Laying up a Makita petrol cutter.

[Peter Hamilton-Scott]

I've got a Makita petrol stone cutter. I want to lay it up for quite a while and I'm not sure what the best stategy is so I'd appreciate some advice. Should I leave it with the two-stroke mix in the machine or should I first drain it and then run the engine until the carburettor runs dry?

I'm not really going to use it for a long time and I'm just a bit mindful that it might not do it any good if I leave it with fuel in the engine for a long time. Any ideas?

 

[mattfc]

the 2 stroke mix will destabilise (active ingredients of petrol or octanes with evaporate) if left, so from what I have read, most common method is to run it dry, and then spray with WD4-40 (carb, tank etc) to stop rust built up. With a bit of lateral thinking, you will find plenty of stuff on the web relating to 2-stroke winterize (e.g. outboard motors a typical example)

 

[Peter Hamilton-Scott]

the 2 stroke mix will destabilise (active ingredients of petrol or octanes with evaporate) if left, so from what I have read, most common method is to run it dry, and then spray with WD4-40 (carb, tank etc) to stop rust built up. With a bit of lateral thinking, you will find plenty of stuff on the web relating to 2-stroke winterize (e.g. outboard motors a typical example)

Easy when you know how! ;D

I'll research it further. Thanks.

 

[Oyvind]

This is roughly the NATO standard for conserving a 2-stroke engine:

• Run the engine on fast idle until it has reached full working temperature.
• With the engine still running, add engine oil through the carburetor until the engine begins to stall.  Stop the engine and let it cool down.
• Remove the sparkplug(s).  Pour engine oil into each cylinder while turning the engine with the starter
• Insert the sparkplug(s).  Change/clean the air filter.

Note:  The engine oil should preferably be a corrosion inhibiting oil that is specially formulated for protecting engines in long term storage.

 

[Peter Hamilton-Scott]

Oyvind,

Thanks for your update on this. I have "winterised" the cutter. I drained the fuel/oil mix from the tank and then ran the engine to clear the carburettor. I then sprayed a dash of WD40 in the engine and I cleaned the engine casing and removed all the powder from previous cutting jobs. My cutter will live in the loft. It will be colder up there but it will be dry and I've not had any damp problems with any of my other tools, which by necessity, are also stored in the loft.

BTW: Is english your first language? That is are you an ex-pat living in Norway?

 

[Oyvind]

...
BTW: Is english your first language? That is are you an ex-pat living in Norway?

Since I am a native Norwegian, I'll take that as a compliment    Haven't lived all my life here, though.  We lived in Libya for some years when I was a kid, where I attended an excellent American school and was fortunate enough to learn English the 'natural' way.

 

[Peter Hamilton-Scott]

That explains it. My wife and I are consistently amazed how well people in the Nordic region speak english. The last firm I worked at had an office in Stockholm which was seemingly populated by people only having names like Bjorn, Anders, Lars and what have you. When they came to the UK I thought to myself if only the UK population could generally speak as well as they do. I had the misfortune to have a cardiac problem while on vacation in Italy and a lab technician acted as a translator for my wife and I. He told us he learned his english from a book next to his microscope while waiting for blood samples to come into his lab!

Anyway, this probably has nothing to do with Festool. [laughing]