Man, I gotta tel you, I am not at all nice to my Echo ( SRM-210 ), I never drain the gas, yada-yada.

It starts every spring, depending on the color of the fuel I might change it out or not...... I have to look, but I swear my owners manual says it has a 3 year warranty, so you "should" still be covered.

One thing I do notice with it though, you need to pump the primer at least 10 times before you try and fire it, but mines done that since new, the dealer I bought it from swears you can't over prime it.

Then again, perhaps your luck with Echo is the same as mine with Fords......

 

I too have one of the weedeater brand featherlite models, about 4 years old and starts up no problem. I do drain the fuel at the end of the year, but once I put fresh it, prime it and it starts up pretty easily.

 

I admit I did not read evey post but I am willing to bet you the problems you are encountering are due to 2 things. #1 you are prolly mixing you gas too rich with oil. I know they say mix it like X-1, but if it smokes after it warms up it has too much oil in it. #2 Mixing to their specs creates carbon to build up on the Spark Arrestor in the muffler. If you open the muffler you will see a screen in there and I am willing to be it is clogged with carbon deposits. First thing to do is remove the screen and toss it, before the spark arrestor police start jumping on me.. if your grass is died and brown you don't need to weed eat it.

There are a few other things that can cause 2strokes to have issues. The stone filter in your gas tank gets gummed up after you empty it, dires up and becomes clogged with dired up oil. To help prevent that, when you winterize it pour the premix out, put straight gas in and shake it up, pour it out. this will help thin out the oil in the stone.

Plug... Yes the ole fouled plug. If you are running rich with oil then say goodbye to the plug.

I run, believe it or not, Klotz BeNol racing castor oil in my weedeaters at 60-1 ( yes six zero to one) because it has highe film strength than most of the synthetics out there. Oh and I run it in my Yamaha Banshee as well, but at 40-1. To prove my point about Klotz BeNol my banshee is a 1996 and has never had the topend redone.

Hub

 

I haven't read all of this thread, but I'd like to assist in the Echo problem. I have had 4 Echo products of various types, but they all have the same engine. Other than maintenance, I haven't had a problem with any of them other than the screen (aka spark arrester) in the muffler clogging up with carbon. The symptoms included lack of power and very hard starting. The best thing to do is take it out...very easy to do. One of my trimmers is almost 15 years old and the only issue I have had with it was the clutch shoes had to be replaced and a kill switch.

 

i did a big thread on weedwackers while back

i bought a Sears 4 stroke that has the one piece string.

the head quit turning (under load) on 3rd use.
i took it back, got another.

it's okay, not really enough power, seems.

oh well

i think your echo IS under warranty. 2 years, i think

post it in the classifieds as non-working. still worth $$$

i HATE working on stuff, it takes me longer to fix my eqpt, than to fix the problem. been meaning to start a thread on it, but too busy wrenching on crap...

like the tip on my soldering iron broke after i spent hour taking apart a radio....arrggg...

 

does your craftsman screwdriver drawer smell like pooh?

i soaked all mine in acid, still get a blast when open that drawer...

 

Cheaper is better, we have some cheap brand at work(golf course) they are light and go for every, I do less work on them then I do our stihl brushcutter that gets 1/10 the amount of work

 

Airborne trimmers,spark arrestor police, this one is good enough to add my story to. I used to mow yards part time and bought a mcCollogh (sp) trimmer. Day 2 I was pounding sand in the alley with it while my helper watched in utter horror. Reading this made me think of that time, thanks for the laugh

 

I guess I've been lucky. I've had my Echo for 4 years. I use the Echo oil and all I do in the fall is run it out of gas. I've never had a single problem. Before that I had a craftsman that lasted almost 10 years.

Brad

 

Well to continue the saga of the flying weedeaters. I check out the junko the other day and messed with it, pulled of the spark arrestor and messed with it and it started finally, would run ok and idle then as you added fuel it would sputter and then die.

So, gently lay the weedeater on the shop floor call it a little name and say I'm done with it, money to be made and all. I think my boy was surprised that it did not go flying out of the shop door!!

So the next day, back at the turdo. This time pull out the fuel hoses, see that lump of a filter, screen whatever it is on the end of the pickup tube. Remove and reinstall fuel lines, still nothing. So I took off the carb and cleaned it out, put it back on and found another section on the base of the pickup tube in the tank. Seemed to have a screen on it, so I blew 150psi through it and blew the screen completely out, thought, "that'll work".

Put it back down in the tank and the nasty little thing fired right off, rev'd up and everything. So now the screen is down in the shop.....trying not to get lost or turned into "frodis" parts........Frodis parts you ask......you know Frodis in the trash.

 

I've had one of those pita weed wackers. Try this. Take the top off the motor and chunk it. The rope pull part. Get a 1/4" drill driver and mount it in a cordless drill. Put a socket on it thaat fits the flywheel. Then spin the motor for an hour if you have to, to get it going.

 

that's ghetto.

i did that with a lawn mower - got a HUGE old drill that was being thrown away, and put a long bolt and a deep well socket on it for a side handle, and socket to fit the flywheel nut on my push mower.

you had to brace the side handle against your leg, but it would start before the drill overheated and burnt your leg (usually)

the wife was SCARED of that contraption.
ah, how cheep we are.....

 

I have an old Homelite I bought at a garage sale for less than 10 bucks. I don't take care of it. It runs like a scared rabbit, always starts and is stored in my unheated garage. I never really thought about it til reading your thread, now it'll probably break. Thanks, Kurt

 

My weedeater has sat outside for a month, and in that time it has been anywhere between 40 and 90 degrees plus rain. Went out yesterday after reading this thread, gave it two pulls and it started right up. I don't know who makes it, but I bought it at Sears. I think I may have a keeper. Also I have a Murray that my dad bought in the early 80s and it still runs, with one rebuild and a new deck cause the old one rusted to pieces. Not everything made now is junk, but for some reason I have found the worse you treat something the longer it will last.

 

I have a stihl, about 10 or 15 years old model f76, beat the living crap out of it with blades or heavy string, cut down everything from grass to 3/4 trees. put everykind of 2 stroke oil in and roughly measure, no winter storage. just take it out of the garage and fires up on the 3rd pull. still cuts like a champ as of today, kinda runs like my 01 cummins, except for that idiot lift pump, and now will be replacing vp44 soon. 126k and still running thanks to glacier pumps