Chainsaw quit on me?

[John Timm]

I will inspect it again tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions! By

 

[alexcagle]

The fact that it won't draw fuel from the carb, but will fire when fuel is put in the spark plug hole directly Into the combustion chamber leads me to think crankshaft seal. Either popped out of the case caused by a bad crank bearing (s) or bearings loose in the case, or a tear from wood debris of the seal. A large leak or popped out crank seal will cause Intake air vacuum to pull from the easiest path from what I've ever witnessed. You just need to find what caused the leak In the seal. A saw with an impulse hose even completely pulled away will usually start, but will idle poorly, bog and die out. Probably the clutch side would be my guess since that side takes the most abuse and shocks.

 

[Cycledude]

Does your saw have one of those primer bulbs ? My Echo has a primer and one of the primer hoses came off, sounded like it was running out of gas, after I put the hose back on it ran fine.

 

[John Timm]

Update on the saw. Dealer called and said it's the coil. Looks like this is gonna cost me a little over $200 to get it fixed! Expensive fix, but at least it's not toast!

 

[user 122190]

Be suspicious. Overwhelming consensus here that it is a fuel or impulse line. Probably multiples of real experience here vs. the local shop.

 

[71dart]

I only ran it a minute if that. If I put gas in the carb it will fire.

Usually if it'll fire with a little fuel down the carb, that indicates a fuel problem. I'm curious to hear how the dealer diagnosed the coil being bad.

 

[John Timm]

Claimed he checked the carb and impulse line and everything was fine with them then realized there was very little spark, which I had seen but wasn't sure how much spark to look for on a saw?

 

[John Timm]

This is what I hate about anyone "untrusted" working on anything.....wondering if someone is getting taken advantage of?!

 

[Cycledude]

Many years ago my old Husqvarna 61 suddenly quit running , no spark so took it to the dealer I bought it from, ignition system was shot, cost me $150 to have it fixed, I was not happy but I trusted the dealer very well, saw has run great ever since they fixed it .

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I wouldn't pay $200 to get a saw fixed no matter what was wrong with it. You can buy coils on ebay for less than $40 and install it yourself, assuming it really is the coil. Just looked on ebay and Dolmar parts are a little higher than most but still not near $100.

 

[John Timm]

The coil costs $80 according to the dealer. The rest must be labor.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

$120 labor to replace a coil???!!!!

Even if they charge some flat, customary diagnosis fee.... that's still insane...

On any saw I have worked on (admittedly not near as many as some folks here, but a fair amount nonetheless) the coil can be swapped out in about 15 minutes, tops.

I'm guessing they charge $50 to diagnose and are charging an hour labor... Maybe they have a minimum 1 hour labor charge???

I don't like to rag on the small business man too much but still, that's pretty steep to swap a coil....

 

[John Timm]

Yeah, I'm questioning this myself? Being that I've never had to bring in a saw before? The price seems outrageous?! Anyone else have a opinion on this?

 

[RedFir Down]

Ask them for a break down of the charges and let us know.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

You could almost ship the saw to one of us to install the new coil and ship it back to you for the same or less. If in fact it is the coil.... Which doesn't sound like the case to me either. But, my eyes and hands are not on your saw so I have to assume they properly diagnosed it.

 

[merc_man]

I would ask is they did a pressure /vac test too to rule out crank seal or other air leak.

 

[John Timm]

I am going to call tomorrow and ask what the labor charges are as well as diagnosis charges?

 

[user 122190]

A monkey could replace the coil. A kid knowing only how to use a wrench and screwdriver can replace a chainsaw coil in 20 minutes.

I don't quite get how a weak spark can cause a saw to run faster then idle with no throttle input. A weak spark the saw at best should barely run.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

If you can put fuel in the spark plug hole and get it to start I don't think it has a bad coil.

 

[John Timm]

What you guys are saying makes sense. I am really questioning who I am dealing with at this point. I don't know how difficult it is to put a coil on a Dolmar 5100, or how much time it would take? He's charging me $80 for the coil and $11 shipping, which I am also questioning?