Jiffy auger

[fishingisliving]

I am bringing my brand new Jiffy Stealth STX 3HP 10in to the shop after a few weeks of use, I have to start it after every hole. It really will not run unless I give it gas, and still if often stops on its own. I have gone through the whole maintenance manual to make sure there was nothing I could not tweak or adjusts, the oil/gas mixture is exactly to specs. Anyway I hope I dont have to make too many trips to the repair shop, specially considering this is brand new.

 

It's quite a workout, when you are prepping for a tournament and you have to drill 15+ holes to get setup that require a restart each hole. Plus the restarts are not instant.. they require the choke to be on like as if it was a cold start again, even after I have let if run for it to warm up by giving a bit of gas, otherwise it simply doesn't run.

Anyone else out there have issues with theirs? Did you ever get them going properly?

[Grimace]

Mine is exactly the same way. It is not set up right. I keep tweaking the carb settings and get it going good then it settles back into it's old habits.

 

It is just the set up. Gotta find the sweet spot. I have had dirt bikes, snowmobiles, all sorts of things with small 2 stroke motors but for the life of me I just can't get the jiffy to keep going.

 

 

I would be eager to see some of the responses here as well.

[Sinker]

Take a look at this.

 

 

What I do is run mine on half choke if it won't keep running. Sometimes they are finicky. Temp and altitude can make a difference on these things. I did what it says here, and it helped for sure.

 

 

Sinker

[Grimace]

Your the man sinker.

 

 

Thanks

[tjsa]

It can come down to how you move it hole to hole.

I run the throttle right handed, gas tank toward me, exhaust away from me. When I finish, I hook my arm through the right hand side handle, so as to keep the exhaust away from me(my buds jacket is still on the exhaust port because he carried it differently, lol).

If I do it the other way, it always dies on me. Probably the float bowl is getting flooded.

If you carry it upright to the next hole(which is not easy to do with a 5 ft. tall auger), it probably will not die out on you.

If you carry it by the auger bit, the power head will spin, and again probably flood the carb.

[richyb]

My buddys jiffy was doing that too but his problem was that the vent on the tank cap was clogged up.

[Sinker]

My buddys jiffy was doing that too but his problem was that the vent on the tank cap was clogged up.

 

Yeah, make sure the vent is open before you touch the carb!!! And also make sure you close it when your done, and put the auger with the gas cap up when you set it down. I've got out to my spot to find all the gas leaked out of my auger thru the vent cap!!! I replaced that little junk rubber gasket, with a thicker piece of leather.

 

 

 

Sinker

[Big Cliff]

When most of this equipment is manufactured the carbs are set up for the equipment to be run at sea level. Try opening your low speed jet (the one closest to the engine) 1/4 turn counter clockwise. Without a tachometer it is nearly impossible to get it working perfectly but that should help assuming you are using fresh fuel. Gas only has a shelf life of 4 weeks!

[rhare]

Are you loosening the vent on the gas cap?

 

as stated above it might be clogged.

 

common with jiffy's

[fishingisliving]

Take a look at this.

 

 

What I do is run mine on half choke if it won't keep running. Sometimes they are finicky. Temp and altitude can make a difference on these things. I did what it says here, and it helped for sure.

Sinker

 

Thanks for that! I tuned it just right, and she no longer has any problems.

 

It takes about 6-10 cranks when she is cold, with full choke.

 

when she fires, I leave it on full choke for 5 seconds, or if I hear she had enough.

then I set her at half choke for 30 seconds

then I set it a no choke so she idles and warms up for a few minutes, then I am good to drill!!

 

Carrying it can also affect it, not to mention if the intake valve on the tank is open you can have gas leak out, but my problem was that she would stop 2 seconds after I would let go of the gas, straight or side ways didn't matter.

 

 

 

 

Very happy to say that the carb adjustments seem to have fixed the problem, i will bring a screw driver from now on when I go fishing as I was told by a mechanic that those adjustments need to be done from time to time.

 

Thanks Sinker!!!

[boatman]

Glad you got it figured out. 6-10 pulls is a lot pulling and it sounds like its either extra cold blooded or you could stand to turn the high speed out a bit too. The settings sinker posted are just starting points. Isn't it nice to be able to fix the little things yourself? Happy fishing with your new auger.

[Fishing 24/7]

we are having the same probleme.

 

i think our mix is no good tho.

 

last year we were using the TRUE jiffy oil mix.

 

now we are using old gas and oil from c tire. NO GOOD

 

i need SOME TRUE OIL jiffy style. syntec stabil. cant beat it!

 

 

last year. choke

 

1

 

2

 

3

 

run

 

1

 

 

drill 40 holes

 

this year

 

choke

 

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

1/4 choke

 

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

1/2 choke

 

1

 

2

 

3...........................................................................

 

 

3/4

 

1

 

2...........

 

 

run.

 

1

 

2

 

3...............SMASH it on the ice and CRY!

[boatman]

Dump the old fuel and mix up some good stuff. If that doesn't fix it you may need the carb cleaned or rebuilt.

 

Always use fresh fuel and stabilise it at the point of purchase. I recycle about 5-10 gallons of fuel per year. I never risk using last year's stabilised gas. I even had a tank of stabilised fuel go bad over the summer this last year. It was properly stored and only 2-3 months old. Imagine my surprise when I went to change the tank out on the lake. Good thing I always switch before the tank is dry.

[Sinker]

I mix my jiffy 40ml of oil per litre of gas. I use any 2 stroke oil that's handy.

 

Sinker

[DRIFTER_016]

I use Opti2 Full Synthetic oil mixed at the oil manufacturers recomended ratio (around 100:1).

This works in all my 2 stroke motors.

Synthetics are way better, less smoke, no plug fouling, smoother running, higher reving.

The Amsoil Sabre full synthetic is another excellent choice.

[boatman]

recomended ratio (around 100:1).

 

That sounds awfully light on oil. Most augers are 25:1 (40 ml per Litre). Some may even be 40:1. I'd double check the manufacturers oil recommendation.

 

I completely agree with the use of synthetic oil in a 2 stroke. That's all I use in my antique/classic outboards.

[Big Cliff]

Stabilizer is good but you must store both the stabilizer and any mixed fuel in air tight containers or the ethanol in the stabilizer will absorb moisture which becomes water in your gas.

[wallyboss]

Mine on full choke starts on the first pull then dies. Then I put it half choke and it usually starts after 1-2 pulls. I let it idle a bit then go to no choke. I never have problems with it if I let it warm up by idling for 2-3 minutes , but I don't have much patience especially at -30. so if I want to start drilling right away I keep it on 1/2 choke for the first hole then turn the choke off. When it is really cold I always have a tougher time to get it going.

[Abberz]

Having the same problem with a 3.0 HP Jiffy 10 inch. The sad thing is I used a cheap Costco power auger last weekend which retails for $250 I think and it was superior to the Jiffy. Funny how the top of the line Jiffy can't out perform something that costs half the price.

 

Unreal

[Rizzo]

good information here. Any "safety sally's" here probably don't want to hear this, but I was having the same problem with my Eskimo auger...solved it by just keeping her going full blast blades-a-spinning as I walked from spot to spot drilling holes. The screwdriver thing seems like a better idea!

[fishingisliving]

tested it out again yesterday,

 

prime 3 times

full choke

after 6 pulls there was no sign of fire.. that really bugged me.

turned off choke

1 pull it fired, then stoped

full choke

1 pull .. it started

then put her at half for 30 seconds

took choke off and she was ready to go.

 

 

I have Crappytire mix in there, not HQ synthetic stuff. so I'm sure it could be better. tournament coming up this weekend, I will be paranoid all week and have nightmares that she doesn't start again..

Does honda make augers? ;-) I used to use a small 15 or 20hp honda on a wood splitter... minus 35 and it took two fingers to gently pull the cord and it always started..

I am no mechanic, so I guess I should educate myself on the whole thing and make the proper adjustments, knowing about this stuff is good knowledge anyway as you use it for lawnmowers, trimmers, and all sorts of little engines.

 

But I'm happy the auger runs once it gets going. Also like it was mentioned, the way it is carried while it runs has direct impact, if I tilt the wrong way it will stop instantly. So carrying it gas tank angled down she runs fine.