New guy with a crazy 372xp question

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Kocherjj

ArboristSite Lurker
Joined
Apr 23, 2011
Messages
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Location
Southeast PA
Hello, folks. A little background here, I am NOT an arborist or professional tree cutter of any kind.

I have always loved wood and when I get the chance to cut a nice straight tree I jump at it. I know a guy with a portable sawmill so I can slice up the logs into lumber and I cut the remains for firewood.

Last spring I lost access to a friends large Husky chainsaw which I would borrow when I needed one. It finally died and he bought a new one and is not so happy to lend it as his old beater. So I went searching for saw of my own.

Thanks in no small part to this forum, when I found a 372xp for sale on ebay I bought it. I did see the warning about "I bought it on ebay" threads, but I'm just giving you guys the background. The saw was advertised as having been checked by a Husky dealer and given a green light in all areas, and I picked it up for $400.

It needed a new chain but other than that it cut just fine. However, the fuel cap leaked and the oiler occasionally stopped functioning so when I hit December I took it to a nearby Timber shop which was highly recommended by a couple acquaintances and the guy there is a licensed husky servicer.

I told him about the oiler issue, and asked him to replace the cap while he was at it and just go over the saw seeing if there were any other things to take care of. I also mentioned that occasionally after running it sideways it would lose some power, but it would come back after sitting for a minute.

I never heard from him, and when I called I would always get the "He'll call you back tomorrow with some info", and never hear back. I am usually at work before he opens, and can't get there til he closes, and I heard he'd been in and out of the hospital so I tried to be patient, but after months of calling every two weeks and always getting the same "we'll call you tomorrow" with no results, I went down yesterday after he opened and asked for it back. He was on the phone for 20 minutes while I stood there waiting for him, and I had to leave to get to a dentist appointment, which is why I had the day free in the first place, so I asked the secretary to please tell him I was coming this morning to pick it up.

This morning I got there and he brings me a box of parts, which he promises has everything that belongs to my saw in it. The saw is stripped to nothing, just two large chunks, and a thousand small parts. I asked him why it wasn't back together, because it did work for me before I brought it in, and he told me that he would charge me $300 just to reassemble it. I said forget it, and he gave me a whole rundown of "issues" he'd found. He said the cylinder itself is in perfect condition, compression and all that, but he said the carburetor (which is completely disassembled) was missing gaskets and had dirt all inside it. He said the muffler bolts were missing, and the fuel tank vent was bad, and the oiler was shot, and the starter rope was too short, and the ignition wire was damaged, and on and on and on....

He also told me that in his opinion I would spend more getting it working than buying a new one, which he said would be in the $700 range and he'd gladly sell me one. And my question, which might be impossible to answer, just looking for opinions and ideas, is, is he right? How could so much really be wrong with the saw, and yet it worked fine for the most part? Should I really just write this saw off? I've looked at a few threads on rebuilds, but I've never rebuilt a small engine which I didn't disassemble myself, and this pile of unrecognizable parts is rather daunting. What do you guys think my best options are?

Thanks ahead of time,
Judah
 
1. Welcome to AS.

2. The guy who "diagnosed" your saw fooked you...royally. He should have never torn the saw down until you OKd the repairs.

3. We can walk you through putting the saw back together & figuring out any issues. You can find the IPL easily on the internet (see link), but you might need the year to get the correct IPL. Service manuals are available, ask in the Beg For Manuals thread here, if it's still open. If not, send me a PM.

Husqvarna Chainsaw Parts List Directory
 
Welcome to the forum kocherjj.

Sorry to hear about all this, but it sounds to me that you got screwed. With that said, it does sound like you gave the shop guy free reign to pretty much do what ever he wanted too with it. You should of told him to fix the oiler and get you an new gas cap, and then try to figure out why it wasn't running correctly.

Personally if this was my problem, this is what I would do:

1. I would try to find all the literature on your year of saw for the 372XP. Service, repair, and operating manuals. These can probably be had for free on the net if you look around. I personally don't have this saw so I can't point you in the right direction to look

2. Educate yourself and get familiar with the saw and its parts. Lay it out in a nice line across a table or floor. Hopefully you have the room. Think of it as a fun jigsaw puzzle. :)

3. Start pieceing it back togeather. In the process, rebulid your oiler and and get it a new gas cap. Also, rebuild your carb if needs be. If your unsure about something, ask on this forum, thats what its here for. Order the parts that you need, preferably not from the guy that but you in this situation to begin with.

I know it seems daughting and tedious, but once you get your hand dirty it will get easier.

Personally I wouldn't buy a new saw. I would get this one back up and running.

rcowboy
 
I know alot of people may have good luck on ebay-or craigslist, but unless I can go look at, and completley over a saw for myself, sorry maybe just me, but Im not gonna shell out cash on just pictures to ebay. I may on a bar or a part or two, but not hundreds of dollars. Im not saying anything bad on youre part, because ive been tempted by ebay, and read stuff from guys who sound trustworthy too. Its a tough call, but I think when buying used try, and find something within driving range so you can examine it. There are guys on this site who are trustworthy, and if I were to buy on someones word I would do it here first. As the saw shop that guy is a piece of work. I am lucky here mine is a father son team. The best I have ever seen. The others may not be as weasily as the one you found, but they arent as good here either few, and far between. Find out where youre local pros- like loggers- Tree companies etc go, and that is where you should go. That guy you dealt with I would go back, and tell him he owes you 400 bucks or put the saw together, and dont take no for a answer period!
 
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That guy you dealt with I would go back, and tell him he owes you 400 bucks or put the saw together, and dont take no for a answer period!


While I agree the shop guy should reassemble the saw, I wouldn't trust the guy to put the saw back together properly. It sounds like he was shooting for a new saw sale to begin with; who knows what he might do to the saw?
 
I say fix this saw too, I think alot of dealers don't like it when people buy a saw online. So they make sure it doesn't go well for you. Not all dealers are honest, and if business is slow, who knows. Like car repair shops. It should be alot less to reassemble the saw. You may be better off to mail it to someone to put together for you if no honest repair shop or home mechanic can fix it. Dave.
 
WOW that is pretty shocking to say the least.
I say rebuild it ! Replacing the oil pump is not big deal and a couple of bolts here and there isnt going to cost the earth.
If you need any help what so ever, I have rebuilt 4 372,s from the bones up so I am happy to help and I sure all the other guys of AS would be aswell. We can help you out of this mess and see if we cant get you a strong running saw.

Simon
 
I say fix it. 372 parts is plentiful, and is a very popular saw. Look at an IPL and if theres any doubts, some of us here can walk you through it.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

I'd love to have the knowledge to maintain my saw, and I have plenty of basic experience tuning up mowers and weedwhackers and such, but nothing this in depth since I rebuilt a troybuilt tractor engine that died on me when I was thirteen. The fact is that this is my only saw, I don't have a fleet of them, and my wife and I are expecting our first child in less than two weeks, and so I'm working late building cabinets in my shop every night as it is. That's what I've been doing this afternoon too.

I was hoping to get two major questions answered, and at least one of them has been. There seems to be a general consensus that this saw is worth repairing. I guess I still need to figure out if it's something too in depth for me to tackle myself with the constraints I have. Would it still be worth it if I paid a saw mechanic to do it for me? Or only if I do it myself. I love getting old machines working and always have. Everything from computers to water heaters to shotguns, but my time is very limited right now and I am wondering how much time I should estimate putting into this saw to see it running again. At some point I can make money doing what I'm good at faster than I can save money rebuilding the saw myself.

I agree that I gave the shop guy too much leeway. Like I said, he's been recommended to me by other husky owners as a guy who really knows his stuff, so I was thinking he'd maybe tune it up better than I could and tweak things I didn't know about. I certainly wasn't expecting this. I still have no idea if there was anything wrong with the saw when I bought it other than the occasional oiler problem, and the cap I could've replaced myself, but I thought I'd let him do it while he had it. It seemed to run just fine, and cut up several large trees. But I don't see how there is any way to prove or disprove what was or wasn't broken when.

How would I find out what year this saw was manufactured? The serial number plate on the front left side above the oil reservoir seems to be missing and A049 is written there in blue ink. Would the SN be anywhere else on the saw?

And lastly, is anyone here from the Chester County, PA area with a recommendation on a good shop in case I need one on the future?
 
At this point in the game i think you might have to do the work yourself to make it cost effective.

The saw is definitely worth rebuilding and between searching on this site and picking up a manual in the beg for manuals thread you'll be able to do most everything needed to repair it. After re-reading your original post the issues that your mechanic came up with really weren't that severe, at all.

If all else fails, you could sell it here on the classifieds and get a fair price.
 
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Unless he split the case for some unknown reason it should not take anybody familiar with saws more than an hour to put it back together. Carb kit is $15 or so, muffler bolts are a few bucks, tank vent the same. $300 means he doesn't feel like messing with it, which he should have said to start with.
 
So you went in with a leaking fuel cap and at most needed an oil pump.
man oh man. I'm glad it wasn't me because i woulda been cussin' his a$$ flat out.
 
Or he could send it to Mr. Snellerizer to be put back together, with porting and a muff mod done... :) It'd cost a little, but it would be worth it to have it done. :)
 
You already found the site, and that is about the hardest part to your dilema.

Post pics what you got, people on the site can hook you up with a shop manual and you can figure out the rest. If you get stumped, post your problem and the guys here will know the answer. That way you can put this to rest already and focus on your upcoming kid, btw congrats!
 
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