This is what caused the resricted exhaust! A hairball in the muffler. Looks like part of the muffler collapsed inside and the fiberglass fibers ended up blocking the exhaust. Turns out that the rest of the system is fine and I am going to get a little more life out of this mufffler, too.

 

I used a dollar tree broken broom handle with a short piece of wire poked through it so that I could hook the debris. Worked it out of there with motor running and all kinds of debris came out behind it.

 

Thanks again Loyale Community!

 

kmpdx

Fricking wow!

There's something you don't see everyday.

must've been a good quality muffler :/

 

so she's all apples again?

 

cheers

 

Bennie

Yeah. In the process of trying to figure out what was wrong, I ended up changing the fuel filter, the wires, the cap and rotor, and the exhaust gaskets since I was there already. Not sure how long the muffler will last but this thing is running the best it has since I bought it!