Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Weed eater help

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and have a problem with our string-trimmer. I got it started the other day and it ran on half-choke for a while. When I switched to no choke and gave it some gas it died and wouldn't start up again. My dad has been having this problem for a while and can't get it to run. He says he took it apart and cleaned the carb with some carb cleaner and gapped the spark plug. I'm assuming its a new spark plug as well. He also said he cleaned out the rest of it. I know he isn't very thorough in his maintenance and probably didn't have the gas mixture correct most of the time while using it. I was hoping to look at it myself tomorrow and was wondering what I should try to do to restore it? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Before you sink any time or money into this machine (and, any two stroke for that matter on which you don't have first hand knowledge of the care, service and maintenance procedures taken), you should remove the muffler to have a look at the condition of the piston and cylinder. If these are OK then it sure sounds as though the carburetor will need a proper cleaning in a bath type cleaner and then recondition the carb with the proper rebuild kit and a new mounting gasket.

Ok, thanks. I'll look at that first and see how bad it is. He says he cleaned it all but I just don't trust that he followed the directions it came with.

on the muffler clean the spark arester... the screen.. it may be on the side.. or in side ..it my chok up not getting a nuff air... it may be running to rich or to much oil

Yeah I looked at the spark arrestor and muffler and it looked very clean. I think he must have cleaned it since it listed that in the manual. I adjusted the idle screw on the carburetor and have it at the point where I can cold start it on full choke and run the weed eater normal on half choke. For some reason when I put it to no choke it dies every time. I'm assuming this is because its not getting enough gas in the mixture and no choke is letting too much air into the mixture. When I get some time I want to recondition the carb and blow out the gas lines. I have no idea what I'm doing though so does this sound right to you?:)

I'm not concerned with how the muffler and screen look, I am concerned with the piston and cylinder which is through the port hole behind the muffler!

Ohh sorry :). I did take it off and look at the piston and cylinder and they looked ok to me.

Good, now soak and recondition the carburetor. Post back with the model and serial numbers of the carburetor (on the carburetor) and i'll provide you with the part number of the rebuild kit you'll need. Also, post the model and serial numbers of the machine as you may need to replace the carburetor/intake manifold gasket(s).

All of the advice below is great. One more thing, though! Clean the air filter. When cleaning the carb, pay special attention to the gas inlet and air bleed holes. I would almost bet that one or more are clogged with dried gas deposits or trash.