Quote Originally Posted by K7SGJ View Post
Actually, it might be easier to just try the recoil when it's off the engine. Sometimes the pull cord will cross over itself on a rewind and tangle causing very limited travel. This often happens when the engine kind of kicks while you're pulling the rope, and it snaps out of your hand and tries to rewind and gets a bunch of slack in it. The other thing I've seen a lot is the plastic reel that the pull cord rolls in to, gets a crack in the side of it and the rope gets jammed in the split and only allows 1/4 to 1/2 revolution of pull. I'm betting it's the recoil assembly and not a siezed engine.

ETA You might also just remove the spark plug to remove the compression making it easier to manually turn the engine if you want to try that. You can also make sure the piston is moving.
Thank's. I'll start by removing the plug and then checking the recoil. The thing was left out in 2 rains. When I picked it up rainwater even poured out of the nozzle where the air blows from. It really doesn't even pay to fix it because it will probably just be stored out in the rain again anyhow.. But I'll try and fix it anyway. When it was last used it was running and was shut down normally. And when i tried to pull start it today it sounded like it sort of kicked or did something funky just as the rope seized. Who knows, maybe the cylinder is filled with water or something. These things are not really designed to be left out in the rain time and time again. But try explaining that around here. Also, last time it ran it was kind of sluggish. But that could be due to water in the carb, water in the gas, old gas, etc. I guess I won;t know till I have time to check it out.

Now, the next door neighbor has one also and it just keeps on working. Why ? Because he takes care of his tools. He has a nice storage cabinet. When he finishes using it he puts it in the storage bin and closes the top. The message ? If you pay money for tools and take care of them they will last and they will work. If you treat your tools like shit you end up having to spend time fixing them or throwing them away and buying new ones.