Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - 2 Cycle question

Hello all & Cheese! I have one of those Craftsman 200 MPH's on the bench. It is a little older and has a Kill switch so I'm hoping against hope the head and piston aren't shot? Can't see any evidence through the intake or exhaust port of verticle scaring. I've rebuilt the carb plus I have two identical WA 226's and it still will not crank. Compression is on the border? Here is my question: I can spray carb cleaner on top of the piston and it will crank and run briefly. I spray the cleaner below the piston into the intake port and all it will do is spit a few times. Does this prove the head and/or piston is scared? Just hoping to avoid tearing it down again if there is no hope? Thanks in advance, Ron

If there is excessive fuel mix in the sump (by way of a carburetor that just dumped fuel into the engine) then you will have the symptoms you have. The excessive fuel will not allow anything into the transfer ports due to its mass. If this is the case, you will need to flush out the excess from the sump (crankcase) and rebuild the carb. (which it sounds as though you 've already done this) and give it another go. If you don't want to remove the sump cover to do this it can be achieved by removing the spark plug, place a rag over the plug hole and cranking the engine over a couple dozen times using spray carburetor cleaner to dilute the mix in the sump.

Hello all & Cheese! I have one of those Craftsman 200 MPH's on the bench. It is a little older and has a Kill switch so I'm hoping against hope the head and piston aren't shot? Can't see any evidence through the intake or exhaust port of verticle scaring. I've rebuilt the carb plus I have two identical WA 226's and it still will not crank. Compression is on the border? Here is my question: I can spray carb cleaner on top of the piston and it will crank and run briefly. I spray the cleaner below the piston into the intake port and all it will do is spit a few times. Does this prove the head and/or piston is scared? Just hoping to avoid tearing it down again if there is no hope? Thanks in advance, Ron
IF CRANK SHAFT SEALS ARE WORN THIS COULD MEAN LOW VACUME IN CRANKCASE .THIS WILL ALWAYS MEAN HARD STARTING AND IN ADDITION CUASES POOR IDLE CONDITIONS EVEN IF IT SHOULD START,THIS GOES FOR ALL TWO STROKES ENGINES,FROM 18CC.ENGINES TO 300 HP. OUTBOARDS .CHECK CRANK SEALS,AND IF CYLINDER AND CRANKCASE ARE TWO PIECES THEN CHECK GASKET BETWEEN THEM FOR VACUME LEAKS.

To see if the gasket is bad between the 2 halfs of the engine when the engine is running spray WD-40 or like oil onto the gasket if the engine speeds up or slows down the gasket is bad.