How to Fix a Two Cycle Engine Rope Starter
- 1). Disconnect the spark plug wire from the spark plug by pulling on the rubber boot covering the tip of the spark plug.
- 2). Loosen the screws or bolts holding the starter shroud onto the engine. Lift the shroud off the engine and place it upside-down on a work table.
- 3). Hold the shroud with one hand, and rotate the pulley in the center of the shroud counterclockwise until it stops turning. Lock the pulley in place with the wide-jaw vise grip pliers.
- 4). Grasp the knot in the knot hole near the center of the pulley with a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull out the damaged rope.
- 5). Insert the open end of the new rope (with the handle on the opposite end) into the hole in the outside of the starter shroud, guiding the rope into the pulley toward the knot hole. When the rope appears in the knot hole, pull out about a foot of rope using the needlenose pliers.
- 6). Tie a knot in the exposed end of the rope. Singe the remaining end of the rope with a match or lighter to prevent fraying.
- 7). Pull on the rope from outside the starter shroud until the knot is seated in the knot hole. Release the wide-jaw vise grip pliers, allowing the pulley to recoil the rope into the starter shroud.
- 8). Replace the starter shroud onto the engine and tighten the screws or bolts to lock it in place. Reattach the spark plug wire to the spark plug.
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