Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My wife was doing a good deed by getting the leaves cleaned up this week - and added regular gas to my leaf blower and did not mix in the 2 cycle oil.  Of course, the leaf blower started again, but eventually konked out. 

Am I screwed?  Can I just remove the gas and add gas with the current mixture, or am I headed to the local repart shop.

PLEASE HELP!!!

If it's not seized and still cranks over, I would drain the gas, add the properly mixed gas. There may be a little residual unmixed gas in the unit after being drained. Just a thought, but I'd remove the plug and crank it for about 3-5 minutes to get the new mixed gas to engine, then try it. Maybe it overheated and shut down, hopefully not doing damage.

IF she added regular gas to a partly full tank, there may not be serious damage, but she probably added gas when it ran dry, so IMHO the engine is trashed - the piston is likely seized to the cylinder. If not, the cylinder walls are probably scored badly and the ring will no longer seal enough to give enough compression to run properly.

You said the blower "konked out" - what do you mean by that? Just stopped and would not restart? Gradually slowed down as it lost power? Seized solid suddenly?

Rather than take the blower to a shop, do this:

Remove the spark plug - you might be able to see enough just by shining a strong light through the spark plug hole. Pull the cord with a finger plugging the hole to see if there is any compression (make sure the start switch is off so you don't zap yourself). If the engine won't turn over, you are screwed. If you can't determine enough to decide, remove the cylinder head and look inside.

If there is no compression, or the enigine is locked up, or you see lots of scratches or other nasty stuff internally, you had better plan on getting a new blower next fall.....  You could have the shop rebuild it, but unless it is an expensive backpack model you should probably just keep it for spare parts. Take the wife along to pick it out - that will reinforce the lesson.

John Davies