Strikemaster lazer mag throttle not working

I fired up my strikemaster for the first time this year. Started right up on the third pull. Seemed to be idling rather fast. Hit the throttle, and nothing. Seems the throttle is not working. Auger is a lazer mag xpress and is about 6 years old. It ran fine when I ran stabil through it to put it away for the summer.

I know absolutely nothing about small engines so I don’t really know what to check. The wire off the throttle is still connected to the piece that slides back and forth on the motor, and the slide deal still slides back and forth when you hit the throttle. There is a little gold colored lever on the very bottom that I can move back and forth and get the engine to rev up, but it just stays running balls out if I move it.

Anybody got any ideas of what I can try checking that isn’t too difficult?

Blinker fluid? When you move the gold piece back and forth and it revs up there should be a spring attached i believe to pull it back. Is that there?

There is a spring on top where the wire attaches to the slider thing, which is still in tact. When I take my thumb off the throttle bar, it goes back to where it belongs at idle. There is no spring on the bottom. I can take pictures of anything that would help somebody diagnose.

I did check the muffler bearing and that is in like new condition.

I have a jiffy and not sure how yours is set up. Just trying to picture the throttle linkage. Nice call on the muffler bearing.
DT

I went back out in the garage to try playing around with it and it seems to be working fine after sitting in the heated garage for an hour. I’m guessing something was frozen up on it after being in the unheated pole barn all fall.

Is there any harm in giving it a squirt of WD40? Should I use something else?

I don’t see any harm in a small amount of wd. I would maybe run some seafoam through it also in case there is some junk in the carb.
DT

I have the same problem for the past 8 years on two different ones ,they leak gas to right?
next year go propane,I know i am

I have not had any gas leaks. At least not yet.

John, the way SM and Jiffy did their throttles is kind of backwards. It actially is linked through the air vain govenor instead of the gov being linked to the throttle.
Spunds weird I know, but is a weird system, but it works. My guess it there is or was something keeping the gov vain from moving. The vain is a plastic fin that moved when the fins on the flywheel push air. You should see the fins through the vent holes in the top of the recoil. The gov vain is on one side there. Like I saif plastic vain that is on a spring pivot loinked with the throttle.

Sometimes when guys burry the auger late season as it breaks through water will rush up and get on tje power head, then they shut the auger down and lay it down and it freezes up and will cause the same issue you are having. Obviousley differend causes though.
But like you said spry as much as you can with WD 40. Something probly just gummed up. -Mark

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I have the same problem for the past 8 years on two different ones ,they leak gas to right?
next year go propane,I know i am

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This is an issue with the linkage return not the fuel type used.

It usually happens after a guy punches a bunch of holes, heats the auger up good, then allows moisture to condense and freeze on the linkage to the carburetor. The fix is a simple one… just move the linkage at the carb with the tip of your finger to free it up so it can return to the “idle” position and you’re good to go. I’ve seen this happen on Strikemaster, Eskimo and Jiffy augers. Again, it is such a simple fix that once you know what is going on it is almost a non-issue. And it certainly isn’t related to fuel type used. This will happen on an auger powered by gas, propane… or dylithium crystals for that matter. Until the mechanical throttle linkage is replaced by a different system anyway.

As for the WD… it can’t hurt anything. Spray away.

dylithium crystals

James is this a product strikemaster makes? I can’t find it on there site it sounds awesome.