Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ECHO and Stihl string trimmer woes.

I've got a couple of these trimmers that I depend on a lot through the summer. I seem to have trouble getting them fired up and running worth a darn EVERY year!

I only run non-ethanol fuel through them and use Stihl 2 cycle oil. I've run them dry at the end of the year as well as stored "preserved/treated" fuel in them as well based on other's recommendations. This year the Stihl fired after choking and priming but then died and I can't get it to fire up again at all... flooded? The ECHO will fire and run as long as I keep cycling between choke and open but dies when I try to rev the throttle a little. Temp. is 70 degrees outside. The ECHO has warmed enough running it the way that I have that it is certainly not "cold".

Back in my youger years I would have already (1 or 2 years ago) taken them out and dispatched them with a shotgun or rifle sprinkled with some foul language on top. Now I have older kids that pay attention to what I say as well as younger neighbors and my own grandkids that are paying attention to me more than I care to admit!

I am getting tired of the every other year $125 repair bill to clean and adjust the carbs on these POS! I have a Stihl chainsaw, multiple 2 stroke trolling motors, Lawnboy 2 stroke mower and a Ariens 4 stroke snowblower... NEVER a problem with any of those, just these POS trimmers!!!

Am I missing something? Fresh mixed gas, plugs, and clean air filters are easy and routine.

Store them full of fuel with no ethanol and a double dose of stabil. Seafoam doesn’t hurt. Run that mix 100% of the time. 17 years on the same trimmer without a service call.

What I do for a quick fix: pull the filter off and pour raw seafoam into the carb until it fills up. Let it set for a couple minutes, no more, then crank it. It will billow smoke for a while, but then even out, and I'm GTG!

My Stihl weedeater will flood when you look at it wrong. I hate the darn thing. The rest of my power equipment runs great.

Something in the carbs, either clogged jets, or the diaphragms are shot. 2 strokes are finicky.

I replace the carb on my piece of junk Stihl last year.

YouTube will teach you how to adjust them....but they are junk.


Ive owned my last gas line cutter.

I had my fill of battery trimmers, been a couple of years but none of them lasted. Battery would be good for half the yard, so got two. That worked. The batteries however never even lasted two years even though I used and charged them correctly. Both NiCads and Lithium. The Echo trimmer has been great so far.

Run only Stihl oil and have never drained or ran the carb dry during the winter .

I store my echo full of fuel. I was told you don't need stabil if it's a oil mix fuel. I always use ethanol free premium. Sometimes I go 2 years on the same can without much problem other than a few extra pills in the spring. Doesn't Utah county require some other additive to their fuel in the winter? Maybe its something to do with that.

Bb

Do you use them commercially or around the house? I switched to a Milwaukee string trimmer last year, and hardly use the Stihl anymore

I use E10 87 octane gas with whatever oil I have. Never had any issues with my 6 year old Stihl until this year. Replaced the spark plug and it is now running fine.

Had a Stihl trimmer, was a pita to start and keep running. Tossed it and got a battery operated Dewalt. Love it.

Burley,

Cache County, only work in Utah County... I get out of there as fast as I can when not working! Nothing special in our ethanol free fuel as far as I know.

I stored both of these with stabilized fuel this year and here I am. The ECHO was running fine last fall, the Stihl had started to act up mid-summer for the umpteenth time. I will try the seafoam trick I guess. If it doesn't help, I may just dress both up as rockchucks and at least have some fun! If I am going to have to shell out $250 to get them both fixed, I may as well go get a brand new one!!! Sadly, the ECHO has not seen that much use.

Irving D,

They are just some house wussies that get used once a week for 5 months/year.

I am assuming the Milwaukee is a baterry powed trimmer?

Seems like the electric ones are "all or none". I do kind of like the throttle function on the speed of the trimmer head.

Why can't they just put a tough, reliable carb on them?

I have three Stihl chain saws, a Stihl pole saw, a Stihl string trimmer and a Stihl hedge trimmer. My Stihl dealer is a friend of mine and he gave me some good advice: Stihl tools will flood if you look at them wrong, no matter which product it is. Period. On tools like the trimmers prime with six pumps, chain saws obviously don’t get primed. Then on ALL of the tools, at this point, put it on “choke” and pop once, and once ONLY. Then switch to “run” and pop it once or twice and it’ll go usually. If not, keep on pulling, but resist the temptation to choke again....it’ll flood for sure.

After I was told this, I stopped flooding my tools.

I "treated" myself to a Stihl trimmer many years ago. Damn thing was horrible. My cheap Ryobi 4 stroke hasn't flinched in nearly 4 years of service.

I buy the premixed fuel, my troubles ended when I did that.

I have a Stihl weed eater. It is a constant source of frustration. Purchased a ryobi 40 volt electric trimmer a couple weeks ago. So far it has exceeded my expectations.

The one thing that sealed the deal for me was reloading the string on a trimmer. The battery ones were a real PIA. The Echo I just stick the string thought the hole for about 6 feet, even them up and wind. I don't have to take the head apart or buy a preloaded spool.

replacement carb on my stihl was like $18. Just 2 screws and about 15 minutes worth of effort.