Excellent garage sale find! In such good condition. The BR380 / BR400 were probably the most durable blowers ever made, IMHO. I've repaired hundreds of them. An awesome blower, but its biggest issue is they are so very easy to flood. Of all Stihl products, this is the most notorious for hard starting due to flooding. The main reason is users leaving the choke on or not setting the throttle. Most people don't realize you need to set the throttle, by moving the cruise control lever slightly. For a cold motor, two pulls on choke then choke off with throttle set. If it floods, pull the spark plug, close throttle, turn choke off, turn the blower upside down and pull the starter about ten times. Fuel will flow out the spark plug hole. Dry spark plug, reinstall. Restart with choke off, throttle set. B / Stihl tech

you set the standard for a professional teaching video. thank you

That is an older unit, yet it looks brand new! Great find.

I have a BR340, purchased new in 2003. A great Stihl blower! It'll flood easy so engage choke with no throttle, pull 3 times and you'll see it turn over and sputter. Disengage choke, minimal throttle and BOOM, she fires after second pull,...like clock work. Nice score!

I used your advice on my Stihl backpack blower (BR 340 - 2002 model??) to make it run better. I adjusted the fuel mixture to add fuel High and Low and now it runs great. The tip to remove the screw limiters is awesome. Before I did that I had replaced fuel filter, air filter, pre filter and spark plug. This machine has low hours since its a home unit. Still I use it for 15-20 minutes at least 40 times a year, the previous home lot had a huge number of old growth hardwood trees so it got more use there. The old air filter was from 2002!!! I didn’t think it was fully clogged but I replaced it anyway. Now maybe I can get another 20 years😂😂

I don’t ever have any of these products but it’s nice to know someone likes to fix things up and sell them and it’s interesting

Your video is excellent for a non-techy like myself. And a tip of the hat to Brian for his helpful hints. I’m going to check out my plug because I’m suspecting that’s why my Skil won’t fire up. Turns over. Fresh fuel. Not the screen. Plug or fuel/air mixture per your tutorial. Thanks to you and Brian for the instructions.

I learned something new today, that is awesome method, about the carb, I've been doing it wrong,those caps get on my nerves, thanks for that,

I had the same issue with my br 400 then after they starting making ethanol gas it took a few year's but it finally started running funny but now it's up running like it did when I bought back in December 1997 the reason.being I now live in a area where ethanol free gas is easier to get thanks for saving that br 380 young man

GREAT Video! Thank you for sharing! Video, Audio, and Content were GREAT without wasting time on needless chatter. It seems I flooded mine yesterday? When it wouldn't start, I replaced Plug, Fuel filter, lines, and both air filters. I even tried starting fluid spared direct into the carb. I was going to rebuild the carb today. After watching to the end, I decided to try a start this morning with no choke. 5 pulls and it started and now runs fine. You saved me a carb rebuild. THANK YOU! I know this blower is 20+ years and needs to be replaced, but it has always been so trustworthy and reliable.

great vid as always mate im quite good with all my stihl,echo tools but i still enjoy learning

In the past, I would treat my gas using a little seafoam, Stihl premium 2 cycle oil along with premium BP gas. I never had problems. In fact, I forgot to run the gas out before winter on a few of my power equipment. Never had issues running or starting in the spring. For the past year I use ethanol free fuel 2 cycle mix or purchase the can premium 2 cycle gas in the store. No issues. I even let a leaf blower with ethanol free 2 cycle mix. Again, no problems or issues. BTW, great find on the Stihl blower. Easiest fix.

I purchase ethanol free fuel for my small engines and add a little sea foam to each tank full. I try to use up the fuel in each tank when I can. I usually use up most of my gas during hurricane season.

I always get great info from these videos keep up the great work!

Thanks for the video. I have a Stihl BG55. Last time before winter, I run it bone dry. It is stored in my climate controlled basement until spring. Fuel older than 30 days is probably stale, in my opinion.

thanks for your clear and methodical approach to solving this problem. I was about to load blower and take to shop. Glad I found your site! Saved me lots of money and time. New sub.

That was a good find!! Looks brand new!!

Thx this video really helped in diagnosing my problem which turned out to be the carb dumping too much fuel in the chamber 💪💪

I'm with you in that I leave the Tru-fuel in all the time and the non-booze gas stays fresh in the mowers so no problem. I think the ones we got were 400's and were life savers. No more hand picking sticky bushes. Thanks and Blessings!

thanks for tip..i've put new fuel,pull start 8 times until it spews white smoke and walla..good as new

I have the 340 model by Stihl and have issues with starting. Thanks for the video sand thanks to the responders. I think I can get it running armed with this data.

That backpack blower is in great shape for its age.

My leaf blower did have a problem of bogging down, it was the spark arrestor. It was also easy to fix when I new how to clean it. 👍😁

Good blower I would take 15 of them for my business

I love these old boxy shape machines I wish they still made them like this

Good video. You gave me and idea regarding the carb on my blower

They our a very good leaf blower always wanted one but could never afford one tho I used about 15 of them great blowing power

I use by Stihl BG86 during winter, Nebraska. Great on snow.

I use my blower / weedeater / hedge trimmer usually just in my peck season but I use 91 octane with fuel stabilizer and sea foam additives ( that's non-ethanol gas ) all year long . Other than replacing the primer bulb , no problem in 20 years . I also use the same 91 octane in my John Deere rider and Honda push mower . My Honda push mower is a 2003 model and my rider is 11 years old . I'm a strong believer in non-ethanol gas and fuel stabilizer and sea foam in all my power equipment .

I usually run it empty because I don't use it much off season. I put true fuel mix when I do it. Now that I'm older I started using it for light snow removal last year, be seventy in three month's. That went well and the blower seems to run better this spring. Any way good video, thanks.

I use fuel stabilizer I have a stihl br400 made in the 90's and back then all of stihl's 2 cycle enghines didn't have a primer bulb mine has been finiky since new you have to be careful starting it it floods very easily my dad is using it now but it still runs greatnas long as you don't flood it trying to start it.

Its expensive. I started using engineered fuel. (TRUFUEL). no issues the following year. Starts right up. Keeps carberator clean. and thanks for all the info and great videos. Take care

Great video. I've been watching some of your videos recently and have really been enjoying them. For Christmas I got a stihl br800 still no problems. And just recently had to clean out the carb on my echo weed eater witch was having problems running. Got it fixed 👍. Keep up the good work.

I always stabilize all fuel that I put into any containers, and never have any problems..., yet! I did have one issue of my blower wanting to "bog down" after running fine for a few minutes. Checked the spark arrestor screen (it was clean), air filter (clean), It turned out to be moisture blocking the super fine fuel filter screen.

Found a brand new br800x with similar problem. Going to buy it and see if I can fix it! Thanks

I'm in Canada, and I leave the fuel untreated all year, that said i use premium 0 ethanol fuel in all my equipment. Never an issue, but 90% of repairs I make at the start of every season for friends are fuel related, they are so cheap to use good fuel...

That’s an amazing garage sale find congrats

Nice one, keep it simple. Like your style.

Thank you for the information

Great video!

like you i use my stuff enough there is only a couple of months of risk, i like to run non ethanol gas in everything that is not a car or truck, worth the extra price in my experience, about to tune one up for my buddy just like this one, thanks for sharing

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

He just earned a subscribe button love the info

I am the same. I use my blower year round, so it rarely sits more than a few days.

I got the BR420 and I have same problem so thank you I will let you know if it works for me

I use fuel stabilizer called Sta-Bil and it keeps fuel fresh for up to 2 years as well as cleans the carburetor and everything else as well. I also use marvel mystery oil in all my fuel cans for all my engines and it keeps everything to run a little cooler as well

nice work

The best back pack blower Sthil made, good work 👍👍👍👍

I leave a full tank on all of my equipment and run it every couple of weeks so it will take a longer time for the fuel to go stale

I'd like to see more videos where the machine has problems other than the carburetor. I seem to run into problems where the carb is good , i got spark and compression and I still can't get it to work.

I don't own a leaf blower but I fixed a neighbours McCullough leaf blower & it's starting problem was caused by a sheared flywheel key !

Thank you

It turned on thanks bro

Can you post the info about that compression tester, I'd like to get me one of them. There is a cheap kit at HF tools but Not sure if it's worth it. I need one for small engines only.

I stabilize the gas in my blowers when I put them away for the winter! And come spring time they far right up no trouble!

i use fuel stabiliser in my fuel in my motors that run on a 50:1 40:1 and 25:1 and a 30:1 ratio and the one that runs on a 30:1 is my backpack leaf blower as it has a big engine on it but yeah worth the usage etc

First question I ask to people when their stuff doesn’t work properly or doesn’t start. Do you run ethanol free fuel? No, carb rebuild, new fuel lines, fuel filter and a complete flush thrue the systemz

How well does fuel stabilizer work in Michigan, about 5-6 months not running the equipment. I use it summer and winter for seasonal equipment.

That was a great find

My used br420 like that one doesn't have the sprak arrestor screen and i don't really know which one to buy for it i found one replacement for it but how is it gonna stay in place unless it snaps in the muffler hole Im thinking about just buy the one that screws into the muffler hole and make it work on the old br420 well ones gonna be better than none

I have a br600 backpack blower with a cracked PVC elbow in the blower tube. Got it removed, have a new part but now cannot per the hard PVC elbow into the flexible blower tubing... any tips or tricks? Thanks!

At work at our town hall we have a 2002 br420 in service since then, very reliable, it's probably got maybe not even 60 psi of compression but it still has at least 60 70%of its blowing power probably, that blower has. Surely over 1 thousands hours I treat it properly when using it (like warming it up for a min at idle then starting slow and not full throttle until it's been going for a couple of mins ecc) But im probably the only one to have treated it that well so yeah it's a survivor and a good one I also fine tuned it and gave the max speed just a tiny bit richier to make it last longer since the engine is very worn out (doesn't fight back much) Also it gets basically used all year round, it's not very powerful from new and being worn out doesn't help but it's very light and still holds its own, we also have the biggest echo blower and it's quite the difference in power haha

I hadn't used my echo in a year and a half, and I only probably used it once in the year before that. Given its limited use, I decided to first just replace the spark plug. It started one time, then it stopped. I noticed the fuel line had come loose just near the primer bulb, and the primer bulb had cracked, so I replaced it. It wouldn't start. I didn't really need it. I had just tried to start it to keep it from just sitting there too long without being started. A couple days ago, I tried to start it, and it did the same thing. It started, ran for a few seconds, then wouldn't start again. I hadn't thought about adjusting the Carb. I was actually thinking about replacing it. I've had this one for at least 10 years.

All my 2stroke tools have fuel in them always but if I know they are not going to be used for a long period of time I put some kind of premix fuel in it like TrueFuel or Motomix and run it for a few minutes and I have never had an issue ever.

I have. Stihl be 400 it starts but after first use its hard to start. I replace the coil and it worked fine for a week but now it's back not cranking

I leave fuel in with stabilizer Right now I'm preparing for spring Chainsaws hedge cutter weed Wacker all started ....... But not my BR400 BLOWER carb was clean, spark is fine. Changed fuel pump diaphragm NO START not even a cough. Just aggravated now Ran great last November will change fuel and noticed when removing gas tank cap it sucked air?

Hopefully you were the one who bought it at the garage sale! If it’s yours, you have a fantastic blower!

I kept my stihl blower br400 last year empty and in good shape and then I try using last week and it doesn't work what do think it happens please let me know. Thanks

Good video. Thanks. I run ethanol free fuel. So, no chance of polymerization of the fuel in the tank.

Great video very helpful thank you one question what does a wet air filter mean motor flooded? Mine was wet removed attempted to start without filter as I didn’t hav a replacement it started now I just need to get new filters thanks again for your helpful video.

Thanks for actkn,,my input, mix gas has lubes,can cause hard starts, don't over mixed, engine runs good when not smoking, that's the trick,, use only stihl mixture, for reliability, Guyanese ,rice Farmer,,

great video on the exact blower I have .....MY problem is the blower is bogging down after running wide open for about 10 min and then it struggles along full throttle for 10 seconds , then bogs down, then wide open for 10 sec and then bogs again..... I cleaned the actuator , checked the air filter, and the fuel was fresh with stabilizer in it... I always run 100% gas............Sooooo, what's STILL causing the bogging down? Thanks for any help you can give....

It looks brand new

How do you clean screen in carb?

the cannon from STIHL is short ... and you extended it by 20cm ... Great! the problem with these automizers is that they can’t spray tall trees enough

if use my leaf blowers i use them at the correct ratio and and with a fuel stabilizer in mine and hardly any problems with me

I’ve watched a lot of videos and this is an awesome one you went at it a whole other way and exposed some info thank you very much very helpful my blower on the other hand is a hasqvarna And my problem is it will start run on choke but when I throw it in idle it turns off It’s about four years old I don’t use it very much just during leave season and during the summer I blow the deck of the pool if you get a chance and have some advice let me know in a reply

I leave fuel in it but empty it first after a long lay off

I use mine year round to but I also run stihl moto mix.

Tip, always empty fuel, restart and dry out carburetor, their is a small flap in carburetor that pump gas ,if it stuck ,game over,good luck,

Really interesting an concise video. So, my decade-old Echo handheld PB250LN now won't start (let alone run), even with a dozen pulls. Tried injecting fuel or starting fluid directly into spark plug hole but still no kick. Compression @ 120 psi, healthy spark with new plug, (stop switch works), clean spark arrestor screen, new carb, flywheel and key ok, fresh hi-octane mix, new lines and filters. What else is there to look at ?? ..about ready to beat it with a sledge hammer!

I have a Remington weed wacker every time I rev up the engine blue smoke comes out every time I use it what is the problem

My question is why the unit needed to be adjusted past the limiter. More air than fuel. Are the fuel lines gunked up?

I do both .

Always use fresh fuel and K 100 fuel stabilizer (non ethanol) you will never have any problems make sure you use all your fuel in 30 days or use canned fuel like Stihl sells or echo 👍

My still motor blower wouldn't start.I replace new spark plug, service carburetor. What is the problem?

I got an older ECHO blower (PB 200 2005 or 2006 era) working but I noticed it was smoking for awhile after I got it running. Is that normal if it’s been sitting for years? It did stop after about 3-5 mins though.

This has to be one of the best videos on the subject. And a great find. I have this same blower and just keep filling the tank. It always starts on the third or forth pull. My problem is once I turn it off I can't get it to start again. With your video I'll give it the once over, maybe a little rich? What do you think?

I always end up with people's broken yard tools that always need a little work done on them. Anyhow that yardman 12av829c755 i have is working fine other than the gas leak out of the bad primer bulb it works like new it still needs front plates on each side of the wheels so the whole axle doesn't fall off the frame its still rolls ok how it is but I'll get to fixing it soon once parts come in for now though im going to finish checking the old br420 stihl backpack blower

Anytime you have smoke coming like that whether it clears up or not it's a sign of too much fuel and not enough air to ensure a proper mix ratio.

Whr can buying the tester for plug friend

Mine stop great until it warms up then it will rev up then bog down. Any ideas??

Cool to see all that was wrong was the petrol thaught she was trouble at the start when you took out the compression tester but thankfully she had good compression I'd say that yoke will blow leafs for another 20 years good vid by the way

What type of fuel you put in it

It is funny how a old blower looks brand new even the starter rope

Ok I picked up a stihl BR340. Started and ran even with bad gass. Replaced with fresh gas and cleaned carb. No start and hasn't started sense other then a weak start on starting fluid. Blew out gas filter. Clean air filter. Went to carb and cleaned again. Diaphragm is ok could be changed. Muffler is clear. Has spark. Checked head and clean piston and cylinder. Put back together and still wont start. IDK what else to do.

My Stihl BR380 doesn't have a lot of hours on it but here lately after running it for 20-30 minutes it starts to bog down (loses RPMs). I let off the throttle and it idles find. I throttle it back up to high RPMs, then after a few seconds it starts to lose RPMs again. New plug, air filter and gas filter are clean, spark arrestor clean. I only use nonethanol gasoline and Bel-Ray synthetic oil with a 50-1 ratio. Any thoughts? It really has me baffled. Only happens after I've been using it for 20-30 minutes (as stated earlier). Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

I might be getting a STIHL BR400 but it might need a new ignition coil because the guy says when it gets hot some times. It won’t start again until he lets it cool off.

should the engine runs very hot after a short use?

I have a stihl blower that will start but only run for 15 minutes than cut off . so what can i do to fix it ?