Weed Eater Neophyte

It depends on the weed eater. However, you can usually buy a can of oil and walmart (little small can) and put it in one red jug of gas and have it work out all right.

My gas weed eater had to be primed a few times (4 or 5) then choked and pulled via a cord like a normal push mower. It then had a switch to turn it off.

 

Basic weedeater: SAFETY FIRST Protect your whole body--especially the face. Shin guards are needed in some places. There are high-velocity objects flying all directions. People have been killed disregading the safety of these machine.

1. Make sure there is a full tank of the correct fuel/oil mixture.

2. Make sure the "eater" string is loaded--if needed, some do not use string.

3. Make sure magneto (on/off) switch is "on'--that puts spark to the plug.

4. Prime carburetor by pushing bulb firmly--six to ten times.

5. Put choke in "full" position.

6. While holding and squeezing the throttle lever on the handle, with the "eater end" in a safe position, PULL the start handle quickly and firmly until the engine fires.

7. Move the choke to "mid" range.

8. PULL some more until engine runs without a lot of "missing". This may take a few minutes for everything to "warm-up"

9. Move choke to "off". The engine should smooth out and the rpm should increase.

10. This is basic for my Husqavarna--other manufacturers are similar. This kind of gear is very tempermental. Keep the fuel clean and also the air filter.

Buena Suarte

 

Most weed eaters engines are two cycle and use a gas to oil mixture of 50:1. If you want to use that mixture make sure you get the right oil that will allow that kind of mixture. It should tell you on the side of the oil container. Some of the old weed eaters and chain saw may be a slow as 16:1. You also need to read your manual and see what is written about the gas oil mixture.

Make sure you understand how the head works and how the line is wound. If you do not wind the line properly the head will not work very well. Make sure you use the right diameter of line too.

At the end of the season drain all of the gas out of the tank and start it up and let it run out of the gas in the line. This will prevent serious problems for the next season.

All small engines have a much lower compression than a car so they need fresh gas to run well. If you use old gas the engine may not even start or if it does will run poorly and have little power.

Make sure you use a spark plug that does not have chrome plating on it. I worked in a shop as a small engine mechanic for five years and saw cylinder heads that had a stripped spark plug hole that we would heli-coil because a spark plug had been used that had chrome plating. A spark plug that has chrome plating often cracks when the engine gets hod and the plating will come loose and score the threads in the aluminum head. I would never recommend buying a Champion plug for that reason alone. I have also seen cases where a person had put a Champion spark plug in the engine and came to me frustrated because it was running and now it would not start after they put the new plug in it. I have seen this happen with many chrome plated spark plugs. Avoid them!!!

When I was 21 I was working in a shop and a man came in with his lawn mower complaining that it had been running and he put a new spark plug in it and it would not start. He told me it was running and had spark. I told him it probably needed a new spark plug because it was a Champion. A little miffed he tried to tell me how ridiculous that was. I went to the parts area and got a new plug that was not chrome plated and not a Champion. I put it in the engine and on the first pull of the rope it started. You should have seen the look on his face! He no longer thought of me as someone trying to put one over on him.

Mechanics who work on those things everyday know what is good and what is not. They make their living on good service , parts and products. They are not always higher either. Recently I was in a chain store that sold lumber, etc. They also sold chain saws. So I decided to take a look at the price of chain oil. It was the same price as what the chain saw service shop sold their’s for. The shop had chain oil that was far superior than the chain store.

 

My best advice is to hire someone to use the weedeater.

 

Not everyone can afford to pay for their work to be done for them.

 

If you go into WalMart where they sell the Weedeaters, there is a TINY little bottle of oil that you mix with 1 gal. of gas. What Dh does is buy the little 1.5 gallon gas container, mix the oil with the gas and then that is the Weedeater gas. The 1 gallon tends to last us about a "season" here.

 

Sometimes you can go online and download a manual.

 

Seriously, Saggy, please be careful! I have always been afraid of weedeaters.

 

We have a little electric one I'll use and the big gas powered one Jon and Jim will use. We also have a small electric leaf blower and a big one for the 'boys'. I'm afraid of the big gasoline powered things! They're so heavy too!

 

Do wear a face mask to prevent flying debris from getting into your eyes.

 

Don't use a weedeater. My dad tried to get me to use it once, and I did horribly. He never has tried since. I'm the one that hates yard work. I find planting flowers to be cruel and unusual punishment.

 

You have to 'bump' the hub on the bottom to feed out more cord. BE CAREFUL! When it feeds out, it then chops off the extra and will throw it right into your leg if you have on shorts!

 

If there is a knob on the bottom that will allow you to removed the spool that hold the line and it will move in and out then it has a bump head. If you bump the knob on the head on the ground whne the machine is running full throttle the line should come out some. If it will not then it may be jammed. If is not a bump head then you may have to pull out the line manually.

For a bump head to work properly the line must we wound in the right direction on the spool.

What kind of weed eater do you have? Better yet, if you can give me the web address for the online manual I will look at it.