running w/o a muffler. HELP

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What is the danger to the saw, if any, of running a saw without the muffler cover. It came off my Stihl 038 today and gonna be a few days before the dealer can get one. The bottom corners that the screws go through came off and it just fell off and isn't reattachable. I'm using it on a disaster relief team in Cullman, AL so it needs to stay in use if it's not gonna hurt the saw.
P.S. I love the way it sounds w/o the muffler.
 
Its very much gonna hurt the saw.....STOP running it...
 
Not advisable to run a chainsaw without a muffler. A chainsaw needs a certain amount of back pressure it operate correctly and the muffler also keeps junk from getting into your cylinder and possibly causing serious damage.

Edit:
If you decide to chance it anyway I would richen the high side up nice and fat to help protect the cylinder/piston from scoring, but that will do nothing to stop stuff from getting inside the cylinder.
 
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Huh????? What you say????? I can't hear ya over this loud ass saw!!! Lol

Edit, Id be more worried about something getting in the cylinder and wrecking it. Some of the old saws didn't even have mufflers.....
 
you will hear both sides, some say yes it will hurt the saw some say no it wont. To tell you the truth I have seen some saws with such huge muffler mods they basically were running with no muffler and i have saw a few with a straight pipe no muffler just a inch pipe, that was on some old macs, they seemed to run fine. But Just me if it were my saw i would not run it with an open exhaust port, I would get a muffler
 
i have saw a few with a straight pipe no muffler just a inch pipe, that was on some old macs, they seemed to run fine.

Very true, I have a Poulan Super 31 with a factory stack. Now this is back when saws ran a 16:1 ratio also. I still would not suggest running your 038 without a muffler though.

100_2029.jpg

100_2034.jpg
 
Comparing those old dinosaurs to a modern saw like an 038 is apples and oranges though. Those old dinosaurs usually topped out around 6k RPM and generated peak power at even lower Rs. A modern saw like the 038 is topping out at 12,500 and generates peak power around 9k. So things are moving a lot faster inside the 038 engine.

If you absolutely have to run it without the muffler- as mentioned above, tune it really rich.
 

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