Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

[jbjennings]

I despise the @#$@$ fuel lines on these danged weedeaters. THey make these things knowing that the crappy fuel lines going into the tank are going to rot (apparently even if you keep them out of the sun in a garage) and most people are going to just buy a new one.
I'm thinking of putting decent fuel lines on it if I can figure out what kind of through connector to put on the plastic tank. I figure someone else has already solved this problem so I thought I'd ask what you guys think as far as a permanent solution. The rest of the blasted thing such as the motor seems to last a reasonable amount of time.
Any ideas?
JBJ

 

[MrBigStuff]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

Whooboy, does that strike a nerve with me! I had a weedeater for 5 years or so, never ran quite right but I suffered through it. One day, it wouldn't start and I found the gas line had deteriorated inside the tank. The clunk was just rolling around in there with a short length of hose left on it. What a cheap @ss set up. The hose is just fished through a small hole in the plastic gas tank.

My first though was to replace it with a bulkhead connector. But how do you attach the clunk end to the fitting? On that unit, there was no way you could get at it to fit the hose on there.

I didn't have the OEM sized hose but I have a lot of RC gas line that seemed like it would work, just a hair larger OD than the OEM line. So I drilled the tank hole slightly oversize and worked up quite a sweat fishing line through the tank and out the fill hole so I could attach the clunk. Then retract the line enough to get the right length inside the tank.

Here's where the real fun began. Try to figure out the correct length so the clunk sits inside the right spot in the tank. It's not just a square area, there are various cavities in there as necessary to make the tank fit the engine etc.

Then, the fuel line kept twisting as the clunk moved about and was screwing up the clunk position. It would die of fuel starvation unless it was 3/4 full or more. I finally roughed up the plastic tank and used some JB Weld to epoxy the line to the tank and it ran like that for another 5 years before I got antsy for a 4 stroke unit.

BTW- the thing never quite ran right from the day it was new. Upon disassembly for this issue, I found the carb gasket was installed wrong (missed bolt hole entirely) and was restricting the intake and leaking. Ran great after fixing both issues...

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

Get the proper size hose all your local saw and or power equipment dealers will have it, its Tygon.
Cut the hose sideways to make it skinnier and feed it into the tank then grab the hose with a needlenose, trim it, slap the fuel filter on there and away ya go.
Really simple actually.

 

[jimr]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

I replaced mine a couple of years ago. It never ran correctly either from day one because they had the filter on the wrong line go figure I change it over and it works excellent.

 

[bkwapisz]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

I had same issue 2 yrs ago. I googled it and ended up somewhere and got the new replacement for around $10. Wish I could remember where. The new one is green and seems to be made from something different. I'll look around and see if I have any documentation from it somewhere. Either way, I feel your pain.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

Thanks for the responses, fellers.
I'll go see if the saw shop in Shreveport has some line the same size that's of higher quality. Seems like I've got some before, but had other issues attaching it. Those factory fuel lines are the worst crap I've seen, bar none. Definitely a planned thing as far as it not lasting, I would think. Kind of like walmart's disappearing ink on their receipts-----but that's another story!
Later,
JBJ

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: Poulan weedeater...fuel line fix????

That disappearing ink is a godsend! Get the IRS to audit you and give them a shoebox full of blank paper..... How was I supposed to know the ink evaporates. Gosh! I had reciepts for the pharmacy, the kitchen remodel, the new roof, all the windows etc in there.... had to be 40K of them in there...