Zenoah 26cc

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Vince Fantauzzi

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2013
Messages
164
Hey guys, I have a stock zenoah 26 with a stock 257 walbro, from cold sometimes it takes over ten pulls to start. However, once it starts and warms up it'll fire on the first pull. The needles are set 2L 1H. Gasoline 90 Octane 25:1 ratio. I'm priming it with my finger over carb throat. My question is, is this normal with this engine? If not, what am I doing wrong?
My arm thanks you in advance for any help. 😉

Cheers
Vince
 
Vince,
You are inducing a overly rich mixture and then it takes a while for it to clear to a ratio that will fire because you are trying to start it after the prime without fully opening the throttle blade.

It must have all the air you can give it or it will take that many pulls to fire.

Choke it until barely wet finger. Hold it wide open and pull until it starts. It will reduce your pulls to 2 or 3 and she will be running.
 
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Do you use clear fuel line? When I choke the engine after its sat I pull slow with my finger over the mouth of the carb till I see the fuel move into the carb and keep slowly pulling till it pops. Once it pops it takes a few pulls, if your engine doesn't pop you may have a worn ring or your carb settings are off
 
Drop the octane? I had a similar issue when I tried running a stok Zen on the high octane stuff I run in my BZM's. Mixed up some low octane pump gas and the stck Zen runs much better and starts MUCH easier.
 
My whipper snipper :p needs 5- 6 pulls on full manual choke from cold or not used for a while,till it fires ,then choke off,,maybe try a tad richer on low needle,,,I love nitro engine carbs,, simple with no diaphrams and fussy air/fuel ratios lol
 
Hell,,, I wish my Stihl chainsaw started with just a few pulls when cold or not used in a while.
It wears out my shoulder everytime...
Once it fires, it's good for all day, starts on one pull... I only use ethanol free gas and Mercury oil for mix...
 
Hell,,, I wish my Stihl chainsaw started with just a few pulls when cold or not used in a while.
It wears out my shoulder everytime...
Once it fires, it's good for all day, starts on one pull... I only use ethanol free gas and Mercury oil for mix...
Yeah Frank,,same with my old Mcculloch saw,with no primer button,,I suppose the diaphram gets stiff with age and restricts fuel uptake,,I richened the needles a bit,,starts off lean,sometimes with half choke to keep it running initially,then after 10 min running,it runs a bit rich lol,,I use 91 octane,,no ethanol,,can't be bothered fixing it haha
 
Usually I end up pulling off the cover, taking out the plug, put a little fuel in and pull it over a few times to clear it all out. Spray off the plug with some ether,, stick the plug back in, give it a spray of ether in the air cleaner and she will kick right off .. I think the gas evaporates and the oil thickens up in the crankcase between uses.. I try to start all my small engines at least 3-4 times a year... just because.
 
Usually I end up pulling off the cover, taking out the plug, put a little fuel in and pull it over a few times to clear it all out. Spray off the plug with some ether,, stick the plug back in, give it a spray of ether in the air cleaner and she will kick right off .. I think the gas evaporates and the oil thickens up in the crankcase between uses.. I try to start all my small engines at least 3-4 times a year... just because.
The old remove sparkplug trick,,you get an idea if it's flooded with incomming fuel or oiled up because of crankcase gunk or just dry,I seem to be lucky with crankcase gunk,just choke it with fuel lol .I had an old Maico dirtbike that I had to prime through the plug hole as the carby didn't have a choke ,,Funnily,,my 30 year old 160cc Victa poo stroke lawnmower with float bowl, plastic carby,no manual choke, pointless ignition and 10 year old sparkplug always starts 1st/2nd pull, with 3 pumps of the primer ,,and it's made/designed in Australia :D,,best thing we ever made haha,,and with the zipstart feature using a vacuum decompressor valve for easy pulls
 
My BIL used to own a single cylinder 500 cc OSSA moto X bike that was a ***** to kick start... if it kicked back half way through the kick, it would almost throw you off the bike ! It had a comp. release too, but didn't work that great. It was crazy fast and strong!!!

When I was seven, my dad had an old hand me down lawn boy two stroke mower..had to hand wind the rope around the top to pull start it..
That thing ran like a top ! Don't remember if it had any kind of throttle..I think it just ran wide ass open...
 
My BIL used to own a single cylinder 500 cc OSSA moto X bike that was a ***** to kick start... if it kicked back half way through the kick, it would almost throw you off the bike ! It had a comp. release too, but didn't work that great. It was crazy fast and strong!!!

When I was seven, my dad had an old hand me down lawn boy two stroke mower..had to hand wind the rope around the top to pull start it..
That thing ran like a top ! Don't remember if it had any kind of throttle..I think it just ran wide ass open...
I do remember the old Ossas,,they also made good competition winning trials bikes,,,yeah gees,500cc 2 stroke dirt bikes always intimidating,,,guys into club road racing down here, would convert cr 500 mx hondas for road racing,,lowered suspension,smaller front wheel with twin discs and they were quick and nimble in the corners
Looks like we were both brought up with our Dad's handme downs as kids, ,,our beginnings of life with engines lol,I was around 10 with a 4 stroke Briggs and Strat,mounted on a wood crate,,my dad was a watchmaker from Trieste/Italy,,had a 1935 BSA 500 side valve ex army,, a Matchless beforehand and others,so he learned how to keep them going
 
My dad had a great way of teaching me to work on things very young... We would sit down and talk about whatever it was, and he would ask me what I thought the problem was and why ... then he would explain or draw it on paper or take me out and show me....

but, he never did it for me,,,that was up to me,,to figure out the how. And let me tell you,, I did some crazy **** too... I can honestly say that I was lucky to have grown up with some of the stunts I pulled figuring out how things worked !!!
 
Vince,
You are inducing a overly rich mixture and then it takes a while for it to clear to a ratio that will fire because you are trying to start it after the prime without fully opening the throttle blade.

It must have all the air you can give it or it will take that many pulls to fire.

Choke it until barely wet finger. Hold it wide open and pull until it starts. It will reduce your pulls to 2 or 3 and she will be running.

Hi, just wanted to thank you again for your suggestion. It works like a charm. 🙂

Vince
 
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