Log splitter is dead - what could be wrong?

[Highbeam]

Not sure which model you have, but I have a little Champion 2200 watt inverter genny and it has the fuel shutoff and kill switch integrated into the same knob, which I didn't like at first, but I figured out that I can turn the knob far enough to shut the fuel off without engaging the kill switch, so it will run until the carb is dry...well, not dry...for that you really need to pop the side panel off and open the carb drain screw before storage...which I'll do unless I know that I will be using it again soon (but that is dangerous too...best laid plans n all)

Currently a pair of dual fuel 2500 inverters and a 3100 gas only. I’m a big fan of propane so long as I have a choice so no problem with old gasoline on the little guys.

The big one, I’ve gone so far as draining the onboard tank through the carb drain just to keep that tank of fuel from getting too old.

The carb drains for all of these carbs are attached to hoses that reach a Jerry can for disposal into the mower.

 

[fbelec]

and also just because it has a electric shut off valve doesn't mean your all set. my ride on has a electric shut of valve and the gas went thru it, so put on a mechanical shut off on everything you have. it will soon be habit to shut off and to turn on.

 

[Ashful]

All of my champion generators have shut offs and a fuel drain screw for the bowl.

Last, every drop of fuel gets sta-bil treatment.

Unless the utility is predicting a very long outage, I'm just in the habit of mixing fuel stabilizer into all fuel going into the generator tank. If the utility is forecasting power should come back on soon, I only fill the large (6-8 gallon?) tank with a little more than the forecast restoration time, hoping there will never be more than a gallon sitting in the tank over its next break from service.

Since I pretty much use the generator only for power outages, I never know how long it will sit between uses. So, the weekend following any usage, it gets run dry, fuel drained from bowl, and an oil change. Every time, even if it only ran an hour or three. This way, I don't need to remember when it was last done, or how many hours it has run since last maintenance, I just know it's always ready to go.

 

[peakbagger]

I like my Honda commercial snowblower set up, a mechanical valve on the fuel line with drain on the carb bowl. I also run ethanol free fuel and makes all the difference in the world on fuel system issues on OPE.

 

[Ashful]

I like my Honda commercial snowblower set up, a mechanical valve on the fuel line with drain on the carb bowl. I also run ethanol free fuel and makes all the difference in the world on fuel system issues on OPE.

I run regular E15, and really have no issues, even on my old 1990’s vintage Stihls. I won’t pretend it’s not theoretically harder on some classic gasket materials and hoses. But from where I sit, it sure looks like all the fear of E15 was massively over-blown worrying and hype.

 

[GrumpyDad]

My happiness was short lived. My just going on 6 month old snow throw is now having issues. I figured it was time to start it up and let it run before winter hits. I put a tiny bit of sea foam into it before starting, shook it up. Started on the first pull. Wow. pull back the choke. Stalls. Ok ok, pull 3 times choke open - run it a bit, then close the choke....running great. I go inside for a minute then come outside ready to shut it off - then I notice it starting to surge over and over. With the choke slightly open it does not do this. Well crap. Something else to figure out/clean.
It's a Husqvarna ST124. Husqvarna engine with gas shut off. Seems like a great super affordable machine that most people reviewed REALLY well.

 

[peakbagger]

E15 starts to deteriorate in 3 months and with a vented carb, the volatiles evaporate leaving sludge in the carb bowl. Talk to any OPE mechanic and they will confirm that most of what they are doing these days is fuel system cleaning and carb work to get the gunk out. Not an issue with daily driver car but tough on anything seasonal.

 

[Ashful]

E15 starts to deteriorate in 3 months and with a vented carb, the volatiles evaporate leaving sludge in the carb bowl. Talk to any OPE mechanic and they will confirm that most of what they are doing these days is fuel system cleaning and carb work to get the gunk out. Not an issue with daily driver car but tough on anything seasonal.

All true, but only a problem for anyone careless enough to leave fuel in a carburetor for 3+ months. I'd never do that, even before E15.

 

[GrumpyDad]

I run regular E15, and really have no issues, even on my old 1990’s vintage Stihls. I won’t pretend it’s not theoretically harder on some classic gasket materials and hoses. But from where I sit, it sure looks like all the fear of E15 was massively over-blown worrying and hype.

Manufacturers test things rather extensively and are having heartburn over changes to regulations as it requires them to spend more on R&D. The log splitter that I own states E0-10 is ok, and has a NO sign over anything greater than E10.
I should have taken a picture of my carb bowl. It looked like someone put a wad of tobacco in there. I guess shutting off the gas is no longer a viable solution. I MUST remember to drain the bowls at the end of every season.
I really wish E0 94 Octane bottled fuel wasnt $11 a quart!
Edit: Does anyone know anything about this site? https://www.pure-gas.org/
I see there is a little local gas station near me that supposedly sells ethanol free gas. Im going to have to stop by and ask them, because I thought it was some sort of law where Im at that they sell gas with ethanol during the summer months.

 

[Ashful]

I really wish E0 94 Octane bottled fuel wasnt $11 a quart!

My local saw shop recommends keeping a quart or gallon non-ethanol fuel, not to actually use while operating, but to just run a small amount thru the machine at the end of a season, to flush out any ethanol-laden fuel. I never bother, as already mentioned I haven't seen any need for it, but they say many of their other customers do. This shop caters almost exclusively to professional tree and landscape crews, almost no retail / residential business, for whom equipment down time is lost revenue.

 

[GrumpyDad]

All true, but only a problem for anyone careless enough to leave fuel in a carburetor for 3+ months. I'd never do that, even before E15.

I'm the careless person it would seem. I never had issues before recently. All my gear would just work at the beginning of the season. Sure it may be a little grumpy to wake up after six months off but it all just works. Chainsaws. Lawn mowers. Grass trimmers. Tractors. It's like something changed in the last couple of years. So I guess I need to pay more attention to putting the gear away for a season properly. You'd think manufacturers would make it easy to shut stuff down for the season then.

 

[Riverbanks]

In n.y. our premium is e- free, it wasn't at first. We all had problems. My buddy fills his 2.5 gallon can for the lawn mower in the spring, we just had to put the dry gas to his mower to get it to start, so , in a sealed container in the shed, it collected water. He couldn't remember if it was premium or not, I'm guessing not

 

[rustynut]

Just remember gas floats on water...that means water will be on the bottom of the tank where the fuel pick up is. Another thing to ponder is that they fog boats when putting them away for the season. I’ve been told to use SeaFoam sprayed into the carb until she quits running as well as mixing in with the fuel. Glad to hear that a cleaning fixed you up... rustynut

 

[Ashful]

I'm the careless person it would seem. I never had issues before recently. All my gear would just work at the beginning of the season. Sure it may be a little grumpy to wake up after six months off but it all just works. Chainsaws. Lawn mowers. Grass trimmers. Tractors. It's like something changed in the last couple of years. So I guess I need to pay more attention to putting the gear away for a season properly. You'd think manufacturers would make it easy to shut stuff down for the season then.

Life lesson, now you know! $9 (actually, $1.80 per machine) will save you a lot of frustration:

Amazon product ASIN B09VD2LXH5

 

[Riverbanks]

Fogging is always a good idea, but it's more for in cylinder rusting than fuel system stabilization. Any piston that is down in the stroke benefits from fogging, no cylinder wall pitting

 

[ericm979]

E15 starts to deteriorate in 3 months and with a vented carb, the volatiles evaporate leaving sludge in the carb bowl. Talk to any OPE mechanic and they will confirm that most of what they are doing these days is fuel system cleaning and carb work to get the gunk out. Not an issue with daily driver car but tough on anything seasonal.

Even E0 does it. The volatiles evaporate leaving gum. I cleaned out a lot of carbs before ethanol in gas was a thing. Modern summer gas has fewer volatiles (so there's less stuff evaporating and causing pollution) but that means that there's fewer volatiles to help cold engines start, especially carbureted ones that don't have as good mixture control as FI engines. If you have summer gas in the tank and it's cold out, it'll be even harder to start.

Fuel stabilizer helps a lot. I put it in all my gas for small engines. If there's a fuel valve I shut it off and let the engine run the carb dry every time I shut the machine down. But I have a riding mower that's 24 years old and has never had that done since it's not got a valve. It may take some cranking to start after winter but it always does.

 

[fbelec]

i like ashful had never any problems but i do run the gas out of my small engines before i shut them down everytime. including the chainsaw. i do take it a step farther on my small engines. just before they stall i close the choke and make it run on the gas in the bowl until it dies then when it's time to start it up again i make sure there is fresh gas in the tank incase the gas what little gas if any is left in the tank turns to varnish gets freshened up before trying to start it. it has worked well for me. my ride on was made in 1998 and i use that for grass (not much this year because of the drought we had) and it pulls a 4x8 trailer for firewood.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Now I just have to get this garden tractor running. It would have been nice to have this weekend while I was splitting and stacking two cords. I could have used the garden tractor and cart in so many ways. It ran great, until it didnt. Then it was a hard start and had to run on choke slightly opened. I replaced the carb, fuel pump, fuel filter, new gas, new plugs, new wires etc. Starting to think it's a more involved issue.

 

[Riverbanks]

Choke partly open to run, it is starving for fuel, what about checking flow out of the tank, vice grip the line going to the fuel pump and remove it from the pump and let it pour into a container, hopefully you have good flow, not a trickle

 

[GrumpyDad]

Choke partly open to run, it is starving for fuel, what about checking flow out of the tank, vice grip the line going to the fuel pump and remove it from the pump and let it pour into a container, hopefully you have good flow, not a trickle

Yea I did that. As I'm cranking the engine with the fuel line pulled from the carb it shoots with each rotation so it's getting good fuel.

 

[Riverbanks]

Ok, how about using a alternative fuel source, like spraying some carbclean into the carb, will it try to take off?

 

[GrumpyDad]

Ok, how about using a alternative fuel source, like spraying some carbclean into the carb, will it try to take off?

oh yea, but then it just dies even if you continue to spray. It almost feels electrical

 

[Riverbanks]

Does it die right after key is returned to run?

 

[GrumpyDad]

Does it die right after key is returned to run?

Sometimes it will run for a minute, sometimes it wont crank over at all. Sometimes it will run for 5 minutes and then just die. Sometimes I spray starting fluid in while cranking it, it starts then wants to die unless I keep spraying stuff in, and sometimes it will just take off from there and run for a few minutes or it will die immediately after I stop spraying.
One day, it started right up, ran perfect for 2-3 sessions throughout the day as I hauled tons of stuff around the property, and used that opportunity to help me pull out a stump. It was like nothing was wrong with it. The next day it would not start at all. My son keeps asking me when Im going to get that thing going. He loves to ride around in it with the pull cart on the back, pickup sticks that fall from trees and dump it on our burn pit. At one point I had this issue, replaced a bunch of stuff and each item would make it get better and better. Until it was running well without choke on or anything, then it fell back to this level of oddness, then to the point that it just wont start again.

 

[Riverbanks]

Can you see in the fuel tank? Is it possible you have something floating around in there and blocking the fuel outlet?