Never Winterized My Tiller

[imschur]

It's my fault but it's infuriating none the less. Never drained the fuel or added stabilizer to my 2 stroke Stihl tiller. Went to start it today and the primer bulb never fills with fuel. I tried in vain to start it. Sputtered once then that was that. Think I flooded it.

Two hours later same shit, sputtered once. Now the primer bulb stays down most of the time. When it does pop up and I press it there is minimum fuel visible in the bulb and it bubbles in the fuel tank with every press.

Suggestions?

[392heminut]

Trade it in for a four stroke tiller? <munch>

[edgecrusher]

for the fuel, it may help to try an octane booster, to see if that will help. that's mostly what stabilizer is anyway

[DNP]

Any good with carb cleaner? You're going to need to be. The oil in your two stroke mix will cause all the problems. I am by no means a mechanic...luckily I know a guy who knows a guy, or something like that. All I know is that I used to have a few two stroke bikes and if they were left sitting for too long the carb would gum up and usually the bottom of the tank as well. It doesn't take more than one little hole to be plugged up and it will not run. Carb cleaner is cheap, but if you're not into taking it apart, you'd best find a small engine shop to tackle it. Just my $0.02 good luck

[Matt.Cross]

Drain the fuel out of it and try letting carb cleaner soak into everything for 2-3 hours. It will take a while for the gunk to break down, but it will be less time and money spent than having the thing rebuilt. After the initial cleaning, do one last soak to let all the harder stuff break down and then when you feel like you're in the clear put some fuel in it and go for broke.

[alelks]

I did the same thing this year to a small 4 stroke dirtb bike for my grand-kids.  I TOTALLY forgot to put stabilizer in it. 

Once you've cleaned it with carb cleaner get some starting fluid and spray it into the intake if it doesn't want to start.  If you cant get to the intake remove the spark plug and spray it in there.

[imschur]

Thanks guys

[telluwhat]

That sounds good to me. I am bad about winterizing stuff too. Now it doesn't matter LOL I guess I should sell this stuff now.

[jeffreyC]

I have found that WD-40 sprayed into the sparkplug hole loosens the piston if needed.

And WD-40 poured or sprayed into the gas tank will burn while removing/cleaning out the old gas.

I moved into a place where the lawnmower had sat for at least a year unprepped and got it running by filling the gas tank (which was half full) the rest of the way with WD-40.

[imschur]

ended up being the primer assembly.