(upbeat music) (tools whirring)
- Hey guys, welcome back.
Today I wanna answer a question that has been asked
so many times by YouTubers.
And that question is,
"Can I use WD-40 as quick start
in my small engine equipment?"
Well I'm not really sure of that myself.
So what I'm going to do today
is test that out on one of my personal chain saws.
I also have a generator in the shop
that I'm going to try it on.
And what I've done also is remove all the fuel
from the chainsaw and the generator,
so that it leaves no doubt to the imagination
as to whether this works as starting fluid or not.
Now before testing out the WD-40,
I have a bit of mixed fuel here in this turkey baster.
I'm just going to shove a bit down the carburetor throat
so that you guys see it will actually run and die
with only the fuel I'm putting in.
And then after that, I'll test out the WD-40.
So I'm just going to shove a bit of gas in there.
Okay, so it should start up and burn off what's in there
and then die off.
And I'll turn the choke on.
(chain saw engine roaring)
So it's burnt off the gas I've put in.
Okay, now we know the saw will start.
It died off with the gas.
Now it's time to spray in some WD-40.
I'm going to go right down the throat of the carb here.
(spray can hissing)
Okay, choke on, switch is on.
(chain saw engine roaring)
I'll turn the choke off now.
(chain saw engine roaring)
And we're not getting anything, guys.
(chain saw engine roaring)
And I'll hold the throttle in
just in case it's flooded with WD-40.
(chain saw engine roaring)
Let's spray a little bit more.
(spray can hissing)
(chain saw engine roaring)
And nothing's happening, guys.
So, at this point, I'm gonna take the plug out.
(plug clanking)
And you can see that plug is wet,
and it smells like WD-40.
So obviously it's not working too well as starting fluid.
So I'll stick her back in.
Okay, so what I'm going to do now
is just shove a bit more gas
with the turkey baster here, down the carb throat.
The chainsaw will more than likely start
and you'll notice a lot of smoke,
and that's because it'll be burning off the WD-40
that's in there.
So let's do that right now.
(turkey baster whooshing)
Make sure the gas gets in there.
Okay, let's get this thing going.
(chain saw engine roaring)
Now it's burnt off everything that was in there.
(chain saw engine roaring)
So there's no doubt in my mind that the WD-40 will not work
as starting fluid in a chainsaw.
Maybe it's just a two-cycle thing going on here,
so what I'm going to do now
is perform the same test on a four-cycle generator.
So what I've got here is an older Coleman generator
with a 10 horsepower Tecumseh engine.
Now what I've done here is disconnected the fuel line
to show you guys there is no fuel
going to that carburetor.
I've even ran it dry after disconnecting it.
And I'm going to start with some carb cleaner.
It's a four cycle engine, there is oil in the block.
So I don't need to put mixed fuel, like in the chainsaw.
carb cleaner works really well as starting fluid.
I'm going to spray some right in the carburetor here.
The choke is on to help it suck it up.
(spray can hisses)
(generator engine roaring)
Let's spray a bit more.
(spray can hissing)
(generator engine roaring)
So you can clearly see,
it's only starting on the fluid that I've put in.
So now I got WD-40, let's spray it on the carb
and see what happens
(spray can hisses)
(generator engine roaring)
And nothing's happening.
So let's spray a little bit more here just to make sure.
(spray can hissing)
Again, I'm just trying to really show
whether the WD-40 works or not.
So far, it's not working too well,
but I just wanna make sure
we've done all the tests properly here.
And let's try it again with the WD-40.
(generator engine roaring)
And nothing.
And I've went ahead and taken out the spark plug.
It's a brand new plug, and again,
it's wet just like the chainsaw was.
And it really smells of WD-40.
So I think we have our answer, guys.
WD-40 does not work as starting fluid.
And I'll finish off.
Again, I'm just going to spray it with carb cleaner.
(spray can hissing)
(generator engine roaring)
And to be honest, guys,
I'm a bit surprised that it didn't work as starting fluid
because it's got all the same symbols as the carb cleaner,
exactly the same symbols.
There's the flammable logo.
Here it is here.
So hopefully this answers all the questions
I've been getting on YouTube
as to whether WD-40 works for starting fluid or not.
As per my video today, it does not work as starting fluid,
but you can use choke, carb cleaner, stuff like that,
starting fluid.
And there's also some other fluids in the past
that I've used that did work as quick start
or starting fluid.
One tip guys is if you're trying to start up
some two-cycle equipment,
you might want to use some mixed gas
like I did at the beginning of the video
because there's no oil or lubrication
in carb cleaner and starting fluid.
There's probably a bit too much lube in the WD-40
to act as starting fluid as we've seen.
Thanks again for watching guys.
Make sure to subscribe
and that you're following me on social media.
All the links are below the video
and you guys have a great day.
(upbeat music) (tools whirring)