"Would it be worth draining down the fuel and then running some sort of flushing through it. I am not mechanically minded so don't know whether that is feasible or not." I'd drain out the old fuel. IF your carb has the bowl drain nut, open that too so everything drains. Put in about 0.2-0.3 liter of fresh fuel. Add a STRONG amount of carb cleaner to the fuel. About 10x the recommended amount for "normal" use. Run the engine to use up the fuel. Hopefully it'll start to "improve" in a short time. When the engine is running well, top off the fuel tank and run a few minutes to dilute the strong carb cleaning solution from the fuel lines etc. Also make sure the fuel shot off valve id FULLY open.

Hi, Black Max power equipment is engineered, warrantied, and sold by; HART CONSUMER PRODUCTS, INC. P.O. Box 1348 Anderson, SC 29622, USA 1-800-726-5760 Blackmaxtools.com I believe one poster may have misread the manufacturers' tag as HOP (Husqvarna) rather than H.C.P. RANT; I see several mentions of the Honda GCV engines as "excellent. good" when I can assure you they are not nearly the quality of a Briggs EXI or platinum nor the Kohler XT series engines. I see it in the shop day in and day out; Bent crankshafts from striking objects as the crank is just cold rolled steel and a small 5/8" diameter shaft VS. the forged 3/4" crank used on the Briggs. Constant carburation issues causing surging that in many cases cannot be corrected except by putting a 190cc carburetor on the 160cc., Plastic overhead camshaft operated with very thin but strong nylon toothed "belt", Recoil starters fail far more frequently than Briggs, Kohler's, and even Lifan's. Just a short three or four weeks ago a gentleman brought in a $600 plus dollar Honda plastic-bodied twin-bladed walk behind purchased in six weeks prior with which he struck a piece of wood and sure enough...bent crank and very nasty vibration. I simply ordered a replacement engine from SmallEngineWarhouse and swapped it out for roughly $300. END RANT; That said, I have had several black max machines in for service and they seemed to be well constructed. Their walk behind mowers resembles many manufacturers depending on the model, such as Husqvarna, Honda plastic bodies, and basic Murray push mowers. I have not seen any broken or worn wheels so I cannot judge that and these machines are fairly new on the market and I have not had very many come through the shop. Maybe ten walk-behinds and one Leaf Blower, which looked a lot like a Poulan Pro unit. Regarding their brand name, I believe they are playing off the Red Max name which is good quality throughout their line. I do not believe they have a dealer network, they are sold mainly through Walmart. Here are a couple of links for more information. I notice that most, if not all of the walk-behinds now have Briggs engines. I cannot find any information regarding the manufacturer of the actual Generator nor the invertor used, which is the most important part of the units so they produce good, clean electricity and the bearings and windings are high quality. For example, Briggs & Stratton Brand name gensets use a General electric generator and inverter, Generac manufactures their own generator and invertors, all the "box store" no-name brands use no-name Chinese generators and inverters...not that automatically makes them bad. One thing to look for is the difference between rated watts and peak watts. The bigger the headroom, the better the genset, generally. Mower line up Full Product Line up...no more ride on machines? Their Higher-end walk behind (looks a lot like Honda influence here) This product has a Three-year Limited Warranty for personal, family, or household use (30 days for business or commercial use). For warranty details, visit www.blackmaxtools.com or call (toll-free) 1-800-726-5760. BY PHONE: Monday – Friday, 9 am – 6 pm (EST) 1.800.726.5760 BY MAIL: BLACKMAX Tools P.O. Box 1207 Anderson, SC 29621

I want to share my story. I know this is an old thread, but it is a good one with a lot of helpful tips. After today, I have more to add. After reading all of this, I was itching to pull out my very hard to start backpack blower and try some things I read. I bought my pb602 used from a guy for $150 about 2 1/2 years ago. He was some kind of small contractor that was downsizing and just didn't need it anymore. Pretty sure he bought it used from somebody else. He said it was always hard to start, especially cold. Don't think he ever used it much because of that. When he showed it to me, it must have taken him almost 10 minutes and 30+ pulls to get it started. Every once in awhile it would pop, but not start. Once it did start, it ran like a champ. It was worn and used, but not abused or in horrible shape so I gave him his money and just figured it was old gas or some easy fix. Got it home and only used a couple of times that first year just because I didn't have much of need for it AND it was hard to start. Got it out last spring, couldn't get it to start, even with mostly fresh gas. I mix Stabil in with my 2-cycle gas cans, just because sometimes it sits around without being used for months. Had to replace the primer bulb then, too. Fooled with it a couple of times, got lucky and got it started a few times. Only really used it once or twice because it was so hard to get started. It would flood in no time. I would pull the spark plug and see it was soaking wet with gas. Sometimes gas would even start dripping out the muffler. So I would pull the starter rope a few times with the plug out, choke off, to help dry it out. There were a few times that I never could get it to start at all and just put it away in disgust. I am actually a pretty good mechanic and have worked on all kinds of equipment. A few years ago I was even the full time maintenance mechanic for a landscape/mowing company. Anyways, this blower was really starting to get the better of me. I was figuring I would have to tear it apart this spring and do all kinds of work to it or just sell it to someone and be done with it. I downloaded a copy of the Echo manual for my blower right before I found this article, just so I could read the proper cold start instructions. Anyways, after reading both the manual and this article, I got out the blower to see what I could do with it. It was getting late and I really didn't have much more than 10 minutes to fool with it. Here is where it gets interesting. I haven't done anything with it in 4-5 months. Checked the gas, had a little bit left in it from last summer, enough to try it. I didn't really have time to drain it and refill it with "fresh" gas. TRIED to push the primer bulb, but it was pretty chilly today- maybe 45- 50°. That aftermarket (Arnold) primer bulb I put on last year just would not move. It is difficult to reach in the first place and is very hard to squeeze even in warm weather. I picked up the blower and saw there was gas in the primer bulb, so I thought what the heck, just skip trying to prime it. I opened the throttle about 3/4 of the way to full throttle. I know from having had it run before, that position pretty much wide open. Which, IS NOT, what the manual says to do. The manual says open the throttle to the start/idle position, which is about the lowest throttle setting. Anyways, closed the choke. Gave it two weak pulls to build up some compression. Third pull was a good yank. It started right up. It has never started that easily. I moved the throttle down a little and let it run a while. Gradually started to open the choke as it warmed up, but I did it too fast and it shut off. So, I closed the choke again and opened the throttle back to 3/4. Gave it one firm pull and it started right up! It has never done that either. I let it warm up 2-3 minutes then shut it off. Tomorrow I am going to fill the tank and see if this new trick works again. Maybe actually do some clean up with it. What I learned about cold starting mine (but I could be wrong). Most of this is almost the opposite of the manual: 1) Don't use the primer bulb unless necessary. Only if you run it out of gas or otherwise know there is no gas in the carburetor. Using the primer bulb unnecessarily MAY contribute to flooding. If you see gas in the bulb, that probably is good enough. As long as there is gas in the carburetor, that should be enough. 2) Open the throttle to a wide open position, NOT idle/start, as the manual says. The more air flowing though the machine, the better. Less likely to flood. 3) Give it one or two weak pulls before really trying to start it. Helps to fill the combustion chamber with enough fuel vapor and build up compression. Besides not using the primer bulb at all, the two things I did different was to open up the throttle wide and give it two weak pulls before really trying to start it. Hopefully I won't have to deal with it flooding anymore

Neuton one year later. I think this says it all: To: Neuton Technical Support Date: March 24, 2010 Subject: battery price I bought a Neuton 6.2 last spring and wasn't too happy with the battery performance as the season progressed. I spoke to my dealer a couple of times about it and they offered to test and replace the battery if necessary but I never was able to get back there. This year I planned to check out the battery in the spring and I was contemplating purchasing a backup battery. However, I see this year the price has gone up $30 for a new (allegedly improved) battery. Will you honor last year's battery price as a courtesy? The dealer would not. Otherwise, I am considering returning the mower to the dealer within my extended risk-free period. Wendy ====================================== Dear Customer, Thank you for contacting us. Were sorry that you are experiencing difficulties with your NEUTON Battery. We have placed an order for a replacement Battery to be sent out to you under warranty. You should receive it shortly. Charge the new battery for 24 hrs when you receive it and please follow these updated charging instructions. If you are going to use two batteries, they should be alternated and charged for 24 hrs after every use regardless of how diminished they are but they should never be completely depleted. They should also not be left charging continuously because doing so may reduce their lifespan. However, the batteries should not be neglected for months at a time during the winter because they will slowly discharge if not used and may lose their charge capacity if left unattended for long periods. We recommend charging them periodically during the off-season, every other month or so. Be advised that we expect the battery to last 3 to 5 years but it is considered a wearable item and the warranty is only for one year. ==================================== <... periphery conversation deleted...> ====================== To: Neuton Tech support: Date: April 22, 2010 I got my blade sharpened and attempted my first mowing of my 2nd season with my 2009 battery. A-W-F-U-L. It had barely any juice and is virtually useless. I followed all the winter charging instructions. It was indoors from October and charged fully once a month. The grass is still thin and not very long and the mower huffed and puffed to fill maybe a quarter of a bag. When it hit a single tall thick patch of grass, it gave out. Although you earlier kindly sent me a replacement battery for a somewhat-sluggish-but-still-functional battery (I thought), I had planned on rotating between the two batteries this year. That will not be possible. So I reiterate my original request: I would like to purchase a 2nd battery honoring last years price - $99 - which my dealer was not inclined to do. 2nd problem: the battery gauge is broken. Even using the fresh battery, it sometimes flickers to yellow momentarily (if I toggle between auxiliary/off/on), but it basically stays motionless in red. Is this easily fixed/replaced? What is the warranty period for that? -Wendy