only thing that will improve is their wages....everything else they are allegedly unhappy with regarding their jobs won't improve as the funds to do so will have gone to them