Ryobi EX26 won't start

Should have mentioned this has a 26cc Power Head
The instructions are:
Slowly press the prime bulb 10X
Set the choke to full choke, squeeze throttle trigger fully and pull the starter grip (cord) sharply until engine attempts to run. Do NOT pull starter more than 4X.
Set the choke to half and pull starter until engine runs. Do Not pull starter more than 6X.
If it doesn't start return to full choke and repeat steps.

I've done that until I'm blue in the face. Brand new plug gapped correctly. Remixed my gas to specs. Checked all lines and filter. Primer bulb fills but gas doesn't seem to be getting to the plug???
Not that that matters, I took and eye dropper and put a small squirt into the plug hole. Still won't start. Doesn't even try to fire. I have good spark, checked plug with tester.
So, I go to the troubleshooting page. Did everything there, nothing. I've about pulled my arm off.
It ran fine about 3 weeks ago. No gas sat in it because I ran the dumb thing dry and quit versus run home and mix a whole new batch of gas. It was 90 out and I was hot and tired and just wanted a cold beer.
So, anybody got any ideas? I've got about 1/4 acre of grass and weeds to trim.

 

Leave the choke off, hold the throttle fully open and pull on the rope about fifteen times or so. See if it will fire.

 

Well I pulled it over 20 times and nothing. I even tried it not squeezing the throttle.

 

Is that a newer trimmer or an older one? If the latter you may have scored the cylinder in the hot weather.

If the plug is firing a blue spark with it grounded against the head, try dumping all the gas out the tank, then with full choke, no throttle pull it over about ten times. That will take all the gas out of the carb and the fuel lines.

Then with the plug out and no choke full throttle, spin it again ten times. That will flush the gas out of the cylinder. Now prime it with your eyedropper. Stick the plug back in it then with no gas in tank, no choke, full throttle see if you can get it to fire.

If you can't, pull off the muffler and look at the inside of the cylinder and the piston to see if there is any scoring.

 

It was new last summer. I used to have an old 775R. I had that thing over 10 years and hardly a lick of trouble.

 

Ok I gave that a try. Before I got to the eyedropper part I noticed the prime bulb was still full?? I thought maybe the filter wasn't any good so I put another new one in. Still wouldn't start.
Are both of those lines supposed to have gas in them??

 

You may just have it flooded really bad. When you do a normal cold start procedure in hot weather when the engine has been running, you can flood it easily.

If the engine is still warm in hot weather, usually the primer isn't necessary and the choke should be used at half closed position for starting.

Did you get all the gas out of it to try starting just on the prime you put in the plug hole? That's dumping all the gas out of the tank, etc.

 

I dumped all the gas out, went through the steps you said, didn't start, but that's when I noticed I still had gas in the primer bulb. It got late so I thought I'd give it another try this morning.
To get the muffler off I have to pull the whole shroud. That requires a special screw driver (star end), I don't have one.
I'm about to say some really bad words :NO NO NO: and just go up to the local mower shop and either have them fix it, or just buy something commercial grade. (They already told me they don't work on junk equipment, and this Ryobi falls under that heading) Like I said the 775R I had ran like a bear, can't find one anyplace, nor can I find parts for mine. It had no compression so I was told to junk it. If it had no compression does that mean the cylinder was scored?

 

Usually. In a two stroke the scoring occurs on the piston/piston rings/cylinder all about the same time. A lot of heat without sufficient lubrication is the biggy on something like that.

That's why when you set a carburetor on a two stroke you set it for max rpms which is lean then back the rpms off with the mixture screw which makes the mix richer. That runs cooler and provides more oil for lubrication.

You can find a lot of two strokes scored in the summer. If you run a two stroke out of gas on a hot day, right before it dies, the mixture leans out to nothing and the engine is still spinning. That's not to say it happens all the time, but it all lines up in a bad way. It's better to keep a check on the gas in the tank.

 

When I pump the primer bulb, shouldn't I see gas in the carburetor? I have 2 of these power heads and neither of them have gas visible in the carburetor. ( I bought a new one last year because I didn't have the time to mess around trying to fix it.) That's after pumping in 7 or 8 times. Shouldn't there be gas running all over the place?? I have the carb disconnected from the machine and just hooked to the 2 lines running from the gas tank.

 

No the primer on what you have simply draws fuel through the carburetor and back to the tank. It doesn't drop that fuel into the cylinder. It more or less temporarily replaces the function of the diaphragm in the carburetor - that of pumping the fuel from the tank to the carb. It's pretty typical of an all position carburetor with a primer on it

Some engines with fixed position carburetors and no fuel pump have primers that drop the fuel into the intake throat. That's likely the type you're thinking of.

 

There is what appears to be burned on gunk on the piston. I didn't see any scoring in the cylinder, but you can't see that much of the cylinder either. The top of the piston (inside the spark plug hole) has some serious carbon build up.
I finally found my compression gage. It's got about 35 lbs of compression?? I don't know how much it's supposed to have though?? The other one I have has about 42 lbs of compression. That was with the muffler off though, does that make a difference?
I'm thinking this thing is fried. I've spent 2 days on it and I'm about ready to throw in the towel and call it dead.

 

You need over 100. Unless something on the intake side is completely blocked (unlikely), the cylinder and/or the piston rings are done. That's why it wouldn't start.

 

I put gas down the plug hole and left it over night. Sucker started right up this morning. Didn't recheck the compression though. It runs that's all I care.

Got stung this morning about 50 times in my left arm. Stuck the hay fork right smack dab in the middle of a yellow jacket nest. Didn't know it until I had half of it on the end of the fork, by then it was too late. Right now my elbow looks like a circus balloon and hurts like the dickens.

 

Something must be wrong with the compression check numbers. They wouldn't change and those things won't start on 35 # of compression. But that all doesn't matter if you got the sucker to run. It must have been flooded.

Trim up a storm, Home wrecker!!

Take care.

 

Thank you for all of the help!!! I appreciate the time you took.

 

So after this procedure, mine fired up instantly with no hesitation, but I died obviously with no fuel in tank. So I refilled tank, no choke, full throttle, plug in, gas in primer and tank and it never started