Strike Master quits on me when I tip the auger!

[mtheis]

Do you know why my auger would quit if it leans away from the gas tank? I don't have this problem when it leans towards the gas tank....it's like it floods out. The exhaust turns black before it quits.

I know some of you are quite good a figuring out carburation problems.

[TTfromBlaine]

Just a couple quick things to check, get it running then lean it over to what ever side it quits and let it die then remove spark plug and see if it appears wet/damp, if it appears then dry it's not flooding, use fresh gas and plug, more info from Frank D "Surface Tension" will be needed , how far are you leaning the auger over??

[mtheis]

Thank you for the good idea! I will go out and try that right now. I only have to tip it to about 70 degrees before she quits. Frustrating!

[BIG DS]

My guess would be the needle valve is stuck open slightly and you are dumping in too much fuel in when you tip it. When the auger is standing straight up or leaning the other way it is actually having to pull in the fuel. When it is leaning the opposite way there is enough gravity pressure that it is over fueling and the needle valve is not able to cut off the fuel flow.

[mtheis]

Would Sea Foam clean that out or will I have to take the carb apart to fix that? Thanks for the great advice! I wish to keep using it until the season is over if I can. At the beginning of the season I dumped the old fuel out of it and mixed up a batch of new fuel with Strike Master Oil. It has always run well in the past.

[Surface Tension]

Every power auger I'm aware of uses a diaphragm type carb. Main reason for that is it'll enable a 2 cycle engine to run at any angle. It doesn't use a bowl and float.

Some reasons for whats happening to your engine are:

Inlet Valve letting gas by when it shouldn't.

Improper fuel level.

Gas Pooling and not atomizing like it should.

Dirty sponge on the air cover.

Carb is choked or air intake obstructed.

Need High Speed Adjustment.

Need New Spark Plug.

Old Gas.

The fuel level is metered between a tang with fulcrum that opens and shuts the fuel using an inlet valve. That valve consists of a needel and seat. The center point of a diaphragm, which is part of the fuel pump comes in contact with that tang, same tang thats liked to the inlet valve.

The fuel level could be off. Proper setting is the tang should be level with the floor of the carb body.

Start from the bottom of my list and work up.

In the end a carb cleaning and kit. Depending on which year and model auger you have the will determine the High and Low speed tuning.

[BIG DS]

No, Seafoam will not help. ST posted a good list of where to start. You will probably end up taking the carb apart and putting in a new kit. They range from $12.00 to about $18.00 depending on which carb it has.

[TTfromBlaine]

Franks list is good, start at the bottom next a new plug and I would put some sea foam in and add it to your can of gas while your at it. It may take overnite to clean if you don't notice a difference right away but it may be just a plug, in any event run it till your sure it's in the carb then let it sit for awhile then keep going back and run it for awhile if it doesnt help after a day or so move up the list

ICE DOG 1-out

[TTfromBlaine]

So how did you end up fixing your auger??

ICE DOG 1-out

[mtheis]

Thanks for asking!

The previous posters pretty much had it right. The needle valve was sticking open. The seafoam didn't work. The plug looked great. I drained the gas, tipped the auger upside down, took apart the bottom of the carb and sprayed carb cleaner inside the needle valve area. Reassembled and it works good again. I guess my problem is I don't pay enough attention to the gas getting bad from the previous year...I need to maybe run it now and again in the summer to keep it from gumming up. And use Stabil. My fault.

[ice-man/vexilar-king]

I swear the gas they sell now days last about a week before it starts to break down. A little stabill doesn't hurt. I would also drill 5 or six extra holes in that exhaust if it only has one hole. They did that one hole dump to pass emissions.

[TTfromBlaine]

Glad you got it running, now you can play .

P.S. seafoam does have a stabilizer/cleaner, I've never used stabil but lots a people use it and swear by it. I just pour it in auger my gas can that way every time I refill it's getting cleaned and stabilized at the same time. Hope this helps some.

ICE DOG 1-out

[BIG DS]

Quote:

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use Stabil

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Go ahead and use Stabil. That is a great idea. When you are done ice fishing for the year, put the stabil in, run it for a few minutes and shut it off. You should not need to run it in the summer though. Next winter when it comes time to start it up again, dump out the old gas, put in some new and it should fire right up.

[BIG DS]

Quote:

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drill 5 or six extra holes in that exhaust if it only has one hole.

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You are right on about the one hole thing for emissions. However, I have a 1 year old Jiffy with the one hole muffler and I run it with a 80:1 synthetic mix. The one hole muffler does not affect the power or the RPM's. I broke it in on a 80:1 mix and have drilled many, many holes with it over the past 2 seasons so far. A close friend has one the same age that has been run on normal mix from new and it sounds different and does not have near the power mine does. Something to think about.