Hello again Gents,

Well, I was able to do some decent mowing this week with the Chuzuki, and can consequently report that the unit produces the most smoke when either accelerating from idle or when operating under load at WOT - in both cases when either warmed-up or still cold, with the volumes of smoke when cold perhaps being slightly more than the quantities produced when warmed up.

Or to put it conversely, the motor produces less smoke when either idling, or running at WOT without load - once again in both cases when either warmed up or still cold.

I gave it a brief run from cold without the muffler on, and it did indeed appear to produce substantially less smoke. The funny thing, though, is that I was able to blow through the muffler without any significant resistance when I had it off, to the degree that I just wouldn�t have thought that it could be presenting any type of flow impedance to the combustion process.

With further heed to the possible �restriction� theory, however, I thought it might also be worthwhile to swap the motor�s Air Filter Sponge over with one of the GA-brand sponges in my Suzukis. Unfortunately however, this didn�t yield any noticeable improvement.

So I�m basically still scratching my head about the problem�(?)

BUT, the whole issue may have now become incidental however, courtesy of the unit�s Starter mechanism now deciding to throw in the towel. The problem is due to the woefully bad plastic that the Cord Reel inside the Starter is made from, which is simply crumbling away under the load during starting that the little fold on the outer end of the Recoil Spring produces where it hooks onto the Cord Reel. I�ve tried cutting new notches into the Cord Reel onto which to hook the Recoil Spring, but they just break away in turn after a couple of starts. This is simply unacceptable on a motor that is probably less than 10 years old. I�ve literally seen better quality plastic used in the buckets for some brands of cheap ice cream than what this thing�s Cord Reel is made from.

The Starter itself is not actually cloned after the Suzuki version, but rather after the Honda/Chonda (I added Chonda, because I�m not sure whether the Chonda Starter is a true clone inside of a genuine Honda or not�). But even if the Chuzuki Starter was directly cloned after the Suzuki equivalent, I�m sure the plastic inside it would still be krappy, because the Chinese seem to take a real pride in making their generic items as krappy as possible. For instance, the rubber that the cap on the end of the Chuzuki�s Spark Plug Lead is made of is also starting to crack quite badly, even though the Spark Plug Leads on my Suzukis are still uncracked and going strong after 30 years or so.

The cracking Chuzuki Spark Plug Lead rubber sort-of reminds me of the PCV hose on my neighbour�s Gardenline Chonda, which I had to replace a few weeks ago for her in spite of the fact that the mower in question is only 4 years old. The same hose on a genuine Honda - even if it were made in China - would obviously last for much longer�

Anyhow, to wrap things up, I thought I�d post the following link especially for AussieTrev:

https://www.parklandspowerproducts.com.au/products/lawn-mowers/parklander-red-back-450e-1944

Of particular appropriateness to this thread and your posts Trev is not just the mower�s name, but the fact that it runs the exact same Chuzuki 1E58FL 2-stroke motor as what is being discussed here. However, for obvious reasons Trev, I strongly advise you to resist the urge to race out and buy one�

Best Wishes and Thanks to All,
Moby Mick.