2-Cycle Blower Motor - Seized?

[Tom Slick]

Did you hold the throttle wide open when checking compression?

[buckeye95]

Tom,

I believe the settings were the same as for normal cold starting (throttle and choke both wide open).

Pete

[JR]

I believe the settings were the same as for normal cold starting (throttle and choke both wide open).

Maybe that's your clue right there. Wouldn't you want the choke closed for cold starting?

JR

[buckeye95]

JR,

This might be more of a terminology issue. I believe the choke settings on my blower are full-choke, half-choke, and normal. The instructions state to set to chock to full, the throttle to high, hit the primer bulb a few times and try to start it. These were the conditions for the compression test.

Pete

[Tom Slick]

You would want the choke open or "normal" and the throttle full open for a compression test. with the choke closed it would restrict the air and give you low compression readings.

[buckeye95]

Quick update....

First, sorry for the delay. In addition to trying to fix this blower, I am also trying to keep after 3 kids under 6, so some weeks my "goof around with stuff" time is rather limited

Anyways, I did spend some more time with this and even asked a neighbor freind for his assistance (he is always working on either motorcycles or small engines). After some tinkering around, he felt the compression was too low. I tried the compression test again, this time varying the choke position as recommended above, and it still tops out at 60 psi. I tried the same test on my weedeater trimmer (similar engine), at it read 90 psi. Did some more research and it turns out that 60 psi is too low, with 90 standard and 80 the minimum recommended. I took it apart and looked for scoring on the piston / cylinder and found none, leading me to believe that something warped or the rings are shot. As a sidenote, based on my Google searches, the 60 psi reading seems to be a common symptom on Weedeater products of bad compression due to rings, etc.

So at this point, I will put it to the curb for the guy in the old pickup who trolls through the neighborhood the night before garbage day (one man's trash is anothers treasure). I will be looking at either the Echo PB-251 or Stihl BG-55 going forward, based on many stories of those lasting years.

Overall, it was still $10 well spent - I sure learned alot about 2-cycle repair and operation. Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions !!

Pete