Stihl 041 AV Problem

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Turd Furgeson

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Messages
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Location
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Hey Guys,

Earlier this summer I picked up an 041 AV from a buddy less bar and chain. It would start and run on the second pull. I put it away for a month and last week when my uncle was over i took it out to show him and I couldn't get it started. After he left i fiddled with it a bit and got it to start. It seemed to run fine. Today i tried to get it to start and didn't have any luck. I pulled the plug and there seemed to be a lot of oil on it. I decided to pull it over a couple times without the plug thinking it was flooded. On the second pull it locked tight. I removed the recoil cover and put a ratchet on the flywheel nut and then it moved.

It seems like there's one spot where it feels like it's catching. From as much oil that was on the plug and in the cylinder i wouldn't think it would have seized from lack of lubrication. I had the proper mix ratio along with a cap of marvel mystery oil in the fuel tank

Any ideas as to what could be wrong? is the saw junk?

Thanks,

TF
 
I would not go as far to say it is junk. Pull the muffler and take a look at the piston and cylinder. Even if there is damage you can sometimes clean the cylinders back up, pistons can sometimes be buffed out as well. I am not real familiar with the 041, so my info is just generic.
 
Pull the muffler off and take a look at the piston. If it's hitting a certain point and stopping, you might have a bearing that is bad. If the piston is seized up then that's a different story. The piston will tell us everything. Post it and we'll help you fix it.

Junk.... never.... these are good firewood saws. The AV system isn't the best but they can handle some work if needed.
 
Pull the muffler off and take a look at the piston. If it's hitting a certain point and stopping, you might have a bearing that is bad. If the piston is seized up then that's a different story. The piston will tell us everything. Post it and we'll help you fix it.

Junk.... never.... these are good firewood saws. The AV system isn't the best but they can handle some work if needed.

I think you hit it on the head. It seems like there is a spot where the saw starts to stick when you pull it over.

I pulled the muffler cover off but it looks like you have to tear the saw half way apart to get the muffler off. I pointed a flashlight through the spark plug hole and as far as i could tell the cylinder walls look perfect. The guy my buddy got it from had just put a new piston and ring in the saw along with cleaning the cylinder. My buddy only used the saw twice...

Could it have anything to do with the oiler for the bar? I had it running a couple times since i bought it and i never thought to check the bar oil since i didn't have a bar on the saw. Today i opened that up and there was no oil in the tank.

How hard/expensive is it to replace the bearings? I never messed with a two stroke before.

Thanks,

TF
 
The bar oil would not have caused this problem. The bearings is a very good bet, wish I had thought of it earlier. Good catch Sefh3. The bearings are not typically very expensive, but it is a pretty involved process to install them.
 
To take the muffler off of the 041 is not the easiest task, but can be done quickly if needed. Take off the air filter plate, then the carb and the plastic heat shroud. Now you can get to the muffler bolts. You should not have to take the rear handle off to see them, but you will need a flashlight a pick and a good 4mm allen. Good luck!! :cheers:
 
The bar oil would not have caused this problem. The bearings is a very good bet, wish I had thought of it earlier. Good catch Sefh3. The bearings are not typically very expensive, but it is a pretty involved process to install them.

Just bought a pair for myself this spring. $21 for the flywheel, and $23 for the pto. The last pair at my dealer, and they were NLA to that dealer. (I wanted 2nd pair for myself)
 
The bar oil would not have caused this problem. The bearings is a very good bet, wish I had thought of it earlier. Good catch Sefh3. The bearings are not typically very expensive, but it is a pretty involved process to install them.

YES YES YES it will! And DON'T go ripping the whole saw apart until you check this out first!

This is a very common problem on the 041 series of saws. There is a little rubber O-ring on the oiler plunger, and if (when) it fails, it will allow bar oil to leak into the lower crankcase of the saw when it's sitting idle. Of course oil will not compress in the cylinder like air will, so when you go to turn it over, it will feel as if it's completely seized up.

I pulled a rare 041 Geardrive in good condition out of a scrap bin back in the spring, which had this exact symptom and I assume that is why it was tossed. Thousand dollar saw for free; all I had to do was replace the oiler.

The oiler is that round recess at the front of the saw above the chain adjuster. Remove the snap ring in there, then thread any regular 5mm-thread bolt into the threaded hole in the oiler mechanism, and give it a good solid yank, and it should slide out. It's literally a 5 minute fix.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the other danger of this problem is that if you run the oil tank dry, the saw can then suck air through the failed O-Ring and create a lean condition, which could kill the topend.
 
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Hey Guys,

Earlier this summer I picked up an 041 AV from a buddy less bar and chain. It would start and run on the second pull. I put it away for a month and last week when my uncle was over i took it out to show him and I couldn't get it started. After he left i fiddled with it a bit and got it to start. It seemed to run fine. Today i tried to get it to start and didn't have any luck. I pulled the plug and there seemed to be a lot of oil on it. I decided to pull it over a couple times without the plug thinking it was flooded. On the second pull it locked tight. I removed the recoil cover and put a ratchet on the flywheel nut and then it moved.

It seems like there's one spot where it feels like it's catching. From as much oil that was on the plug and in the cylinder i wouldn't think it would have seized from lack of lubrication. I had the proper mix ratio along with a cap of marvel mystery oil in the fuel tank

Any ideas as to what could be wrong? is the saw junk?

Thanks,

TF
DearTurd,
It could just be a chitty saw.......:) LOL! that was mean...rep on the way!:)
 
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YES YES YES it will! And DON'T go ripping the whole saw apart until you check this out first!

This is a very common problem on the 041 series of saws. There is a little rubber O-ring on the oiler plunger, and if (when) it fails, it will allow bar oil to leak into the lower crankcase of the saw when it's sitting idle. Of course oil will not compress in the cylinder like air will, so when you go to turn it over, it will feel as if it's completely seized up.

I pulled a rare 041 Geardrive in good condition out of a scrap bin back in the spring, which had this exact symptom and I assume that is why it was tossed. Thousand dollar saw for free; all I had to do was replace the oiler.

The oiler is that round recess at the front of the saw above the chain adjuster. Remove the snap ring in there, then thread any regular 5mm-thread bolt into the threaded hole in the oiler mechanism, and give it a good solid yank, and it should slide out. It's literally a 5 minute fix.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the other danger of this problem is that if you run the oil tank dry, the saw can then suck air through the failed O-Ring and create a lean condition, which could kill the topend.

+1 Pull the oiler and replace the seal and o-ring.
 
Hey Guys,

Earlier this summer I picked up an 041 AV from a buddy less bar and chain. It would start and run on the second pull. I put it away for a month and last week when my uncle was over i took it out to show him and I couldn't get it started. After he left i fiddled with it a bit and got it to start. It seemed to run fine. Today i tried to get it to start and didn't have any luck. I pulled the plug and there seemed to be a lot of oil on it. I decided to pull it over a couple times without the plug thinking it was flooded. On the second pull it locked tight. I removed the recoil cover and put a ratchet on the flywheel nut and then it moved.

It seems like there's one spot where it feels like it's catching. From as much oil that was on the plug and in the cylinder i wouldn't think it would have seized from lack of lubrication. I had the proper mix ratio along with a cap of marvel mystery oil in the fuel tank

Any ideas as to what could be wrong? is the saw junk?

Thanks,

TF


I doubt it would hydraulic lock without the plug in. Am I missing something here?
 
Yeah it's not hydro-locked, it's got to be the bearings. Is it usually just the ball bearings on either side of the case that take a crap or could it bee the needle bearings in the connecting rod? Do i need any special tools to tear it down? I only gave $20 for the saw so if I tear it down and decide to move on and sell the box of parts on ebay I don't think I'd lose money. It looks like the 041's still bring decent coin if they're together and working. I wanted to put a 24" bar on this one and a skip chain and only use it if i need to cut something big up. I have my little Ryobi(redmax) for cutting up everything else.
 
I doubt it would hydraulic lock without the plug in. Am I missing something here?

The bar oil fills the crank case not the cylinder.

He needs to get the top of the piston just below top
of intake. Then set saw as to were the oil in crank case
will drain out of spark plug hole. I would set in out
in the sun to help warm up the bar oil.


TT
 
I don't think it's bar oil in the crankcase since I'm pretty sure there wasn't enough in the saw to fill the crankcase. Plus there is a very faint mechanical rubbing sound when the saw hangs up while turning it over. I'll turn it into my winter project. I have too much going on to mess with it right now.
 
I don't think it's bar oil in the crankcase since I'm pretty sure there wasn't enough in the saw to fill the crankcase. Plus there is a very faint mechanical rubbing sound when the saw hangs up while turning it over. I'll turn it into my winter project. I have too much going on to mess with it right now.

As Brad suggested, pull the recoil/tank assy. & look closely @ all the bolts etc. 041's have a way of rattling fasteners loose.May be nothing more than a bolt hitting the flywheel. Mine did this not long after I got it. Easy fix. A C
 
As Brad suggested, pull the recoil/tank assy. & look closely @ all the bolts etc. 041's have a way of rattling fasteners loose.May be nothing more than a bolt hitting the flywheel. Mine did this not long after I got it. Easy fix. A C

I was thinking that. It almost sounded like the noise wasn't coming from the crankcase but from somewhere on the outside of the saw.

Also how big of a deal is a fin broken off the fan mounted to the flywheel? Should i break one off the opposite side to balance the fan out? JK JK
 
Alright, so i went to the garage to grab something from the car tonight and the saw was calling my name. Anyways i decided to take the fan off and see if I could get lucky with the flywheel coming off with little more than a pull with my hand. No such luck. But I discovered the saw was really hard to turn/rubbed at TDC and BDC for the piston. Looking at the IPL I see two sets of magnets, I assume they correspond to those positions. I'm thinking for whatever reason the flywheel magnets are touching the pickups on the stator plate. I had a freebie rototiller that wouldn't run and had the same problem until I adjusted that gap and it's been working fine since.

Now I assumed the saw had points since there was no electronic tag on the saw anywhere, but the flywheel has no hole in it to adjust the points like I see in the manual. Does that mean that it has the troublesome electronic ignition?
 
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