Choke switch will not stay at start position

remove the top cover and see if the pins are broken from the sides of the lever

Many times with a gas mix, after sitting for a while, the mix separates and gums up the carb. Taking the carb off and soaking it overnight in a parts or carb cleaner and running carb cleaner through the tank and gas lines will cure this.

I would suggest a new plug and fresh gas and oil mix.push the primer bulb 8-10 times and turn choke to full.pull cord about 4 or 5 times until it starts.if it don,t stay running turn choke to half and pull cord until starts should stay running.let run for about 10 seconds then turn off choke.Almost forgot that during this whole process you hold throttle wide open.

1. Fill the tank with fresh properly mixed fuel.
2. If equipped turn the switch to RUN or ON
3. Make sure the tank is full of fresh fuel mixed per directions.
4. pump the primer bulb until resistance is felt and fuel is seen pulsing through the lines without bubbles.
5. pull the cord sharply and repeatedly until the motor "hits" on one of the pulls
6. set the choke half closed
7. pull the cord sharply until the motor fires and idles.
8. allow the engine to idle until it will warms up and will idle when you slide the choke all the way open.

Drain the fuel tank, look inside the tank to ensure that the fuel line inside still has a fuel filter attached to it.
Look at the on/off switch ensure that both the wires are still attached to the switch securely.
Check that the plug still has spark, if unsure replace the plug.
Check the air filter to ensure that it is clean.
Mix the gas 50:1.

Replace the Spark Plug. Drain the old fuel. Mix to the right ratio a new mix of fresh gas and oil. Prime, choke and start.

If you have to run with the choke on, it's having problems pulling gas thru the carb.
Start making sure that you're using fresh gas/oil mix. Don't attempt to use last years leftover in the tank or a spare can. Bad news... won't fire well.
Second, pop the carb lines off the carb and flush with carb spray cleaner (use the nozzle tube that comes with the can).
Third, check for cracks, breaks, leaks in the supply and return hoses. Replace any damaged hoses.
Disconnect the carb from the engine and spray all jets, orifices with carb cleaner (I like the Berryman's B-12 spray) and reinstall.
Also, pull the filter out of the air filter and clean, reinstall.
While you're at it, pop the spark plug out and clean the tip with carb spray as well.
Finally pour in a fresh gas/oil mix...start as usual. should be alot better!

My solution is to stop buying lawn and garden equipment from the local home centers. I too made the same fatal mistake you folks made. I bought the SS26 model Ryobi weedeater used it about 3 or 4 times and it has turned to ****. I am so pissed off I will never buy any power landscape tools from home centers again. I even bought a Troybuilt gas powered hedger and I have to work on it for 3 hours in order to use it for 1 hour. I will start buying commercially available professional gas powered landscape equipment from now on. I learned my lesson the hard way, just like you. The gas was bad??!!??!... I have used oil mixed gasoline in a lot of my two stroke eqiupment for 12 months without additives and it always burns just fine. The last Ryobi weedeater I had was 15 years old before it gave up the ghost. Thats why I bought this new one. I never had to use fresh gas everytime I used it...What a joke....I say we little people ban toghether and pass the word along to everyone we know about how junky their equipment is and how unreliable the companies are in supporting thier product. The problem with the SS26 Weedeater is the carbureator (spelling) it is an inferior piece of junk...period. After 4 uses, it will only start up, as soon as I pull the gas trigger, it dies because it leans out. I checked the spark plug (another piece of ****) and it looks like the machine was running hot, The electrode was a whiteish color indicateing a lean burn condition, nt the chocolate brown I was hoping to see. I hope this helps everyone who reads this... Spend a couple hundred extra dollars and go buy something real. Stop playing with the kids toys. This is what I am going to do to resolve the problem. They don't care about us, why should we care about them....Down to the firey pits with them....
OVER.............

I don't mean to over simplify this, but are you using fresh gas? Gas string trimmers are extremely ticky when it comes to gas. They like it SUPER fresh. And while the gas and oil mixture should be right, it can be off a little bit and still run. Try draining all of the gas out, and then filling up with fresh mix. This is ALWAYS my first step with string trimmers, and it fixes the problem 75% of the time.
Hope this helps!!

chad

My straight shaft trimmer will idle but dies when the I pull the trigger.