Strike Master Strike Light Starting Problems

[love to hunt]

I fished Mille Lacs this weekend and my buddy brought his brand new Strike Light 4 stroke. It cuts great and doesn't smoke up the fish house but it is extreamly hard to start when it is cold.

If the auger is kept warm in the truck or fish house it starts right up and runs great but if it is outside in the cold it takes 20, 30 or more pulls to get it running with out dieing. Even if it was just run a few minutes ago, once it gets cold it is the same thing. Once running it takes several (about 5) minutes of warming up before you can start to cut ice. Even then it has a tendancy to die after the 3 or 4th hole.

I have had Strike Master Augers for years and never had a ounce of trouble untill this one which makes me think it could be just a fluke.

Has anyone had simular symptoms or problems and what was the fix. I have repaired and tuned many augers and this one has me stumped. I didn't want to get to deep in to it as not to void any warrantee, and I think he is going to bring it back or call to see what needs to be done.

Any input would be appreciated.

[eurolarva]

My two stroke had the exact same problems until I switched to amsoil which is not going to work for the four stroke. I think old gas might play part of it. Fresh gas might have less water in it and have less chance of freezing. Maybe adding a little heat to the gas might help in cold weather however the main ingredient in heat is alcohal and most of our gas has plenty of that.

[love to hunt]

This is a brand new auger with fresh gasoline.

[Skyndalive]

This is not normal. I had my 4 stroke up at LOW in 25 below and it started great compared to all the two strokes with us. Maybe give D-Rock a call to see what they say....Gregg

[love to hunt]

bump

[Borch]

I'd give strikemaster a call. They're really good about trouble shooting over the phone and they'll know more about it than anyone here will as they work on them all the time. If it's something that they can't resolve they fix you up if you stop in.

[troutchaser]

I have a stike lite, and it starts fine no matter how cold. The most I have had to pull it is about a dozen times, and that was when it was extremely cold. I did have trouble with it once where it would not start at all, but I believe that was from it bouncing around in my fishhouse as we were pulling it around the lake. It would flood out right away, and I think something was stuck open in the carberator.

They do seem to take a few minutes to warm up, but in the manual it states to let it run for a few minutes to make sure it is warm.

[hanson]

My dad's Strike-Lite has been giving him heck lately as well. Sometimes taking near 25 pulls to get started and it doesn't matter what the temp is.

After seeing this auger in use for the last 2 years now, I'm not sure if I would have liked to see my dad buy it.

#1- He had an oil leakage problem. He had the auger standing up in the garage in the summer (which is supposed to be proper storage), and ended up with a combustion chamber full of oil.

#2- You can't auger any number of holes when its below 0 without that plastic "cup" on the bottom of the auger packing full of slush and freezing. You then have to bang and chip that ice out without damaging blades.

#3- It now starts hard. Even with a primer bulb, I couldn't figure out a system to start the auger without pulling the heck out of it.

Needless to say, he'll use it the rest of the winter and it'll then make a trip into Strikemaster to figure out whats up. I'm pretty sure I'm going to swap out the auger assembly with a regular metal Lazer auger to keep that cup from packing with ice.

On URL this weekend, between the hard starting and the icing up of the blade assembly, I told him to put it away and cut the rest of the holes with my Lazer Xpress.

[zamboni]

I noticed on mine, which was just bought 2 days ago and has driled a grand total of 6 holes, to put the choke on run instead of start when tuggin on the rope, and prime the heck out of it, it came with a DVD and Dave Genz says on it you can prime it all you want without any worries of flooding it

[theoilman]

What kind of oil do you have in the crankcase? If you are using a standard petroleum oil, it could be turning to gel or solid as little as + 20 deg. At 0 or -20 it will really make it much harder to start, warm up and keep running.

Try changing it to AMSOIL, I would recommend either 0W-40 Formula 4-Stroke Power Sports Oil product code AFF with -60 deg F pour point; or 10W-30/SAE 30 Formula 4-Stroke Small Engine Oil product code ASE with -38 deg F pour point.

You can order direct using my link below, UPS direct to your door, 1 or 2 day delivery.

[zamboni]

I am assuming everyone uses what came with the auger.

[love to hunt]

My pal called Strike Master today and the gave him an explination.

Apparently there is a plastic spacer between the carb and engine the sometimes gets very fine cracks in it. This condition causes it to start hard due to the fact that the choke is now rendered inneffective. This also accounts for the long warm up time, as the machine warms up the cracks seal up and the thing will run fine.

Strike Master as offered to fix the unit or replace it so all is well. They did say not to attampt the repair your self as the carb is no treat to remove and it will void your warrantee.

They also said they would tune the unit to optimum not factory setting. They were going to put it in the big freezer and get it to exactly what was needed.

[TimBuck2]

L2H- Thanks for doing the leg work for me. I had posted a similar topic a couple of weeks ago and tried everything suggested short of calling SM. I figured I'd take a run up to Big Lake to let them handle it. I'm actually going up tomorrow. I can't wait to finally have one that starts properly. I counted 60 pulls the other morning . I also agree with Chris's accesment of the cup. It sure pulls the slush out but for 5 or more holes it sucks for clogging. I might try and find a used Laser auger to swap for the composite, or have someone machine an adapter so I can use my Laser hand auger blade. I also don't think it is real efficient at redrilling holes with the chipper blades. That may also be in part from the flex the composite has. It seems to get wedged in at the bottom. The cup will pop through and then have a difficult time coming back. I'm not pushing down either the auger does all the work, the blades are getting ample time to do their thing.

All that said I'm still giving it one more chance. If it will start easily I can engineer around the rest. If I'm disappointed again I'll sell it at a loss and buy a Nils.

TB2

[JohnMickish]

The Strikemaster customer service is the best in the industry. Period.

[TimBuck2]

Here we go!! I just got back from Strikemaster. Great service. If you can't get your StrikeLite to start at all it may be a hairline crack in the spacer between the carb and the block. This will have to go in to Strikemaster to be fixed. If it will start but it takes an excessive amount of pulls then remove the air cleaner/filter. Behind the filter there are two philips head screws. make sure they are snug. It has been supposed that they are vibrating loose and letting too much air into the combustion chamber, but they don't have enough data to go on yet. If your auger started great last year, but is being a pain lately, check those screws. If yours was loose call Strikemaster and let them know so they can work out a permanent fix for everyone. Again it is not a confirmed epidemic, but a quick serviceing made me not regret my purchase.

[JohnMickish]

Service like that shows who the real "master" is in the auger world.