Common man looking for a chainsaw on a budget

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Yes, and if the piston and cylinder are scored and maybe the ring stuck, etc, it won't make enough compression to start. Stuff happens, I toasted a new saw at around nine tanks because my ears suck and it was running too lean (factory setting with limiters still on..those people at the epa are crazy, burn up small engines on purpose). Learned my lesson, now I tune to what I think is correct, then a scosh richer. I'm sure not perfect, but makes saws usable.
 
How do I check the vent?

If it is like other ones, inside the cap should come apart (carefully) and there will be a "duckbill" shaped small rubber flap that closes unless air demand from fuel being used causes it to open and vent. Just a little flexible guy. If it is vent in cap, there should be a hole in the center of the cap perhaps, on the outside. I took a look at an ipl and didn't see anything else that looked like a vent in the tank.

I have one of these but it is put away as a "get a round tuit" deal sometime, only started it once, so I can't claim to be real familiar with them. Tons of other projects ahead of it. I have worked on a lot of other poulans and for the most part, are usually real easy to work on.
 
Just looked online at replacement caps, those caps have the mesh metal vent in there some place. Like a compressed screen, little plug probably. Vent is in the cap though.

What gets me is you said pressure when you opened it, not vacuum. A vacuum and hiss sound when opening it is what a blocked vent does. Pressure would be overheating, boiling fuel, vapor expansion.
 
Just looked online at replacement caps, those caps have the mesh metal vent in there some place. Like a compressed screen, little plug probably. Vent is in the cap though.

What gets me is you said pressure when you opened it, not vacuum. A vacuum and hiss sound when opening it is what a blocked vent does. Pressure would be overheating, boiling fuel, vapor expansion.
Exactly. Both things are fuel related. I've had one "vapor lock" too I used a torch tip cleaner to re open that vent from the cap thru the hole. One min fix. Most cases it's something simple and we look for something big, completely missing the small problem.
 
Neither a vent problem or vapor lock will prevent a cold saw from starting, especially if the cap's been loosened to vent the tank. The purge bulb is pumping fuel and not drawing air, so the lines and check valve must be OK. That does not mean it can deliver fuel to the outlet ports, so the idle circuit could be blocked. The ignition coil could have failed. Plug could be bad. - lots of possibilities.

Still, this was a relatively new saw that was running OK, although it was reconditioned. While possible, it seems unlikely something just failed, more likely something that happened to it.
 
What are the chances that my "tuning" attempt made something go wrong w/ regards to starting?
 
What are the chances that my "tuning" attempt made something go wrong w/ regards to starting?
The only two I can think of that would be related to tuning are:

1. The needles are set so far off it won't start now.

2. Running hard previously with it set too lean scored the cylinder and/or piston so badly it doesn't have enough compression any more.

I don't know if either of those are true, just trying to diagnose over the internet.
 
What are the chances that my "tuning" attempt made something go wrong w/ regards to starting?
That is very possible. It is also possible that you fouled the plug. Do you still have spark? Are you full of fuel? Have you tried going back to your starting point.
Idle setc to where butterfly is just open. Low 1.5 turns out and high 1.5 turns out.
It should start but will need adjusted.
 
That is very possible. It is also possible that you fouled the plug. Do you still have spark? Are you full of fuel? Have you tried going back to your starting point.
Idle setc to where butterfly is just open. Low 1.5 turns out and high 1.5 turns out.
It should start but will need adjusted.

Working on it, my carb tool went missing (kids).
 
Ms241, 261, 362 ; Or: Husq 545, 550xp or 555, 562xp (Jonsered sells comparable models)- Etc.

I took a quick look and every one of those is out of my budget by a fair bit except that I don't know which Jonesred models to look at.
 

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