OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary 2 stroke turn tap on or off to stop?

Picked up some manuals and brochures just recently and found this interesting article.

Which made me wonder as when I'm turning my 2 strokes off and packing them away I always turn the fuel tap off.As to stop the fuel from sitting in the fuel bowl.Now I guess for the collection mowers this is properly a good idea as most only run once a year.So not only is the carby empty but I also drain the tanks as well.
Now during the mower season up here in Brisbane it can get quite warm (Or hot) so fuel even in a fuel container evaporates,so I keep my fuel in a working fridge.So in the carby of a mower no change from stopping that.
Now I know it talks about lubrication,but I from time to time have pulled these motors (that I have stopped via the tap)apart to fix something,and I have always found oil in the engine where there should be oil.
It just confuses me now as whether I'm doing the right thing or not.
Am I doing the wrong thing?
Am I now storing these engines incorrectly?
Any suggestions would be great.
What do you all do?

Have always turned the fuel off on my two stroke Scorpion Generator because it wont start the next time I want to use it if I don't. It has done many many hours of running over the past years on camping trips and the fuel turned off to stop it hundreds of times (each night) but it's not worn out yet!!!!!!!!

mine if its not being used is always run dry , 2t just before they do stop i shut down , 4t's run dry and stored unless for sale then they get started once a week anyway but not left with much fuel in ever .
ones i have run dry and pulled down for some reason ... same as you found , theres always oil where it should be .
this has been dicussed a few years ago i think , its one of those . each to their own things , always an argument . personally i just prefer to store dry

I live near the beach and have experience with rust, how do i mothball these mowers i have made. pour oil in the plug hole rotate by hand and leave???

OK cool it seems the general consensuses is to turn the tap off.
I wonder why Victa said not to?
If that was (or is the case) then why did they put taps on?
Why not just have them like the 4 strokes?
Sorry if it was disgusted years ago but I must have missed it and now I'm curious.

The reason to store them with dry carburetors - both 2 and 4 stroke, but especially 2 strokes - is because if you don't, crud forms in the carburetor during storage. In the case of gravity feed 2 strokes, there is a good chance fuel will evaporate from the main jet area, leaving the oil behind, so the jet is more or less blocked by oil when you next try to start them. Of course if there is ethanol in your fuel, it will absorb water, turn yellow, and be unsuitable for further use. On top of those factors with diaphragm carburetors, even good fuel (no ethanol or ether) gradually attacks the diaphragms which brings forward the time when you'll have to clean them out and put kits in them.

In the case of suction carburetor engines such as the small Briggs ones, there is no fuel tap, no continuous feed of fuel into the carburetor when the engine is not running, and no oil in the fuel. The only adverse effects of not draining the tank and running them dry is that gum may form in the carburetor, plus in the case of Pulsa-Jets or Pulsa-Primes the fuel pump diaphragm will continue to age when you aren't using them. With Australian fuel (no ether), and as long as you avoid ethanol-containing fuels, in my view it is a lot easier to replace the diaphragm every ten to twenty years than to tip the mower upside down to drain the fuel after each time I mow, so I just switch them off, trundle them into the shed, and don't give them another thought until next time I mow. With Honda mowers I turn off the fuel and shut them down with full carburetors because the float bowl holds so much fuel, and they use it so slowly, that it otherwise takes forever to shut them down, and it doesn't seem worthwhile to run them dry. Bear in mind that those Honda carburetors do not have diaphragms, all that happens if you leave fuel in them is that you have to remove the main jet and emulsifier every few years to clean the gum out.

One thing I do not do, is run 4 stroke carburetors dry with the engine under load. Lean mixture with the throttle open causes high combustion chamber temperatures, which means high exhaust valve temperatures. I'm also careful to keep the throttle nearly closed when running a chainsaw carburetor dry - chainsaw engines lead a pretty marginal existence at the best of times, without adding lean mixture at high speed to their troubles.

awesome grumpy thanks I was hoping you'd add to this.That is some great information.I guess with the four strokes I have that do have taps I don't run them dry.I just switch them off.Most of those are in my collection so I do drain there tanks though.

With gravity feed 4 strokes that I only use rarely (in particular my chonda-powered pressure washer, and my spare Honda engine that will fit either of my mowers) I drain the fuel tank by removing the drain plug from the float bowl, with a cup under the drain. I put the fuel back into stock, then reinstall the drain plug before putting the pump or engine into storage. That way I store them with a dry fuel system, and don't waste fuel in the process. That only works with carburetors that have a float bowl drain, of course.