Dolmar 5100s melting down

[blsnelling]

Yep, you're right it was speculation, my bad but how many of these 5100 posts are likely propaganda?

They are usually always new members. They always rat on Dolmar big time. They can never show any proof/pic. They never are willing to sell the saw to another member. You never see burned up 5100s for sale, oh I know they all happened under warranty but funny how most claim they can't even get the dealer or Dolmar to do anything.

I understand they may not want to tear their saw down to take a picture but come on, that's not at all necessary. How about just a picture showing a detailed receipt of a warranty claim? Nope, that is never available either......How convenient!

I'm not claiming they're all bogus but you'd have to be awfully naive to believe some of these threads. Funny how not one member who claims his 5100 blew up, knows how to use a digital camera or upload a picture to the internet. :monkey:

No need for pictures or burned up saws on Ebay ; there's simply too much evidence on this forum alone. For that particular reason, one should not always shoot the bad news messenger, unless he's real bogus. And there are, I agree with you on that one, but it usually is very easy to distinguish a bogus brand basher from a genuine complaint on AS.

+1 Belgain. The 5100 is a good saw, but there's no denying the fact that a lot of them have burned up. To think anything else is only fooling yourself, denial.

 

[Fastcast]

+1 Belgain. The 5100 is a good saw, but there's no denying the fact that a lot of them have burned up. To think anything else is only fooling yourself, denial.

......so have a lot of other saws of different brands so denial is 2 way street Mr. Snelling.

 

[jwales21]

I called my dealer about the "sluggishness". He told be to call Dolmar and maybe they could walk me through some adjustments. Unbelievable. That's the last contact I will have with him.

I did go out to the wood pile last night and cut some cookies with the saw. One problem seems to be acceleration time from sqeeze of the trigger to full rpms. There seems to be more of a lag than before. Once I let it reach full rpms and then started cutting, it seemed somewhat better, but still not where it should be when in the wood. I'm gonna run a few more tanks through it before I adust anything. We'll see what happens.

Even after all I've been through with this saw, I do believe that this is a pretty darn good saw and I'm bound and determined to get it running right!

 

[blsnelling]

......so have a lot of other saws of different brands so denial is 2 way street Mr. Snelling.

No other current production pro saw is reported to burn up with the regularity that the 5100S does.

 

[04ultra]

I bought 4 burnt up 5100's in the last year ....Here is a picture .........






.

 

[belgian]

No other current production pro saw is reported to burn up with the regularity that the 5100S does.

that is a pretty bold statement...we only have a view maybe of 0,00001% of the saws being sold....

Speculative arguments have little value in the real world.

 

[Wrencher]

Check out number three. might be worth it to fiddle around with this setting a bit...or even to do the whole saw from step one.

 

[Fastcast]

I bought 4 burnt up 5100's in the last year ....Here is a picture .........






.

LMAO......That's NOT a 5100....That's a 346.

 

[Fastcast]

One problem seems to be acceleration time from sqeeze of the trigger to full rpms. There seems to be more of a lag than before. Once I let it reach full rpms and then started cutting, it seemed somewhat better, but still not where it should be when in the wood. I'm gonna run a few more tanks through it before I adust anything. We'll see what happens.

The saw is running lean......You better turn the (L) jet screw, counter clockwise, in small increments, until the acceleration becomes crisp or it will be fried again in short order.

 

[04ultra]

LMAO......That's NOT a 5100....That's a 346.

............Most would'nt know that ...........I seem to buy plenty of them that cant seem to get past the warranty time frame ......


.

 

[8433jeff]

And now you will have excited the saw troll. Way to go. And yes, it is running lean, or should I say I think its running lean also.

 

[belgian]

............Most would'nt know that ...........I seem to buy plenty of them that cant seem to get past the warranty time frame ......

.

You did not fool me, Mr Ultra..... To be honoust, of all the old saws I find on my hunt for collector saws, huskies are by far the ones that are likely to be frozen up or have lost compression.

It's the faith of a hotrod saw. But even then, these are extremely fun saws to run.

 

[DMShaver]

If you would like more detailed info on tuning a 5100 carb, look at this thread.
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=76933

 

[CHEVYTOWN13]

The Dolmar Gang runs the AS SALOON™

Have you bought that little red screwdriver and tach yet?

Like you were told, adjust your L setting. It sounds like the tuning is in the ballpark and you might not have to remove the caps. Otherwise, you'd be complaining about having a hard time starting/high idle or it's too rich because it's farting big time on the throttle. Move the L setting counter clockwise in very small increments. At the same time, move your idle setting clockwise the same amount at least to keep you in the ball park as far as idle is concerned. Adjust until the throttle is crisp.

Now, bust out the tach and easily set the H setting to 14,200 and run it in some wood to fine tune and no more drama (Al H production!):smoking:

rbtree HAS RUN A 5100S COMMERCIALLY IN A HARDCORE PLATFORM (PIPED) FOR OVER 4 YEARS AND HE'S NEVER, IN THAT TIME, MENTIONED THAT IT GOT BLOWDED UP. WHO WANTS TO TALK SMACK ABOUT HIS SAW?


So it's either operator error to blame or it's the "car parts store Dolmar dealer...":hmm3grin2orange:

BTW, my 5100S is an ebay saw AND I also learned how to tune using the same 5100S:jawdrop:

 

[belgian]

Now, bust out the tach and easily set the H setting to 14,200 and run it in some wood to fine tune and no more drama (Al H production!):smoking:

BTW, my 5100S is an ebay saw AND I also learned how to tune using the same 5100S:jawdrop:

Of all the saw users out there, maybe 1% knows how to tune a saw correctly. What do you propose for the other 99% opcorn:

 

[CHEVYTOWN13]

Not to listen to you on this topic:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[jwales21]

Have you bought that little red screwdriver and tach yet?

Like you were told, adjust your L setting. It sounds like the tuning is in the ballpark and you might not have to remove the caps. Otherwise, you'd be complaining about having a hard time starting/high idle or it's too rich because it's farting big time on the throttle. Move the L setting counter clockwise in very small increments. At the same time, move your idle setting clockwise the same amount at least to keep you in the ball park as far as idle is concerned. Adjust until the throttle is crisp.

Now, bust out the tach and easily set the H setting to 14,200 and run it in some wood to fine tune and no more drama (Al H production!):smoking:

rbtree HAS RUN A 5100S COMMERCIALLY IN A HARDCORE PLATFORM (PIPED) FOR OVER 4 YEARS AND HE'S NEVER, IN THAT TIME, MENTIONED THAT IT GOT BLOWDED UP. WHO WANTS TO TALK SMACK ABOUT HIS SAW?


So it's either operator error to blame or it's the "car parts store Dolmar dealer...":hmm3grin2orange:

BTW, my 5100S is an ebay saw AND I also learned how to tune using the same 5100S:jawdrop:

I did buy a tach and little screwdriver. I put it on the tach last night and it read 14,000-14,200. So it sounds like a little adusting on the L side should do the trick.

 

[CHEVYTOWN13]

That's half the battle bro. Having the proper tools. Good on you brother

Play with your L setting. Don't go clockwise from here on out, until you reach that wall (the saw is 4 stroking/smoking and not running well) and you have to start clockwise to set it to the final tuning.

There will come a day where you might have to adjust the L setting to compensate for altitude or weather conditions. Unless it's for altitude, it will usually be in very small increments. Or maybe you can get away with it and leave the tuning as is. But no doubt that it will not be at it's optimum performance.

If your screwdriver has a tab on it, use it to take note where your setting is once the screwdriver is set in the screw ready to adjust.

 

[JustinM]

So it's either operator error to blame or it's the "car parts store Dolmar dealer...":hmm3grin2orange:

I think the latter has a HUGE amount to do with it.

I know there are some amazing Dolmar dealers out there (I have one now) but I also know there are a LOT of crappy ones. Im not saying there arent crappy Husky/Stihl dealers too, but in my own experience, there seem to be more crap Dolly dealers than any other brand.

I know of at least 2 people from 2 separate dolmar dealers out here that were given saws in the box when they ordered them. Never opened, never tested, never tuned. I dont know of any Husky/Stihl dealers in these parts that do this.

I have tried to figure out why & all I can figure out is that while many Stihl/Husky dealers are "saws first" type of shops, most of the dolmar dealers in these parts are "small engine first" shops - who happen to carry saws too.

 

[JustinM]

I did buy a tach and little screwdriver. I put it on the tach last night and it read 14,000-14,200. So it sounds like a little adusting on the L side should do the trick.

Im glad someone else brought it up because I was thinking your L screw might be the thing to try.

One thing to keep in mind with the 5100 is that the limiter tabs on the L & H screws are often very limiting. You might find that to get the saw into the proper rich state you need to trim those tabs. They are there for EPA emissions standards so as I understand it, most dealers wont remove them for you, you'll have to do it yourself.