My Strikemaster III died on me yesterday.
I drilled some holes but later when I moved it wouldn’t start.
It has been hard starting but it’s not even firing now.
It’s getting gas and spark. I’m thinking the keyway may have sheared off.
Thoughts?
How much compression does it have? I had a weed whipper engine that acted much like you said your auger engine did. When it died I took it apart and found the inside of the cylinder very scored, as was the piston. The reason it wouldn’t start was lack of compression. I bought a used cylinder and piston assembly from a local repair guy and I was back in business. You might put a compression tester on it and see what you have before giving up the ship. Good luck
You probably checked correctly, but I’ll thow this out there anyway…
Are you sure it’s GETting gas and not just HAS gas. If there was some water in with the gas mix it can freeze in the fueld delivery system.
Yep checked that. I pulled the plug and let it dry out . I tryed to start it the next day. Still no fire. But the plug was soaked.
Might it be the plug even tho it looks like it is sparking? the spark does look a little yellow.
The other thought I had was the timing is off. That would mean that the keyway has slipped.
Check the easy things first. (ie compression). THose little engines only live so long. What makes you think you sheared a key? Doesn’t your auger have a clutch to absorb a sudden impact? I’d also throw in a new plug for sure and not second guess the old one, a cheap $2 attempt and rules that out. Is the plug wet? What makes me suspicious about your engine is that you mentioned it had been starting hard for some time and now just won’t start at all. Check the compression, you might be surprised at what you find.
I had a similar problem with my Jiffy a few years back. Had spark and everything. I was told to put in a new sparkplug anyway, even though I saw spark.. Problem solved. Ran great. Just cleaning the plug was not enough. Don’t understand it but it worked. Try a brand new plug.
Try a new plug, try draining and replacing ALL the fuel.
If you want to check the compression but dont have the tool you can squirt a little oil down the cylinder. This will increase the compression if the cylinder is washed down (flooded). You only need a little bit of oil, dont use too much.
Like LundgEye said,check your compression. Also check the needle valve on the carb. Sometimes they back out and choke out the motor. Also, just because your getting spark doesnt mean your getting enough spark. Change the plug. Tight Lines and Good Health to all.
Chappy
I think your user pic is broke too! Not sure if its a spark, fuel or compression problem but if you send that pic to me in an e-mail, I’ll get it tuned up and rebuilt and running again for you. 
Made a little headway with it.
I replaced the plug. But it still wouldn’t fire. I gave it a little ether.
It popped right off. So I’m figuring I’m going to get the filter out and see what that looks like. I still will check the compression.
Thanks for all the advise.
I’ll let you know what I find.
Well it’s running.
I took the carb and assembly apart. Checked the pump and filter, which looked fine. Cleaned everything and put it back together.
Guess what???? It still didn’t start. I tryed a little ether again and it popped right off. I got ready to check the compression when a friend of mine said lets check the vacuum at the carb. So he covered the carb opening and it had great vacuum. He said pull it again. Wala it started. And has been starting ever since. The only thing that I can think of is that something was plugging the jet the I couldn’t see and when we plugged the carb we created enough vacuum to suck whatever it was that was blocking it, out.
I really don’t know what I did to fix it for sure but I am glad it’s fixed for cheap.
Thanks for all the advise.
I’m planning on hitting the ice a couple of days this week. 
Congratulations on getting it running. The new plug was probably a good thing anyway and from the sounds of it there was something plugging up a jet for some time with the hard starting you mentioned. Happy digging……
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
