[Obscured_by_Clouds]

Probably 30 years old; think I got it in the early to mid 90s.

It's on a chipper/shredder that's been sitting in the shed with fuel in it and hasn't been started in a couple of years. Pulled it out today just for kicks.

No surprise that the oil was dirty; changed that.

Dumped what old fuel was in the tank and added fresh.

Yanked the cord 10-15 times and sure enough, it sputtered and came alive. Ran strong for several minutes, shut it down and restarted it with no problem.

Considering that it had sat for so long with old fuel and I had had problems with rust in the tank before plugging things up (had to replace the tank a few years ago), I added some Seafoam to the fuel.

After a few minutes, it started spewing white smoke. Fogged up the yard quite a bit. Kept running strong though. It would smoke for a bit, then clear, then smoke again. Each time, it seemed like less smoke, until it started to run more clear for a while.

I'm guessing it was the Seafoam breaking down the gunk?

Now I'm wondering if I should run anything else like Mystery Oil in the fuel or oil.

 

[Ingersoll444]

Id just run it a bit, get some heat in it, change the oil agean and run it.

 

[Midwest Mower Pro]

Keep running seafoam through it. no need for any other additives. Keep running it to get it hot. Change the oil again too. Seafoam will make an engine smoke as it cleans it. Once it quits smoking it's been cleaned.

 

[Obscured_by_Clouds]

It ran good for a half hour or more while I was shredding some branches. It would bog down with some of the bigger stuff, but run back up properly.

Started blowing some oil smoke later which wasn't too surprising.

What about some of the oil additives like Restore that's used to help rings?

 

[mla2ofus]

Might be a good idea to remove the crankcase breather and check it if it has a hose going to the air filter.
Mike