If your petrol whipper snipper gets hard to start, check the exhaust.

In the Stihl ones there is a little wire mesh screen (spark arrester I believe) on the outlet of the exhaust. this will get gummed up with two stroke oil residue, take it of, clean it up, put it back on. Should start better. Told to do this by the Stihl people.

Also contrary to what they publish in the manuals don't drain the fuel before long term storage, there is a diaphram or something in the carb which dries out and hardens. keep feul in them when stored, just make sure you use fuel stabiliser in the fuel. Also told by the Stihl crew.

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remery said..
I reckon feel goes off very quickly these days.

I used up a few jerry cans of petrol in one of my cars a week or two ago. It gave me the worst fuel economy I have seen in that car, so I suspect that it was the age of the fuel that did it. I figured it was better to use it up and then replace the stocks with new fuel.

I had one jerry can with fuel stabilizer in it, but I used that one anyway.

Ahh, the dramas of petrol powered whipper snippers. Maybe professionals swear by certain brands because they use the machines all the time instead of letting them sit around for weeks or months at a time? I think that would make a difference.

I found a downside to my 35cc whipper snipper. The weight. I will need to attach a harness if I can find one lying around. I found I had to switch from left to right hand use. On the upside it ate up 2-to-3 foot grass easily. It bogged down a bit sometimes but far better than the smaller 2 strokes would have done.

I was also surprised that the smell of these things normally seems to be the 2-stroke oil. I thought the 4 stroke engine would be just as bad, but no, the exhaust doesn't really smell.