Poulan XXV/Craftsman 358.35504 Carb question

[kshansen]

I have the Craftsman saw in the title that I believe is the same as the XXV Poulan. I know it's not a big lumberjack saw but just for fun want to see if I can get it to run.

My question is about carb adjustments. I have no idea if someone has been playing with them. On this saw before cleaning the carb like I always try to do I ran the adjusters in to a light seat while counting the turns. Well the High Speed took about 1 1/4 turns, might be normal. Then I checked the low speed and it only took 1/4 turn which sounds odd to me.

Just wondering if there is some standard settings people use to get saw to start then fine tune after running.

For lack of any ideas I was thinking of starting where it is now and maybe back out 1/4 turn at a time to see if it will fire. Maybe 1/8 turn would be better?

 

[hotshot]

Initially start with both the L & H carb screws at 1 turn out CCW from fully seated in CW. The 1-1/4 out, on the high, is normal. Likely uses a Walbro WT-20 carb on it.

There’s a Poulan specific thread here on AS forum, under the “Chainsaw Stickies”, then go to “Nik’s Poulan Thread”. A lot of smart folks & some good micro XXV information in there.

Your saw is a later plastic micro series, and the Sears model number would be either a 358.355040 or an 041. You can go to the “The Beg for Manuals Thread” sticky thread & get a copy of an IPL and the service manual for reference. Attached is the Poulan sister saws’ IPL link.

https://www.poulanpro.com/tdrdownload//pub000011540/doc000030206

 

[kshansen]

Well I did, after a good number of trys get the saw to start at least for a short time. Then as I was trying to adjust mostly the low speed jet it quit and I could not get it to fire up again. By then I was tired of pulling the rope.

This saw I believe was only used a little when new and probably sat for ten years. Carb was surprisingly clean inside and diaphragm seemed nice and flexible. Other than general cleaning of the rest of saw the only thing I did was replace the fuel line as original seemed stiff.

I did check compression and not sure my gauge that I used years ago for car engines reads a small engine accurately but the best reading I saw was 90 psi or a little lower. If that is true could that be part of the starting/running problem? Thinking about pulling cylinder and see if the rig is gummed up from sitting.

Open to any ideas, like I may have said this project is more to prove I can fix it than actual need to fix it. I have three other saw that I can use and they usually start and run pretty good!

 

[hotshot]

Yes, 90 psi is too low to run well. Should be over 125 for that saw series with low hours.

Initially just pull the muffler off to inspect the rings & piston, instead of the whole cylinder.

Before you tear it down, do you have access to a vac/pressure tester?, as that should be performed first.

 

[kshansen]

Yes, 90 psi is too low to run well. Should be over 125 for that saw series with low hours.

Initially just pull the muffler off to inspect the rings & piston, instead of the whole cylinder.

Before you tear it down, do you have access to a vac/pressure tester?, as that should be performed first.

I did look in the exhaust port and as much as I can see does not look to be any scoring and pushing on ring with popsicle stick it does seem to move a little, at least on the exhaust port area.

Is there a link somewhere on this site or elsewhere on this testing?
I have an older version of this tool, we used it to check for leaks in piston wrist pin plugs on Detroit Diesel engines!


Also have a few odd pressure gauges laying around.

 

[hotshot]

Dozens of links on YouTube

 

[kshansen]

OK now I have some ideas of what to try next, due to the time of year and stepdaughter and her family coming this weekend it might be a few days. Thanks for the links to the tests.

I also have an older Toro weedeater that I might do some checks on as well to see if I can use some of the same ideas to see if it is worth playing with getting it running.