Small Engine Lessons I've Had To Face 

There is an old saying, "Persistence overcomes resistance ". I'm glad that you were able to overcome the troubles that happened in your small engine repair journey. Believe it or not, your videos have been VERY helpful to me in my journey of small engine repair. 😊👍🏿

I've always wondered why you have two channels! Thanks for spilling the secret. I've learned so much from your videos, I love how you teach the thought process, not just a repair

I respect and appreciate all the effort you have put in. You are one of, if not the best, small engine repair channel on RU-vid. Because of your videos, there hasn't been a single small engine I have failed to get running (if I have the materials, of course). Thank you for documenting how to repair these things, and i look forward to more!

Occasionally a customer will say the watched a couple of RU-vid videos and tried to repair their small engine. Watching a couple of videos with no good tools, no understanding, no hands on experience, and little common sense won't help. It takes many months and years to finally understand engines, diagnostics, electrical, etc. You can only be so good at so many things in life. It gets fun once you start to get in the groove.

It’s definitely hard when you’re first starting out and don’t really understand what you’re doing. I’ve been there too. I started out working on small engines because of necessity and because I wanted to learn that skill, but it took not only watching many videos, but also experience from actually doing the work. I’ve made all of the same beginner mistakes you mentioned and probably more, but the more you do it, the more you learn

The hardest lesson I've learned is to let a pice of equipment go because it needs more work than it would sell for. I've had some nice vintage weedeaters, but due to the cost of parts, it wasn't worth fixing and selling, so I sold them as parts.

I’ve learned most hard lessons the hard way. Improper oil mix etc. rip to all those engines lost in the process

One lesson I learned the hard way is to make sure you check the oil before trying to start an engine .

Three things I've learned. A couple of them you mentioned already. 1 Compression test first. Generally the parts necessary to fix that problem are not worth the time and effort.. 2. Cut your losses and go buy a new cheap carb right away. In fact, if I have to buy anything, I buy 2 and save on shipping for the next repair. 3. If you have the space, save as many parts and parts mowers as you can. Lots of good pieces and parts of free mowers.

Key words, well said... "you can't have too much information". Home users(with video help) usually have the skills to replace and tune but not always the skill\patience to refresh ebuild one.

The hardest lesson I've learned working on small engines . . . That would be 2-stroke engines. They were always sort of a mystery to me, I never really understood the concept and never took the time to learn that they don't just work on the "FM Principal" (Friggin' Magic). Circumstances have more or less forced me to face this "Mystery". Thanks for helping in that department.

on that weed eater, the hardest part is the bearing replacement on both ends of the driveline....there are also the seals on the mounting blocks that the carb mounts to.

Another awesome video! It was nice to hear about how you got into fixing small motors.

Hey there. Always looking forward to Mondays and Fridays to see your new videos. I must say that I've gone back since your very first videos on small engine repairs. I agree that everything you mentioned on the video about trying to fix things and mess things up is very true. I'm no expert, so I go base on your videos to give me an idea on how to repair my machines. In the beginning when I started to work on small engines, I made my first mistake with a Briggs engine on a push mower. Thinking that it was the gap space on the valves. I almost did the same mistake with another mower. But found out it was the brake cable that wasn't releasing the brake all the way. You live and you learn. Keep up with the videos.

Yes,I have broken motorcycle engines trying to figure out how they work & it wasn't until I did a small automotive course while at high school at tech & I went to tech, studied the electrical trade then I got an apprenticeship involving repairing power tools where I practised fitting them together with my hands for 4 years which greatly improved my fine motor skills (using my hands) that I have even built car engines up that didn't exist before out of 2 engines (e.g. a twin cam 3 litre Nissan RB30 engine out of a 2.5 litre twin cam Nissan RB25 & a single cam RB30 engine). So I got more adventurous than when I was continually breaking alloy parts & at tech I learned that if the spark plug electrodes runs black all the time that the engine might be worn out & too much oil is getting into the combustion chamber,so it might not necessarily be a carburetor problem which is causing that. A hotter spark plug might fight off the carbon deposits for a while until the engine just dies due to a lack of compression,in my case the engine wouldn't idle with the colder heat range spark plug but it might with a hotter plug. When the engine loses compression the spark plug might foul up due to reduced combustion chamber temperatures as well which is what I read online so a hotter spark plug is a band aid solution to that problem I am talking about 4 stroke engines here,2 stroke engines spark plugs will foul up due too much oil in the fuel !

My husband asks me (yep, when the machines don’t work, he asks this old girl what’s wrong lol) why I watch different people rebuild/replace the same carb over and over. With each video I watch, I gather pieces of information that I didn’t hear in other videos. Sometimes it becomes “paralysis by analysis.” 🤷‍♀️ Just ONE incidental piece of information can make all the difference in the world. Thanks for all you do HG.

Great channel!! I just started on my 1st small engine repair-A Craftsman 16'' chainsaw, and I let it sit for a season with gas in the tank, so I pulled out the carb and fuel filter. And I already ripped the fuel filter line a bit lol! Like I said it's my 1st time and I have negative tools, so I'm about to get myself a tool set.

My hardest lesson was when trying to fix an antique chainsaw (McCulloch 10-10A from the lat 60s) dont think you know more than the engineers who designed it. I tried modifying the exhaust port and l went way farther than l shouldve. Now you can open it up, just not how l tried too. I had spent way more than it was worth to restore it only for it to spit parts out. Because l have already overspent l am going to try to fix it again, and it helps my success ratio too 😂 😂

Thanks for the time and advice. I look at different videos from different people for tips and tricks on how to fix things. I do tend to shy away from trimmers though because I haven’t had much success fixing them.

Time is The teacher of your learning to work on Small engine equipment

I've had 2 stroke trimmers start with 40 psi, but like you mentioned it didn't run well. You made very good points in this video and being transparent is appreciated 👍. I've learned over the years that alot curb finds aren't worth the time only because the money and time involved and resale. But to each their own.

Great video, quick tip, that little screw at the top of the carb you’re adjusting at wide open throttle, that’s actually used to set the low speed side of the engine. The screw (if it’s not fixed jet) to set the high is on the side of the carb. Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing 🙏👍🙏👍

I was no different than you, lol, every mistake you mentioned, I did as well. The hardest lessons you learn are the ones you never forget, let's just hope we learn from our mistakes and become better at it. A great vid as usual, love them, keep them coming.

Mine was being a gear/motor headed kid way before the internet. Trial and error mainly and trying to apply common sense and a lot better quality of stuff and gas and oil too. I like being here because you are VERY detail oriented. Thanks and BLESSINGS!

I was the same way when i 1st started working on small engines. I made mistakes as well so i would only work my own equipment so i wouldn't have to worry about messing up someone else's

from my view dealing with very hard to remove screws bolts and lawn mower blade bosses or adapters is all i can remember and here in Australia we have our Victa 2 stroke aka 2 cycle P/T (Power Torque) engines and i have had to do some odd diagnostics and even repairs in my life but yeah a good lesson for the previous owners to learn and well me to get to the bottom of things etc.

Hey bro what's up? Congratulations on your mile mark on repairing small engines bro👏👏💯💯. I won't lie, since I had more free time with the global pandemic I came across your channel here on RU-vid and I haven't regretted it bro. I've learned a lot from you bro.

My most frightening experience was adjusting the valve lash on my tractor engine. I had to replace the head gasket and subsequently, the valve cover gasket. B&S had specific instructions, but they didn't work. I found the answer on James Condon's channel where he gave a better way to adjust the lash. Lo and behold, it worked and tractor has run well since. I did look at a few other channels and websites first.

I spent a bunch of time working on second hand (usually free) 2 stroke engines in the past but for hobby use. This gave me a good understanding of how to diagnose issues. It has meant my yard equipment has always run in top condition as I would know as soon as something wasn't quite right. The one that perplexed me the most is when a flywheel sheared its keyway - That took me a while to work out. I also only use Castrol Power 1/TTS 2 stroke oil. It's a fully synthetic oil that produces very little soot. Might be overkill but my engines still look almost brand new internally. I also only use premium fuel - you can smell the difference in it compared to regular (where I live anyway), the cheaper fuel smells of toluene or other weird volatiles. Premium fuel doesn't, and definitely stay away from methanol/Ethanol blended fuels! Lastly - I do disagree slightly on the carb cleaner 'fix' - If you have a carb that has sat with bad fuel that has gummed up, it does tend to help clear out the body. Usually these carbs also need new diaphragms though too. I had one just recently that the metering tube on a rotary carb was gummed up - Sprayed some carb cleaner through it and all good.

Do a vacuum....pressure check on fuel tank vent...Change out fuel filter. If carb. was full of junk so will filter.

Sidenote the screw you where turning is not the high speed. The high speed is near the fuel lines on the carb. Its covered by a black plastic plug.

I find there are two types of videos. First entertainment fun to watch but missing info. Second tutorials showing all the details a newbie wouldn’t know. The second might not be as entertaining but it’s meant for different purpose.

Automotive style compression gauge is inaccurate on small two strokes due to the small combustion chamber. The long hose of automotive style is absorbing/soaking up the compression

hard lessons are the best way to learn.

Youre making so helpful Videos, maybe you can Help with my problem. I have a 50cc 2stroke Scooter (Piaggio Sfera RST 50) that start after 5-7 Kicks and Runs for Like 6 Seconds or less and then it dies. After that the Spark Plug is wet. Idk what to do anymore.

Parts will always fail no matter what but it depends on how well the owner takes care of the equipment as far as oil changes, new spark plugs & it also depends on if the owner cleans the equipment after using it if it has regular maintenance done yearly it going to last a long time 👍👍

Mine was, you cant fix them all. There was always a problem of either that I didn't have enough money or I didn't have the tool

I'm finding out that the learning curve is pretty long but I enjoy the challenges. How did you come out on the lawnboy mower with the poor throttle control?

I bought a compression tester about a year ago for working on small engines, and was very sad to find out that my current project had like 25psi compression. Went to use it again later and found my chainsaw that runs good but often cuts out when warmed up (bad magneto I believe) and found it also had 25psi compression... but it cuts wood great when it does run, weird. So then I pull the plug on my Yamaha generator that runs like an absolute top, and found that it also had 25 psi... I think I need to buy a different brand compression tester. 😂 (I was bypassing compression release where applicable)

Should you adjust the L with the trigger pin.

I have a Stihl fs 70r trimmer that keeps spitting fuel out of the exhaust port when I attempt to start it. What are some things I should troubleshoot first?

What kind of electric screw driver are you using? Thanks.

Hey @homegaragecahnnel my riding mower every time I put the throttle up the engine just bogs down what do you think is wrong?

I first work on my small equipment and you saw my tiller having a problem

What to turn down. 👍

Great video! But I wish you would do a long, comprehensive video about sourcing parts. Almost all repair videos totally bypass this - they show replacing the carb, or diaphragm, or primer bulb - but where did those parts come from? There are hundreds and hundreds of carb model numbers! Maybe the manufacturers are just trying to confuse us. Are there hundreds of gasket shapes to go with those hundreds of carbs, or just four or five? How "universal" are carb repair kits? Where do you look for the number you have to search? Is eBay your primary source? Does the carb itself have to be an exact replacement or are there "close enough" options? Are fuel lines, fuel filters, primer bulbs, etc. basically generic? Thankfully all my primary equipment is running great (I'm the TruFuel evangelist), but I've got some older non-running stuff I would love to work on as a project. Thanks! All your videos are great overall.

Please add a link to your second channel. Thanks.

👍🏾

BTW the adjustment under the primer is the high and the one in the throttle is the low, I'm sure you just made a mistake this time

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Stay away from cheap consumer crap from Wal-Mart. That stuff never last and often doesn't work correctly even when new. It's better to spring for a Stihl, Husqvarna, or even echo.

I hate these things,

Or you could have a clogged spark arrestor and clogged ex ports

NEVER Use a drill or power driver on those tiny screws ,they are so easy to over torque and strip, now the carb is ruined!!!!!!!!!!