misstobers
ArboristSite Lurker
A friend (very non-technically inclined fellow) asked me what chain saw to buy. I told him a Stihl ms250. He went to the dealer: got chaps, gas can, saw ... the whole works. About 6 trees into it he decides to cut up a creosote laden telephone pole in his yard. Not sure what happened next, but pretty soon the saw was smoking like crazy and wouldn't run. Brought it to the dealer. They said it was "toast." And, since it was "user error," they refused to honor the warranty. I saw him at church today; he saw he just put it in his trash can. What?? I went and got it from him. Looks brand new. Here's all I know: 1. it isn't locked up. 2. if you pull on the rope it will come an inch or two, then fight back, then come a little more. It would break your arm if you tried to pull it enough to start it. 3. if you remove the spark plug, the rope pulls fine/cylinder moves fine. 4. I could only get 30 psi on my compression gauge (but I can't reconcile this with #2). 5. I removed the muffler -- looks good to me (but I'm not sure what I'm looking for). I could just start taking it apart, but I thought I'd ask for wisdom here first. Thank you. Rick