Which I've started doing with my Stihl equipment. You go to Siskun, Washington Tractor, wherever, it's hard to get away from those guys for under a hundred dollars these days. For $50, they will tell you what they think is wrong with it. But if it just flat-out won't run, get ready for $100 plus. Or be told it costs more to fix than buying a new one would. I think the last time I was at one of these places, they quoted me a shop labor rate of $75.
My saw, I don't remember the last time I used it. Several months ago, maybe. It's a Stihl MS290 "Farm Boss." It's been a very good machine and it was running when last put away. The other day, got it down and it wouldn't start. Previously, it's always started fairly easily. Pulling the starter rope with the choke switch in every configuration, I could tell it was pulling too easily. It didn't have the usual resistance. The spark impulse itself trying to ignite fuel but not quite ready to fire will cause this resistance. So I figured it was a no spark issue. With the spark plug out, I did a spark check, sure enough, no spark. My experience in this stuff is, it's rarely a spark plug that quits like this unless it's been broken somehow. Lots of functional spark plugs get changed just because.
So this left the ignition coil defective or a possible broken wire. It's hard to get to those wires but they are a lot less likely to fail than a coil. So I went to good old ebay and bought an ignition coil (which included a new plug also) for $10. The replacement coil was not a genuine Stihl. It was Gyppo, Bojack, cheap made in China, whatever you want to call it. But last night, I changed the coil. This morning, the chainsaw fired right up cold on the third yank of the rope, over-fueled and over-oiled and all. Within 30 seconds the blue smoke was gone and it was running quite smoothly and normally.
With the $10 bojack coil, even if I could've gotten it fixed at the Stihl dealer for a measly $100, you can buy 10 of the bojack coils for the cost of the one trip to the shop.
I learnt this lesson from home fixing one of my Stihl leaf blowers. The Stihl dealer told me it was not economically repairable. But being thriftly, I didn't want to throw the old one away. It had suspected carburetor issues. So I went on ebay, found a bojack carburetor for about $11. I took the old blower apart pretty fully without actually getting into the engine internals. It's just the way it's made. But after I changed the carburetor, the machine ran better than it ever did.
Hey, it's worth a $10 bill, isn't it? You can also find carbs for Briggs & Stratton and other small HP engines on ebay, fresh replacements from China, for about $10-$12, which is a lot less than the lawnmower shop gets for them. Bad carbs are the primary reason so many lawnmowers get thrown away. Especially in the NW where they sit around a lot. With bad gasoline containing ethanol in it. Or no fuel stabilizer.
So you don't like buying from China. Relax, they're eating our lunch anyway. You might as well get some benefit and save money in small equipment repairs.
Oh, one other thing. Saw chains. Check ebay before you pay $10 to $15 to get one sharpened.
My saw, I don't remember the last time I used it. Several months ago, maybe. It's a Stihl MS290 "Farm Boss." It's been a very good machine and it was running when last put away. The other day, got it down and it wouldn't start. Previously, it's always started fairly easily. Pulling the starter rope with the choke switch in every configuration, I could tell it was pulling too easily. It didn't have the usual resistance. The spark impulse itself trying to ignite fuel but not quite ready to fire will cause this resistance. So I figured it was a no spark issue. With the spark plug out, I did a spark check, sure enough, no spark. My experience in this stuff is, it's rarely a spark plug that quits like this unless it's been broken somehow. Lots of functional spark plugs get changed just because.
So this left the ignition coil defective or a possible broken wire. It's hard to get to those wires but they are a lot less likely to fail than a coil. So I went to good old ebay and bought an ignition coil (which included a new plug also) for $10. The replacement coil was not a genuine Stihl. It was Gyppo, Bojack, cheap made in China, whatever you want to call it. But last night, I changed the coil. This morning, the chainsaw fired right up cold on the third yank of the rope, over-fueled and over-oiled and all. Within 30 seconds the blue smoke was gone and it was running quite smoothly and normally.
With the $10 bojack coil, even if I could've gotten it fixed at the Stihl dealer for a measly $100, you can buy 10 of the bojack coils for the cost of the one trip to the shop.
I learnt this lesson from home fixing one of my Stihl leaf blowers. The Stihl dealer told me it was not economically repairable. But being thriftly, I didn't want to throw the old one away. It had suspected carburetor issues. So I went on ebay, found a bojack carburetor for about $11. I took the old blower apart pretty fully without actually getting into the engine internals. It's just the way it's made. But after I changed the carburetor, the machine ran better than it ever did.
Hey, it's worth a $10 bill, isn't it? You can also find carbs for Briggs & Stratton and other small HP engines on ebay, fresh replacements from China, for about $10-$12, which is a lot less than the lawnmower shop gets for them. Bad carbs are the primary reason so many lawnmowers get thrown away. Especially in the NW where they sit around a lot. With bad gasoline containing ethanol in it. Or no fuel stabilizer.
So you don't like buying from China. Relax, they're eating our lunch anyway. You might as well get some benefit and save money in small equipment repairs.
Oh, one other thing. Saw chains. Check ebay before you pay $10 to $15 to get one sharpened.
