# Echo GT-200R curved shaft string trimmer coil help



## Jeff Lary (Jul 14, 2016)

Hello all I usually post in the chainsaw forum if I post at all but I think this belongs here.

I have what I hoped would be a decent string trimmer but it really has never been very impressive. It has always started hard from day one. Choke it prime it and pull it 10-40 times. Then about 7-8 false starts where it will run for 10 - 20 seconds then quit and so on till I gave up or it finally started.

It is about 8 years old I guess, last year I bought a new gas line kit 3 lines and a stopper for the tank aperture. The old lines melted off the carb ha ha .This summer the carb gave up altogether ,so I bought a new carb and replaced that last weekend it still started miserably ,....pull and pull and pull. After I got it running I used it some still very numb running thing in my opinion half dead sort of thing.

Then took the muffler apart and cleaned the screen it was about 20% plugged up so I hoped that would help ( not so much really) and opened up the muffler outlet a little. It seemed to run " a very little bit better" nothing earth shattering.

Today I go to start it and no go. Plenty of fuel the plug gets wet,..the plug will fire in other engines but not in this one. So I took ahold of the plug and pulled it over a bunch of times no fire at all. So evidently now the coil is done,...
So I have about $12.00 bucks in fuel lines $35.00 in a carb and from what I can see they want between $ 38 and $57 for a coil for it. in my opinion she aint worth $57.00 and barely $ 38.00. Does anyone know where I can get a cheaper coil? the part number is GT-200R. I really hate to own anything that does not run right but at the same time this rig aint worth much so I don't want to get a fortune invested in it either.
Thanks Jeff


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## ray benson (Jul 15, 2016)

Something like this one - 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Carbure...601928?hash=item1ea33b7608:g:ZzUAAOSwsN9XBdTa


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 16, 2016)

Yes that Is pretty much what I bought cant remember how much though. I tested the coil last evening it is shot. So like a fool I ordered a new one $38 plus shipping comes to $ 49.00. Last cent she gets next move is a strip down and toss. Actually I think I will put it through the wood splitter first though 27 tons ought to improve her some ha ha.


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## Michigan Escapee (Jul 16, 2016)

Well, all I can say is, when it came to looking what it would take to fix up a couple of string trimmers in the garage, and I noticed there was one dead weed whacker for about every year, I noped out of it. 

Ryobi make a nice one for about $139 on sale, lithium ion, accepts universal attachments for poles saws, cultivators, and other gadgets. 

Don't have to worry about gas going rotten, ethanol contamination, cleaning out all the gum and gack before winter storage, etc. 

The RPM isn't as high, but it's got one hell of a torque band. Quick overload cutout as well in case you get tangled in something.


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## backhoelover (Jul 16, 2016)

did you check compression YOU ALWAYS CHECK COMPRESSION FRIST BEFORE ORDERING PARTS LOL


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## backhoelover (Jul 16, 2016)

also did you try unhooking you kill switch leads and turning it over. and a little sanding


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 16, 2016)

Just bought a brand new Ryobi string trimmer and blower with charger and lithium ion battery $100.00 some place on the web the wife found. It works but not a real powerful rig but no gas spark recoil or any other issues to deal with a well. I have to fix my stuff its just who I am,.. everything I own runs well whenever needed or it gets fixed. I just cannot have something that does not run well let alone run at all.

On compression yes 148# I think it was? so I am good there. Also I told everyone last night that I had tested the coil with multi meter. Yes I cleaned the kill switch wire and tested fire with and with out the wire connected to the switch. Cleaned the flywheel magnets and they were clean anyway. Yes before anyone asks,.... fresh gas just mixed 4 days ago .The magnets are strong as well the plug has fire in a chainsaw but not in this whacker. This unit may not be new but I bet it has less than 4 hours on it I seldom weed whack I just have more important stuff to do I guess. But when the urge hits me it need to run right now or it will if at all possible.


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## backhoelover (Jul 16, 2016)

Just to let you know testing that coil with a meter is no good coil has a circuit board in it


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## backhoelover (Jul 16, 2016)

Also new stuff takes a r type plug. I had to learn the hard way


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## backhoelover (Jul 16, 2016)

Check Echo web site no tb on the 200


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

I don't know what" TB" means I guess.
So if you have no spark all of a sudden what else could be the cause? Last weekend I put the new carb on it and it started and I whacked with it for about 20 min. This last Thursday (I think?) no spark at all you can hang on to the plug and get no fire also with a Philips screwdriver jammed in the plug cap instead of the plug and still no fire .
So like I said if the coil is not causing the no spark issue what else could it be? It just happened all of a sudden,.. I am operating under the assumption that , that is how a coil stops working kind of all of a sudden. I know I don't know it all so I am open to any info anyone has as to a differing cause for the no spark issue.


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

Well for heck of it I re-installed the coil and reset the air gap I recorded it when I took the coil off. It was 8 tho very close I thought?? but It had been running all these years with it that way so, and no the coil bolts were very very tight so it did not move closer on it's own. I have always understood that the close the better as long as it did not hit the flywheel. This time however I used a business card and it had all kinds of fire? and as far as the spark plug having to be an "R" is just not correct the owners manual says it needs exactly what in in it now what has always been in it. A , BPRES something or rather. I pulled the hell out of it and finally it started I shut it off and re-started it a number of times so I don't know what is going on. If I had to guess I would say the coil is weak maybe and works intermittently . I guess when the new coil comes I will have a spare which I am sure I will never need.


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## Michigan Escapee (Jul 17, 2016)

Probably means circuit board. Many coils now have some extra stuff potted in with the coils to enhance performance. All fine and good, until the stuff fries in 2-5 years. Very general examples below.












The low voltage doesn't even have to come from a battery, it can just be an extra few windings off the main coil. They did stuff like that on old honda 3 wheelers from the 70s, enough juice to run a headlight so, 600-1400ma at 12v just from a few extra windings. Power was dirty as hell through, so anyone trying to add something like a radio was gonna have a bad time, and probably some fried electronics. 

A few other examples, but not in engrish, so you'll have to go on the electronic symbols alone






This one shows the module being powered off a 12v winding, and then triggering the high voltage coil. The square thingus(pcb) is probably smaller than a fingernail and potted in epoxy somewhere. 





This one is just showing more detail of a CDI circuit internals. Pretty simple on this one, no sensors, or easy start mods. Just a timing circuit off the leg of that SCR(or whatever, no coffee in me at the moment), then once enough magic pixies have had time to fill er up, it clamps to ground, the field expands, generates high voltage, and bango! 

Of course, if at some point, that high voltage backfeeds from a small coil/insulation defect, everything fries. Or more likely, thermal excursions, and the brittle little parts expand, contract, and then break. No more magic pixies(electrons) getting around anymore.


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

Its all Voodoo to me,.. I pull it sparks or does not I go from there haha


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

tb = tech bulletin


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

Jeff Lary said:


> Well for heck of it I re-installed the coil and reset the air gap I recorded it when I took the coil off. It was 8 tho very close I thought?? but It had been running all these years with it that way so, and no the coil bolts were very very tight so it did not move closer on it's own. I have always understood that the close the better as long as it did not hit the flywheel. This time however I used a business card and it had all kinds of fire? and as far as the spark plug having to be an "R" is just not correct the owners manual says it needs exactly what in in it now what has always been in it. A , BPRES something or rather. I pulled the hell out of it and finally it started I shut it off and re-started it a number of times so I don't know what is going on. If I had to guess I would say the coil is weak maybe and works intermittently . I guess when the new coil comes I will have a spare which I am sure I will never need.



BPRES is a r type plug


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

i think you are right about the coil breaking down


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

I put down the wrong plug number too A bpres is one I had laying around, but the plug that was in it and the plug called for in the manual were the same NGK BPM 8Y.
bpres would have been a Bosch Resister plug as you suggested. As suggested I think I may be a coil issue I don't know how else to account for being able to hang on to the plug and feel no shock otherwise?
Sorry for the plug misinformation. What is the compression supposed to be anyway? it is a 21cc engine.


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

you can test the echo coil but you have to have a pet9000


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

I got a pet dog


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

compression info send via pm


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

anyone else on these chat want the echo compression specs


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

this


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 17, 2016)

Thanks I appreciate that. I got 130# on mine and at a glance it looks like it should be between 85# and 130#.


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## Michigan Escapee (Jul 17, 2016)

Jeff Lary said:


> I got a pet dog



This is a more universal version. Still expensive though. 



Of course, odds are pretty high that you'll "light up your life" playing with such a gadget if you don't quite know what you're doing. 

Me, this is my idea of a "simple" gadget. 



Still liked the keithleys better, but then, I didn't build up 300+ boards for those on slow weeks.  







These puppies, I used the crap out of these when they stuffed me in the biomed department. 

I also had one of these in that department, which, while it was very cool when it did what I needed, if the settings dumped it meant half an hour of digging through menus. 





But surely, the senior engineer in that department must know how to set these up! lol! Nope, not any of em. A product manual, don't we have one of those? Uh...No! Don't we need one for the ISO 9002, and the FDA regs? Uh, maybe. (everyone runs for cover). 

Well, it's a good thing we weren't making products where people's lives depended on em. Oh, wait.... lol!


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## backhoelover (Jul 17, 2016)

here is the manual for the echo coil tester


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## GrassGuerilla (Jul 17, 2016)

Those trimmers can be bought on CL any day of the week in fun I g to like new shape for typically $50 or less. Should be a very reliable little engine really. Couldn't give me a curved shaft though.


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## Jeff Lary (Jul 18, 2016)

yes I agree I never thought I could justify the cost of a straight shaft trimmer I don't use one very much. However I just put a carb and am going to put a coil in this one sooo money well wasted I guess. I have the coil on the way so I will install it when it comes


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