[charlievictorbravo]

I've just bought one of these Strimmers at a car boot sale for £25. The seller demonstrated it and it seemed to be working ok. I took it to the allotment yesterday and gave myself blisters trying to start the thing.

Today I had a good look at it and found the petrol pipe - the one with the filter on it - was lying unconnected to anything in the bottom of the tank, along with a black plastic fitting whose function I cannot understand.
I reconnected the filter pipe to what I thought was the correct pipe leading to the carburettor. There is a smaller diameter pipe that also goes from the carb to the tank but apart from going through the top of the tank, was not connected to anything.

When it was all back together I pressed the primer a few times and was surprised to see the petrol going away from the carb, rather than to it, in the thicker plastic tube. I managed to start it but it only ran to 15 - 20 seconds before stopping. Frantic priming, with the tank full, started it again but it would only run for a short while again. I suspect the fuel is not getting into the carb properly.

Questions - What do the thick and thin plastic pipes do that run from the carb to the tank? What is the function of the bit of black plastic I found in the tank and should it be connected to something and if so, how?

Thanks for any help

Charlievictorbravo

[Gwiz]

Your carb wil have two brass tubes that the pipes attatch to.
petrol is "sucked" up the pipe that has the filter on it, that is why it reaches all the way to the bottom of the fuel tank. the other pipe, which just about go's into the tank, is a return for excess fuel when you are priming the carb(once the carb is full up)
As for the mystery item in the fuel tank, I expect it's nothing more sinister than the tank cap retainer, that always becomes unattatched from the tank cap ( and is therefore about as much use as a choccy teapot )

[charlievictorbravo]

Spot on, Gwiz. The un-identified piece of black plastic was indeed the fuel cap retaining arrangement that had become detached from the cap - a pretty fundamental design/manufacturing fault, I would say.

I splashed out on a carburettor kit and a new fuel filter (£9.54 in total) and took the beast to pieces, cleaned everything and replaced a coupler of "film" gasket things and the filter. The trimmer works a dream now - I suspect the fundamental problem was a partially blocked fuel filter and a couple of slightly worn non-return valves made from the "film" basket things.  The fuel was of unknown age so the tank was flushed out with clean petrol and a fresh batch of fuel/oil was used to fill the tank. To be sure that I knew how it came apart, I took lots of photos as I was doing it. If I get some spare time in the next week or so, I'll write it up, with pictures, for the benefit of others.

Thanks for your help, Gwiz.

Colin

[Gwiz]

always happy to help if I can.
Glad you've got her going now.