Almost New 2 Stroke Stihl BR450C Leaf Blower Won't Start!

Almost New 2 Stroke Stihl BR450C Leaf Blower Won't Start!
Recently an almost new 2 stroke Stihl BR450C leaf blower showed up at the shop with a "no start" problem.
Watch along as I diagnose this machine and show you why it won't start!

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Easy to follow and thorough step by step tutorials do it yourself (DIY) videos to help you with your broken lawn and garden equipment including snowblowers.

I do my best to teach you how to easily diagnose problems the fastest, quickest and most efficient way with real repairs beyond just replacing a spark plug. These tips are for both the homeowner and shop owner.

Whether it be a handheld, two stroke, two cycle engine like a chainsaw, weed eater, weed wacker, string trimmer, grass trimmer, line trimmer, hedge trimmer, strimmer, brush cutter, leaf blower, or four stroke, four cycle units like a lawnmower, wood splitter, lawn tractor, zero turn mower, snowblower, pressure washer, generator or a ride on mower that needs parts installed or replaced, I’m your go-to guy.

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[thinkingimpaired]

I never knew electric start is available. I enjoy my stihl backpack blower. The best lesson I know is to never lend any tool out.

[markmauldin]

My Stihl dealer makes it a point to recommend their oil and give extended warranty for using.
Great video as always.

[karlp.]

I had a lawncare business back in 1996 and one of my employees put straight gas in my 32:1 gas/oil mix Lawnboy mower. He brought it to me and the engine was totally seized up. I thought it was going to be trashed. Just because I never give up on anything I thought I would soak the cylinder with PB blaster/penetrating oil. After several days I actually started getting slight movement when trying to rotate the engine. After several more days of continually soaking the cylinder, the engine freed up.
it is now 2023 and I still have that Lawnboy mower and use it constantly. Never did anything else to the motor and it runs Great!

[LetUsRepair]

I'm still amazed how people buy expensive equipment, but don't take the time to research it a bit. It takes a couple of minutes of reading the brochure and it'll tell you to only use mixed fuel.
Great video as always Sir :-)

[colingraham]

The cost of replacement parts is exactly why all my power tools are old. My chainsaw is an old Husky 254 Xp. Great saw and spares are cheap. Generator is 23 year old Honda gx240. Just redone piston, rings and gaskets at total cost of 32 Euros. I will stay away from the new stuff. Nice video as always. Cheers from Ireland

[THEMOWERMEDIC]

Wow just wow. RIP little blower. Good one don! I love catastrophic fail videos. Hope to see you pop in on micks mowers live on dec 18th taryl fixes all, double wide 6, Bruce pender, chickanic, Hayes machinery, Steve small engine, and mustie1.

[fastbusiness]

A friend of mine used my Husqvarna trimmer a few years ago when it was still less than two years old. I assumed he knew to mix gas and oil. Nope. Used it for less than two hours and burned up the engine. Probably on the first tank of straight gas. He bought me a new one and I've used it for over eight years without replacement. In fact, I'm still using some parts off the old one that I kept.

[PupaLou]

Don you are helpful and I like your perspective and reasoning about what is the right thing to do. Your fair with prices. Inspirational to a part timer and are wise to quality repairs. I've had some small engine classes and this makes alot of sense. Your knowledge of all of the little things is Inspiring. Well done ! YOU DUH MAN 👨!!!!

[milwsdl]

Great video I work at runnings department stores and I work in the OPE department outdoor power and we’re a full line Stihl dealer nothing goes out of that store before the test run so when the whole homeowner goes home he’s got a full tank of 50 to 1 mix ready to go 👍👍😎

[Roby]

Hi, if you lubricate the whole cylinder by introducing oil from the exhaust, then using the 5% mixture try to get it started you can use a little

[bobbystewart]

Similar thing happened to one of our edgers but we caught it in enough time. Might have scored the short block a little bit didn’t destroy it luckily. One of the coworkers put straight gas in it and didn’t realize until it sounded a little off so the “foreman” checked it out and low and behold, straight gas. Doesn’t pay to b in a rush.

[floridaswampman]

Down here in the US, Stihl extends the homeowner waranty to 5years if you buy a 6 pack of HP Ultra oil. But you still have to put it in the fuel...
They do it with the fuel too.

Put it on Kijiji for 100 bucks. Its worth that in parts... the electric start module and motor are worth that alone.

I use that blower semi comercially and I love it...

[byronwoolfrey]

You make it so simple to diagnose,
A person could spend a lot of time searching for the problem. I would have probably started with pulling the cord and it appears to have compression, then go to the spark, then the carb.
But you keep it simple, check the gas tank .
Have a good autumn Don
Don't work too hard.

[shaffersmallengineshop]

I’ll bet you can hone that cylinder back to life, IF you can get an affordable piston and rings. I did exactly that with a burned up BR 350. Piston and rings from Little Red Barn in VA, top end bearing from Stihl. Bottom end was OK.

[romeoramos]

Unfortunately, we live in a disposable era. Thanks for this donyboy. I will be very careful with with mine after seeing your video. I bought the extra oil package when i got my blower last year.

[richardstrada]

Great information for checking out your small gasoline motors

[kiddiescripterkiller]

Other thing is trying to get the blower fan off the engine without breaking it.
At least on the BR600's.
Had one where it snapped the valve spring retainer and the valve dropped into the cylinder.
Took forever to get the fan off.
I hate working on them, as they get older, they end up throwing oil all over, so it is just a massive oil / dirt / grass mess inside, and the choke handle always gets broken, on all of my commercial customers machines.
So I'd pop the covers off and power wash them before doing anything.
And the plastic covers break easy and melt from the exhaust.
All around a PITA to work on.


I finally told all of them I'm done working on them.

[chuckuu]

Dony great vid. Gives people the idea what to. Thanks again

[StevenEverett]

As soon as you popped the gas cap I said Uh oh. At work someone borrowed the Stihl blower for using in another area. I cautioned him not to use straight gas. I asked for it back and started using it. It warmed up and started stalling. Yup. He had put straight gas in it! Luckily I caught it in time, dumped the gas and put the mix in. It ran fine for years after that.

[robertgiuliani]

I just bought the BR450.

I researched the Stihl models and did not have the BR450C in the 2024 catalog. Apparently Stihl discontinued it. Maybe a slow seller or problematic electric start. The only model that can be started with it on your back now with a side pull cord is the BR800C-E for $700 US.

Also, my dealer offered the Stihl 2.6oz oil 6 pack for $14 good for 6 gallons worth of gas.
In the 2024 catalog Stihl has it as an incentive that if you buy the 6 pack of oil or 1 gallon of the premix fuel, the factory warranty is doubled from 2 to 4 years which is a no-brainer being you will need to oil.

I read in the manual that Stihl recommends Mid Grade octane(89 octane). That is what I bought and mixed in 1 of the 2.6oz Stihl oil bottles. I use a 1 gallon gas can so I don't have the gas hanging around a long time. I also use Ethanol Shield additive.

So far with 2 weeks, it works fine and I plan to use it weekly for fall leaf blowing into the woods behind my property. Also plan to use it during spring and summer for blowing lawn clippings that have accumulated after mowing.

I plan to take care of it the best I can. This is my first backpack blower and went with Stihl.