Burned up my 346xp!!!!!

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

the westspartan

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
1,116
Reaction score
212
Location
Western New York
I let two students use my saw last Thursday at my house to cut up some dead pine for a project they were working on. They come back like "We turned it off because it started smoking". I went out to try to restart it. seemed like it had low compression and it wouldn't start. Pulled the muffler and damned if the piston isn't scored all to hell.
 
Damn kids may of touched the bar in the dirt and dulled the chain and preceded to run the crap out of the saw, have them help you rebuild it.
 
Could have been bad gas, but I don't think so as it was non-ethanol and not that old. They were using my fuel, so I know it was mixed right. I think it was more of the dull chain and bogging the hell out of it. They were really sorry, I just told them "don't sweat it, but next time I'll run it with you for a while". It sucks, its a bunch of money but at least they didn't cut their legs off.
 
Could have been bad gas, but I don't think so as it was non-ethanol and not that old. They were using my fuel, so I know it was mixed right. I think it was more of the dull chain and bogging the hell out of it. They were really sorry, I just told them "don't sweat it, but next time I'll run it with you for a while". It sucks, its a bunch of money but at least they didn't cut their legs off.

On the bright side no one got hurt true!
 
My Dad (God rest his soul) told me never to loan out my wife or my chainsaw.
I'll be keeping that pearl of wisdom. Still kinda hard to believe cause the 346 is
a pretty darn tough little saw. Guess anything can be run to death though if you try hard enough.
Hope you can revive it for not too much cost.
 
Or send it out for porting...

I totally agree.
Send it to Mastermind and you will look back on this event as a good thing. I hate it that your 346 got damaged. Having Mastermind lay hands on it will bring it back and turn it into something special.
 
Anybody know what a P&C goes for for one of these? It's an NE and I'd like to go OEM. Might not need the cylinder, just wondering. I may message one of our builders and see what it would cost to get it rebuilt and ported in one shot as I don't have much time right now to do it myself.
 
Anybody know what a P&C goes for for one of these? It's an NE and I'd like to go OEM. Might not need the cylinder, just wondering. I may message one of our builders and see what it would cost to get it rebuilt and ported in one shot as I don't have much time right now to do it myself.

$200 for OEM.
 
Anybody know what a P&C goes for for one of these? It's an NE and I'd like to go OEM. Might not need the cylinder, just wondering. I may message one of our builders and see what it would cost to get it rebuilt and ported in one shot as I don't have much time right now to do it myself.

Cost should be about 25.00 at the most for cleaning up the cylinder+ price of a new piston. Most of the time I never charge anyone for cleaning up the jug. If you need to replace the top end, then it should be just the cost of the port work and the new top end. The plating of the 346 cylinder is fairly tuff, I would bet it will clean up.
A lot of the local Amish tribe here run the 346s because they like the rpms they produce. Thats all good but they have no clue how to sharpen a chain. I replace about 10 pistons a year for them. They don't have a problem with the 350,351 or 353s. It may be due to the higher chain speed, when they hit a rock with the 346 it may dull the cutter more. A dull chain on a high rpm saw ( or any saw) will cause it to over heat very rapidly.


Later
Dan
 
Last edited:
Was the chain dull when you got your saw back from the kids?
 
Was the chain dull when you got your saw back from the kids?

I didn't really even look at the chain when they brought it back. I have been so busy, I just pulled the muffler, said a few "cleansing words" and put it back together till I had time to deal with it. If I was a betting man I would say the chain is dull, but I'll check it out this week. I do remember one of them saying "It wasn't as fast or powerful right before it started smoking". Which leads me to believe they were having trouble cutting with the dull chain.
 
I am confused, I went back to your original post and you indicated they were using it at your house. Where were you while all this was going on? If you left kids unsupervised with a saw be thankful it was the only thing damaged.
 
I am confused, I went back to your original post and you indicated they were using it at your house. Where were you while all this was going on? If you left kids unsupervised with a saw be thankful it was the only thing damaged.

It was at my house, I live out in the woods and they were unsupervised on the other side of the property. I gave them detailed safety instructions over the course of a few days. These are college students that we are talking about here. I should have gone over saw safety a little more I guess.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top