# Poulan Blower (BVM200) Refuses To Start



## rpglennj (May 21, 2006)

Greetings all....love the board, learning a lot here and want to learn more about small engines. I am minimally experienced regarding 2-stroke engines.

I bought the Poulan BVM200 from Lowe's last October and have probably less than 20 hours on it. Never had any problems; it worked well this season out of the gate.

Yesterday, it started briefly on full choke, but would not when I went to half choke (first time ever). I presumed I flooded it and went through flood start procedure with no luck after _several_ attempts. 

I need to check but I don't yet have a spark tester nor a compression tester (probably will acquire soon). It turns on cranking but that's it. I pulled the plug, figuring it may have been fuel-fouled. I have been to 2 Lowe's and they do not even carry the spec plug (Champion RCJ-6Y) for this model that they still carry. In fact, Wal Mart, Auto Zone, Ace and two other local home store shops did not carry it. The J6 was all Lowe's had, which physically is similar to the J6Y. 

What exactly is the specified difference between those two plugs and will the J6 work in this model blower?

I have kept it maintained per the manual. Should I wait to see about warranty coverage with local authorized servicers before I start tinkering?

Any pointers from any experience on warranty claims with Poulan?

Finally, any good newbie books on 2 stroke engine repair basics?

Thanks very much for any direction on this.


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## hankster (Jan 1, 1998)

You need to use a CJ6Y or a RCJ6Y in that blower (the R means it is a resistor plug). The J6 will work but may not run the best (could also void the warranty). Your best bet is to return it for repair as it is still under warranty. If you tear it apart you will void your warranty and they could deny any repairs. Most Lowes repairs are done by A&E which is owned by Sears.


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## wf2tm51 (May 19, 2006)

i'm no expert in small engines by no means but i read this book about small engines and that little book paved a good path for me with small engines. Any way it taught me a nice little trick for a cheap spark tester. If u do moderate maintence work on cars you will probably have these two things in your garge, shed, basement or whatever you have. You take a pair of jumper cables you no longer use cut one of the clamps from the jumper wire so u have just one clamp. Take a small hose clamp that will fit around the jumper cable clamps handle with the spark plug attached tighten the hose clamp around the handles and attach the plug wire to the spark. The plug should go between the hoseclamp to be tightened and attached to the jumper cable. Now take the jumper cable clamp and ground it or attach it to the block. Now pull the rope cord thing that rotates the flywheel and look at the plug you should hear a snap or see a spark in the spark plug gap. Works for me everytime. The book i got this from is from a series called motorbooks workshop called The Small-Engine Handbook by Peter Hunn, also you can find a very large book on small engine repair at pep boys and probably auto zone, the book is in the haynes manual section it is the haynes manual for small engine repair


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## rpglennj (May 21, 2006)

thanks for your replies......it's in an authorized repair shop now and i should be able to find out about it tomorrow


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## hankster (Jan 1, 1998)

Or just spend a couple of bucks and buy a real spark tester


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## gnorton (Oct 23, 2013)

*Poulan Blower (BVM200) Refuses to start*

Ok, I know that you've taken the blower in for repairs and this post is probably too late. But I'll tell you what the repair shop found wrong with it. 

I've repaired three of these BVM200s all with the same problem, "won't start" even though they had spark and fuel. I don't know why, but Poulan let a bunch of these units out w/o torquing down the cylinders. The cylinder bolts loosen and they develop a leak between the cylinder and block. Some have a paper gasket, and some have a rubber gasket. Those with the rubber gasket can be re-tightened and all is good. Those with the paper gasket typically will blow part of the gasket out. The gasket will need to be replaced. When re-tightening the bolts, be sure to clean the threads real good and use some "lock-tite" on the threads. 

Hope this helps those who are still looking for the reason that they're BVM200s won't start ....


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## geogrubb (Jul 28, 2006)

gnorton said:


> Ok, I know that you've taken the blower in for repairs and this post is probably too late. But I'll tell you what the repair shop found wrong with it.
> 
> I've repaired three of these BVM200s all with the same problem, "won't start" even though they had spark and fuel. I don't know why, but Poulan let a bunch of these units out w/o torquing down the cylinders. The cylinder bolts loosen and they develop a leak between the cylinder and block. Some have a paper gasket, and some have a rubber gasket. Those with the rubber gasket can be re-tightened and all is good. Those with the paper gasket typically will blow part of the gasket out. The gasket will need to be replaced. When re-tightening the bolts, be sure to clean the threads real good and use some "lock-tite" on the threads.
> 
> Hope this helps those who are still looking for the reason that they're BVM200s won't start ....


I don't know if you noticed this thread is 7 years old. Have a good one. Geo


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