Dolmar 5100 Carb Tuning

[Airecon]

I keep reading you need to richen this saw up, so maybe some of you Dolmar dealers or Dolmar pros can give me some advice. I've got both screws fully out to the stops now- the plug seems a little too light. Any tricks to getting the limiters off? I may just snip the stops off. What's a good starting point for this carb- the number of turns out for each screw? What revs are your saws turning. I know there's info on here about carb setting and at Madsens, but thought I would just ask again to see what the dealers are setting the revs at. I'm running Stihl Ultra 50:1.

Hope this dosen't turn into one of those Dolmar vs Stihl vs Husky matches like before because that doesn't help guys like me from running their saws lean.

Thanks!

 

[Brad101]

Heres my 2 cents. I set the 5100's I sell around 14300 with a tach. They seem to run good there. I do not take off the limiter tabs. What I do is take the top cover off and remove the rubber adjusting screw guide/cover. Just pull it straight up. Then, with a small screwdriver I push the limiter tabs outward to remove them from the splined screws. While holding the limiter out with one screwdriver, take another one and turn the limiter tab clockwise to the stops. This will allow you to go another aprox 1/3 turn richer when you push the cap back down on the adjusting screws. It might take doing this 2 or 3 times to get the adjustment you need. I would start by opening the low speed around 1/2 turn and the high speed 3/4 turn from stock settings and go from there with your tach. These saws are indeed set very lean from the factory.

 

[Kemper]

Heres my 2 cents. I set the 5100's I sell around 14300 with a tach. They seem to run good there. I do not take off the limiter tabs. What I do is take the top cover off and remove the rubber adjusting screw guide/cover. Just pull it straight up. Then, with a small screwdriver I push the limiter tabs outward to remove them from the splined screws. While holding the limiter out with one screwdriver, take another one and turn the limiter tab clockwise to the stops. This will allow you to go another aprox 1/3 turn richer when you push the cap back down on the adjusting screws. It might take doing this 2 or 3 times to get the adjustment you need. I would start by opening the low speed around 1/2 turn and the high speed 3/4 turn from stock settings and go from there with your tach. These saws are indeed set very lean from the factory.

I never thought of that, i guess i should have asked before i sniped mine off, i opened the high about a quarter turn past the stop,just to be on the safe side,after i heard a few had trouble from the factory settings. Mine may be a tad rich because it will 2 stroke sometimes on small wood,but with a load she will level out and scream.

 

[Brian VT]

I never thought of that, i guess i should have asked before i sniped mine off, i opened the high about a quarter turn past the stop,just to be on the safe side,after i heard a few had trouble from the factory settings. Mine may be a tad rich because it will 2 stroke sometimes on small wood,but with a load she will level out and scream.

Same here. Oh well, might as well port it and mod. the muffler now, eh ? lol

 

[Kemper]

Same here. Oh well, might as well port it and mod. the muffler now, eh ? lol

Yea, i would like to run one that has been ported and muffler modded, i bet it would be downright wicked!

 

[flatpikr]

Great day with my 5100

Spent all day cutting with an 044 and my almost new 5100. When I first got it, I just removed enough of the red tab to open it about 1/4 of a turn more. Made indelible black dots. Monday I cut with the saw (3rd time out) and put it about 1/8 extra open. Today I set it back to factory and man-o-man did she come alive. I feel good that I broke it in a little first. I cut at 6000 ft. so I can get away with more leaness than you can at sea level. I'm going to leave it at factory rich. What a cool saw.

 

[acbell]

Carb Adjustement Primer

Hi,

Can someone tell me how you know if a saw is running lean or rich? What do you need in order to set it properly? My 5100S is at factory settings and has been fine, but I was just wondering how you KNOW what adjustments to make and when to make them.

Thanks,

 

[blsnelling]

You'll need a tachometer to tell how fast it's running.

 

[acbell]

And...

Do you just set the carb so that the saw runs at the speed specified by the manual at full throttle?

 

[Brian VT]

Do you just set the carb so that the saw runs at the speed specified by the manual at full throttle?

If you are running the saw under ideal conditions, yes.
Unfortunately temperature, elevation, fuel, filter condition, etc. effect the burn.
You need to read the spark plug, the exhaust, the sound, etc. to be able to tune your engine for optimal settings for changing conditions. A tach. is very helpful too.
If you don't want to mess with it then have someone that knows how just set it a bit rich and fahgetabowtit.

 

[RNeurath]

Idle?

My 5100 starts right up but want to stall when you kick off the half throttle stop,However if you keep the revs up for about 5 seconds it idles fine and accelerates good.Obviously not a big problem.Saw is dealer tuned to run on avgas and is idling about 2700 rpm.It seems blow out a mighty amount of smoke while warming up and after idling for a while I notice a drop in rpm when tilting sideways although it doesn't stall.I'm guessing the low setting is a little rich.Does that seem right?It a new saw and you guys got scared to
to adjust any settings leaner.Thanks,Ron

 

[Airecon]

I ran my saw today cutting 20" White Oak- it ran and cut good. I've got the carbs screws turned out to the stops (Stihl Ultra 50:1). I was about half way through a cut and I shut it off at full throttle. I pulled the plug and half of it looked "very light tan/ white" the other half was dark grey. Seems like that might be too lean, but I checked the rpm and it never went over 14,300. I suppose I better try and richen it up some.

 

[Andyshine77]

I ran my saw today cutting 20" White Oak- it ran and cut good. I've got the carbs screws turned out to the stops (Stihl Ultra 50:1). I was about half way through a cut and I shut it off at full throttle. I pulled the plug and half of it looked "very light tan/ white" the other half was dark grey. Seems like that might be too lean, but I checked the rpm and it never went over 14,300. I suppose I better try and richen it up some.

You're probably Ok, but if you don't know how a saw should sound in the wood, I'd give it a bit more fuel just to be safe.

 

[RNeurath]

Just a word of warning.My 5100 seems at first to be rich by all indications.
At start up it smokes like a fogger and after a thorough warm up will not top 1300 rpm.But after cutting a few good size logs it revs to 14300.
Strangely this is what my dealer said to expect.He said this carburetor acts almost as if the saw had a cat muffler which it doesn't
This is the same dealer that modifies the foam gasket over the carb vent as Termite explained in an earlier post.Just cut a notch out of it.They have suggested this modification to the Dolmar techs who have been slow to respond but evidently don't have any problem with them making this modification.Personally I don't know squat accept it it runs and cuts good.

 

[Andyshine77]

Did you plug up the hole in the air filter? If not you're sucking in unfiltered air.

 

[Brian VT]

Yah, how did that gasket get torn ? Seems like an odd thing to have happen.
.
.

Did you plug up the hole in the air filter? If not you're sucking in unfiltered air.

 

[Kemper]

Notched out gasket?

WTF, No more air than the diaphram requires,i don't think that notching that gasket is a good idea, when that little hole fills up with sawdust,you will have created the same problem your trying to avoid...

 

[mowoodchopper]

I never thought of that, i guess i should have asked before i sniped mine off, i opened the high about a quarter turn past the stop,just to be on the safe side,after i heard a few had trouble from the factory settings. Mine may be a tad rich because it will 2 stroke sometimes on small wood,but with a load she will level out and scream.

That is exactly how mine is running! It will 4stroke a little on small stuff but you put it in a 10 inch log it 2 strokes and pulls like a banshee!

 

[Brian VT]

...i don't think that notching that gasket is a good idea

Oh....that's the mod he was talking about. Sorry for not following along.

 

[jack-the-ripper]

My 5100 tached 13,480 rpm's set from the factory after running 3 tanks of fuel through it (5 tanks as of today). I decided to mod the muffler so I split it half, removed the end of the baffle box inside & enlarged the original outlet to around twice the factory size. I cut the limiter tabs off and then I tuned it to 14,450 rpm's for one squeeze of the throttle. Retuned it back to 13,800 rpm's for now till it has 10 tanks through it. Here is a sound clip video of a cold start & pics of the muffler. Not the best video as it is a digital Kodak camera.

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