Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Craftsman Leaf blower will not start

I have a craftsman leaf blower model #358 797342 25cc 205mph that will not start. Recently I found that the cylinder was loose. I tightened the two cyclinder head bolts and the leaf blower only started one time after I tightened the head bolts. Spark plug is getting spark and fuel. Tried putting fuel down the spark plug hole. Leaf blower does not seem like it evens wants to start. Can someone giving me some troubleshooting advice and recommend what I should look at next?

That is a very common problem with these units, and to
be frank, you need to look at buying another blower,
of another brand.
When the cylinder bolts worked loose, large chunks
of the mating gasket were blown out/sucked in, and tightening would not close those gaps. So when you try to start, air is drawn into the engine through those gaps, and
not through the carb, to mix with the fuel, etc.
To correctly repair this, you would need a gasket kit, a long afternoon with a lot of tools, and a lot of patience.
Which for this unit, is not feasible. To bring it to a repair
guy like me, forget it, you could buy 2 new ones........

Not trying to be unkind, just honest.

Fish

That is a very common problem with these units, and to
be frank, you need to look at buying another blower,
of another brand.
When the cylinder bolts worked loose, large chunks
of the mating gasket were blown out/sucked in, and tightening would not close those gaps. So when you try to start, air is drawn into the engine through those gaps, and
not through the carb, to mix with the fuel, etc.
To correctly repair this, you would need a gasket kit, a long afternoon with a lot of tools, and a lot of patience.
Which for this unit, is not feasible. To bring it to a repair
guy like me, forget it, you could buy 2 new ones........

Not trying to be unkind, just honest.

Fish

How would I know if the piston/rings are still good on the blower? How much is a gasket kit.

You can look at part of the inside of the cylinder and a portion of the piston and ring if you pull the muffler off. This can help give an idea of what kind of shape they're in.

If you have plenty of time and patience and you just want to do this, then go for it. You might still lose the battle against this thing (nature of the beast...they aren't made well at all). I personally agree with Fish, and reccomend letting the recycling place get whatever aluminum out of it that they can while you shop for another one.

Echo is probably my choice of reliable, long-lasting blowers just in case you're interested :D.

Go to www3.sears.com, and type in your 358. model number.
It will give you a illustrated blowup with part numbers, and
if you add the parts you need to the cart, it will give you sear's prices, which is pretty close to what you would get
at the local dealer. The part numbers on the sears site, are
the Poulan/Weedeater's part numbers too.

Fish

I checked the cyclinder gasket and it was ok. I found scoring on cylinder head and piston. The scoring was about 1/4 wide but not that deep. Does this mean my leaf blower scrap?

If it's scored enough that you can feel it, then it's probably toast.

I have the same blower. My son n law used it and the muffler bolts came loose and damaged the threads in the cylinder. I think I spent about $60 for a new cylinder, gasket set and carb kit. It was hard starting after that and I did a new filter and it is doing well. I say if you want a challenge go ahead and fix it. If not you can save a lot of time buying a new one that will work out of the box.

Yep why would you try to fix something like this, homeowner stuff is just not that well built to begin with, if it was a commercial one maybe it'd be worth it , go to a stihl delaer they now have the BG-55 on sale which is pretty good, going for around $ 160 ....
here's a pic of it
http://www.stihlusa.com/blowers/BG55.html