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Bruce
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Wollongong, Australia
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16-01-2019, 02:28 AM
1

McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

My Whipper Snipper or as you weirdos call it, Strimmer has been playing up. I have had it a long time so was thinking of replacing it but thought I would have one (cheap) go at repairing it. I thought it was a carburettor issue because it was being starved of fuel.

First I removed the air filter and discovered that the carbie was held on with only a couple of set screws. Then I removed the two screws from the fuel primer pump which exposed a small filter (bottom right). I thought I should have been able to remove it but I could not so I washed the carbie body in petrol which seemed to clean it enough.



You can see the two screws on the primer body here (sorry it is out of focus but at the time I was more interested in the crank and flywheel)



By now I realised that the fuel line and return were completely buggered being brittle in some parts and mush in others. On pulling them off they virtually fell to pieces. The filter in the tank had fallen off (probably long ago). These are the remains.



Took a walk down to the local mower shop and bought two new plastic tubes ($6 - the thieving bastards) reattached the filter to the suction and the non return valve to the fuel return.



Attached the new fuel lines to the correct carbie lines - thank god I took a pic first, they are slightly different sizes but hard to see by eye.



Replaced the air filter and fired it up - started second pull.

Very happy.

I suspect that this arrangement is used on a lot of different brands, I know the carbie is used on many small two strokes, so you might find it useful.


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Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
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16-01-2019, 02:54 AM
2

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Now that it is going so well again I might pull the base to bits and pull out the drive cable to see if they need a bit of TLC or at least some grease.
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16-01-2019, 02:56 AM
3

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

I had to do the same with my petrol garden blower. Like you when I looked at the pipes they were different sizes as well, so I got a kit of different sizes


from Amazon

Hilitchi 20feet Fuel Line of 4 sizes I.D x O.D 0.08" x 0.14" / 3/32" x 3/16" / 1/8" x 1/4" / 1/8" x 3/16"
Sold by: LinQi
£10.99



this was what the old ones looked like, kinda burnt out at the end and brittle so broke apart
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16-01-2019, 08:52 PM
4

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Nice work Bruce. Bet you're chuffed.
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17-01-2019, 01:47 AM
5

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Originally Posted by realspeed ->
I had to do the same with my petrol garden blower. Like you when I looked at the pipes they were different sizes as well, so I got a kit of different sizes


from Amazon

Hilitchi 20feet Fuel Line of 4 sizes I.D x O.D 0.08" x 0.14" / 3/32" x 3/16" / 1/8" x 1/4" / 1/8" x 3/16"
Sold by: LinQi
£10.99


this was what the old ones looked like, kinda burnt out at the end and brittle so broke apart

To be honest that makes my Mower repair place seem like a bargain, $22 is lot to pay when you only need 20cm.

They must get it a lot because I had hardly got the old tubes out of my pocket and said McCulloch and he was already cutting some of the rolls of tubing. I have enough left over to do it again but I suspect by the time that is necessary I will have bought a new line trimmer. I notice that all the new ones have automatic winders as well as feeders.
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17-01-2019, 01:53 AM
6

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Originally Posted by fender ->
Nice work Bruce. Bet you're chuffed.
I was pleased not least because it saved me the $177 for a new one. I did grease the gears at the end too. This model has a straight shaft so only the gears needed greasing, simple job even without the right tools (I presume there are some). Just undid a short bolt and pushed dollops of grease in a finger full at a time.

Looking in the hole I could see the bevel gears were still covered with a smear of the original grease so it possibly didn't need it but I had the bolt out anyway.
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17-01-2019, 11:27 AM
7

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

I always forgot to empty out the petrol/oil mix over winter and had problems every summer with gummed up jets until I discovered Stihl Motomix premixed 2 stroke fuel which is low in volatiles and can be left in over winter without problems. It's not cheap but 5 litres lasts a long time and to me it's worth it to avoid problems.
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17-01-2019, 11:44 PM
8

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Originally Posted by Ray Cathode ->
I always forgot to empty out the petrol/oil mix over winter and had problems every summer with gummed up jets until I discovered Stihl Motomix premixed 2 stroke fuel which is low in volatiles and can be left in over winter without problems. It's not cheap but 5 litres lasts a long time and to me it's worth it to avoid problems.
My brother (lives in UK) mentioned a similar problem but I can't say that has happened to me. I think the biggest problem here is the 10% ethanol which not only absorbs water over time but also has a scouring effect on components it comes into contact with. ('scouring' is probably not the right word but it was the best I could come up with)

I don't know if this has any effect but apparently our standard octane rating of 91 is also much lower than most countries - I think the UK is 95.
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18-01-2019, 12:07 AM
9

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

At least I have spare tubing if it happens again

Oh little tip to get the tube end onto the metal pipe.

Soak the end in warm/hot water first, makes it more pliable and slides on easily. As it cools down it goes back to normal size making a tight connection
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18-01-2019, 12:14 AM
10

Re: McCulloch 2 Stroke Repair

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
My brother (lives in UK) mentioned a similar problem but I can't say that has happened to me. I think the biggest problem here is the 10% ethanol which not only absorbs water over time but also has a scouring effect on components it comes into contact with. ('scouring' is probably not the right word but it was the best I could come up with)

I don't know if this has any effect but apparently our standard octane rating of 91 is also much lower than most countries - I think the UK is 95.

There's no ethanol in Stihl Motomix but other volatiles are also missing and yes the standard octane is 95 in the UK with 99 widely available.
 

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