I have a Craftsman 200 mph leaf blower. Model #358.797180
I can start the blower, but it won't stay running unless I have the choke half closed. I have removed the carb and cleaned the needle valve and I have tried to run it without the fuel filter and it still does the same thing. I would like to try and adjust the carburetor, but I cannot turn the screws. There is hardly enough room to get a needle nose pliers to turn the screws, and I can't turn the screws with a tweezers, it is just to tight. There is no slot for a screwdriver, the screw is just knurled. Is there a special tool I need to turn the adjusting screws?

 

There should be a inlet screen in the carb, try cleaning that, otherwise a carb rebuild should be in order. As for the adjustment screws, I do beleive there has to be a special tool for those if I remember correctly, sears have em, but they are not for sale, but one tech may sell one to you.

 

I was afraid I was going to need a special tool. I had the carb apart, but I didn't see a screen, maybe I have to tear it apart a little more. Thanks for your help!!!

 

Welcome to the wow's of the "California Approved" carburetor! Be glad you have this problem now and are dealing with it. I have 4 of your type Craftsman blowers in the shop along with a couple Poulan 205 MPH blowers (all about the same) and all of them have suffered catastrophic failure due to the carburetor "leaning out" over time. Less and less gas, higher and higher RPM's, less and less oil; a deadly combination. Because you cannot adjust the carb you loose the head and/or the piston. FIRST: Is the unit under warranty? If so use it!!! THEN: I almost always find that the filter screen inside the carb is partially blocked, sometimes even looking at it, you can't tell. As V8driver said, "check the screen carefully" but to know for sure that's the problem, remove the screen, use carb cleaner and a "LITE" stream of compressed air to dislodge what is almost certainly a microscopic particle and see if that cures the problem. If so obviously replace the screen. ALSO: Remove the muffler (No matter how new it looks) pour a good bit of charcoal lighter into it and set it ablaze. A dab of gas may be required to get it to ignite? This will absolutely remove any doubt about the muffler causing a restriction. If these two things don't solve the problem and you don't have that "Tool" the only other thing to do is put a rebuild kit into it. That will probably be a waste of money but these 2-cycles are awfully picky sometimes and it may take that? These are the steps I'd try in light of your statement that you are sure the fuel flow is not restricted in any way! FUEL MIXTURE: ADD OIL to the gas! White smoke is better than a dead "Head"! If none of these suggestions work then I would fear that your loosing compression and are near a catastrophic failure?? Everybody has one and this is my opinion. I hope it helps a little. Good Luck, Ron

 

I'd skip the torching of the muffler, we can't condone that here...it's just not too safe. If you suspect the muffler is plugged, they are relatively inexpensive to replace.

 

Thanks for all the advice!! It turns out that the best advice was to see if it was still under warranty, I still had 3 weeks left on a 2 year warranty, I thought I had it longer than that. I brought the blower to Sears and it shouldn't cost me more than $10.00 to have it repaired. I should get it back in 2 weeks. If they tell me what repairs they did to it, I will let you know.
Thanks to all

 

I found that a short section of 1/4" OD (0.156ID x 0.245OD) drip line hose for sprinklers worked really well. Its ID is small enough that it applies enough pressure to the knurls to spin the screws and it's OD is small enough to enter the housing around the screws. I made a small mark on the screw so I could verify it had been turned, and I just used a tube by itself. It twisted a little while making the adjustments, but did the job. If more torque is required, a short section of tube forced over the end of a screwdriver would work well.