To answer some q's:
1. It never ran well in that after warm up it would
often stall when given gas.
2. Chain oil is/was full.
3. Chain had just a bit of slack. About right when
compared with my aged Poulan Pro (which I shall go
back to using after this dismal experience with echo).
4.On the occaision it smoked etc, never really got to
use it long enough to get it hot. Started smoking and the
black globs within seconds.
5. I'll try the local Echo-authorized repair place but they
have a really bad rep here.
6. Oh yes, here is durham nc
Dismal?
Sounds like the saw had a problem from the get go, was it setup at a dealer, or was it a HomeDepot purchase that you setup? If it was a dealer setup saw, you should have taken it back at the first sign of a problem, and allowed them an opportunity to repair it or replace it.
Continuing to use a saw that you know isnt working right isnt good.
We have a couple saws come back every year, usually it's people that have put the chain on backwards, fried the clutch with the brake on, straight gassed it, only had 2 total this whole season that had legitamate warranty problems.
One was an Echo hand held Power Blower. The hub that secures the fan failed, the flywheel came loose as a result. Echo had a new hub, hardware and flywheel on our counter that afternoon, and the customer picked it up the following morning, no charge at all, and our apoligies.
The other was an Echo SRM-210 trimmer. The customer brought it back 2 weeks after purchasing it, said the recoil wouldnt engage. I found sand all behind the recoil, it has wedged the starter pawl over.. I cleaned it out, worked great. Came back a week later, same problem, once again, full of sand. But now it wouldnt rev up. I pulled the carb down, and it had dirt in it.
So I blew it out, replaced the fuel filter, air filter, etc...worked like new.
Came back a month later, wouldnt rev up.
Echo said to put on a new Carb, new recoil assembly with pawls. Did it...so far, it seems to have worked.
I put the carb off that trimmer on the trimmer we use at the shop and it has had a good 5 hours put on it and works flawlessly...so I dont know.