As both kids are all over strimming/trimming etc we have gone through a repair of a few items recently. Mostly carb/fuel issues. Here are some things that I found useful.
My go to sites for these kind of part are
https://www.lsengineers.co.uk, have really good stocks and full diagrams for major brands once you've registered
www.gardenhirespares.co.uk, useful for more generic/cheaper stuff. They are also localish for me if I need something urgent.
Another thing that is very useful if the carbs haven't been apart before is a set of JIS screwdrivers, they do make a big differnce.
The first victim was a Stihl HS45 hedge trimmer, had it since new and the primer bulb split. Ordered new one and damn thing still wouldn't run and appeared to be flooding. Stripped and cleaned the carb and it ran for a bit. It was clear the diaphragm was a bit crispy so decided to order a carb kit. Very standard Zama carb but the parts list didn't list specific kit only individual parts, checked on the Zama site and it listed a specific kit but none of the suppliers listed.
So is where the detective work starts, found a Stihl blower that listed a carb kit,exploded diagrams showed the carb looked the same. Checked the individual part numbers for gasket,pump valve and diphragm and they were all the same. I ordered the carb kit for the blower, genuine Zama one cost about £10. Sure enough it was exactly the same and the HS 45 is running as well as it did in 2002 when I bought it.
There are subtle differences in the Zama gaskets often related to primer circuits. If you have the carb apart if you put the gasket on a piece of white paper you get a good visualisation of it. It's also worth taking a picture of both sides as when you look at the carb kits the gaskets are sometimes the other way round.
Next victim was an McCulloch clearing saw(heavy duty strimmer), hadn't run in a decade, tank stank,fuel lines all rotted. Any McCulloch parts lists didn't show the model and the part were always expensive. The carb was a Walbro so took it apart and matched the gaskets to a kit, measured the fuel pipes. The fuel filter was an unusual thing with two fabric tails on it and I couldn't find a ref anywhere obvious. A generic search on google images didn't throw anything obvious but a search fuel parts on Gardenhirespare showed exactly the right one and it was listed for something completely unrelated. Ordered them all up and £15 later it's all up and running and runs like a champ.
The sad thing is these cheaper units like the McCulloch will end up being scrapped if a machine specific part breaks because it won't be worth repairing but if it was a major brand like Stihl almost every part is still available even for decades old machines and they are cheap.
We've done carb rebuilds on 4 tools in the last week and they are all running perfect now. Two of them would sometimes start and run fine and then you'd pull your arm off trying to get them to run. In simple terms 2 gaskets,pump valve and diapragm fixed every one of them.
My go to sites for these kind of part are
https://www.lsengineers.co.uk, have really good stocks and full diagrams for major brands once you've registered
www.gardenhirespares.co.uk, useful for more generic/cheaper stuff. They are also localish for me if I need something urgent.
Another thing that is very useful if the carbs haven't been apart before is a set of JIS screwdrivers, they do make a big differnce.
The first victim was a Stihl HS45 hedge trimmer, had it since new and the primer bulb split. Ordered new one and damn thing still wouldn't run and appeared to be flooding. Stripped and cleaned the carb and it ran for a bit. It was clear the diaphragm was a bit crispy so decided to order a carb kit. Very standard Zama carb but the parts list didn't list specific kit only individual parts, checked on the Zama site and it listed a specific kit but none of the suppliers listed.
So is where the detective work starts, found a Stihl blower that listed a carb kit,exploded diagrams showed the carb looked the same. Checked the individual part numbers for gasket,pump valve and diphragm and they were all the same. I ordered the carb kit for the blower, genuine Zama one cost about £10. Sure enough it was exactly the same and the HS 45 is running as well as it did in 2002 when I bought it.
There are subtle differences in the Zama gaskets often related to primer circuits. If you have the carb apart if you put the gasket on a piece of white paper you get a good visualisation of it. It's also worth taking a picture of both sides as when you look at the carb kits the gaskets are sometimes the other way round.
Next victim was an McCulloch clearing saw(heavy duty strimmer), hadn't run in a decade, tank stank,fuel lines all rotted. Any McCulloch parts lists didn't show the model and the part were always expensive. The carb was a Walbro so took it apart and matched the gaskets to a kit, measured the fuel pipes. The fuel filter was an unusual thing with two fabric tails on it and I couldn't find a ref anywhere obvious. A generic search on google images didn't throw anything obvious but a search fuel parts on Gardenhirespare showed exactly the right one and it was listed for something completely unrelated. Ordered them all up and £15 later it's all up and running and runs like a champ.
The sad thing is these cheaper units like the McCulloch will end up being scrapped if a machine specific part breaks because it won't be worth repairing but if it was a major brand like Stihl almost every part is still available even for decades old machines and they are cheap.
We've done carb rebuilds on 4 tools in the last week and they are all running perfect now. Two of them would sometimes start and run fine and then you'd pull your arm off trying to get them to run. In simple terms 2 gaskets,pump valve and diapragm fixed every one of them.