Received the new starter assembly today and had the blower going in just a few minutes. It is not a very well-designed part and I think it could jam again if I over-extend the starter cord by yanking it. if that happens all I have to do is tap the spool to free it without taking it apart. The blower seems to have a narrow window of starting condition and if you don't follow that exactly and flood it, you may as well forget using it that day. It is one of those tools that makes one wish it were electric.

I found that my starting problems with this blower, which caused the cranking problems, was 'user error'. I discovered yesterday that for the past year I had the Lo and Hi mixture needles confused so the mixtures were way off. This caused flooding and hard starting that got me mad and made me really yank the starter. The needles, which are unmarked, have the Lo on the left and the Hi on the right. For some reason I thought it was the other way 'round. Amazing difference when you get them set properly. How I discovered this was I simply got it running and put it down so I could work the throttle while adjusting the needle valves. Then while idling, I turned first one screw then the other until I found which one controlled the idle. Then, of course, the other one was the Hi-speed valve.

Some time back I had bought a set of all the various needle valve tools, and while these can certainly get you into trouble, they can also get you out of it as long as you have some idea of what you're doing, such as being careful not to forcefully close a needle valve, not unscrew it all the way with the engine running and to make small adjustments, 1/4 turn. Traditionally, a good starting point is 2 1/2 turns out in case you really lose your way.

Sunday the 15th was a cool morning, about 50, and it had been cool and wet on Saturday. I had reason to blow off my driveway that morning before 10 AM and I really thought that I might have to use my back-up blower, an attachment for my trimmer. So I got the Husky blower out of the shed, did the starting procedure out of the manual and it started right up. I finished the job with no problems. Getting those needle valves right really did the trick for that Husky. The Ryobi string trimmer doesn't have accessible needle valves but its a later model with many improvements like full crankshaft support and a better carburetor. My use of Startron in every piston engine keeps all the OPE and my vehicles running sweet. I thought perhaps that system was breaking down when I was having trouble with the Husky but fortunately the problem was me, not E10 fuel.