Stihl 044 Saw Tuner/Mechanic

Treestuff
Rugged made
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

MFL

ArboristSite Lurker
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
36
Reaction score
48
Location
Essexville, Mi
I have a 10mm 044 I picked up on this site a while back that I am now having issues with. 1/2 way through my cutting last weekend it started running lean. The carburetor adjustments make very little difference in the tune. The previous owner replaced seals, fuel lines and piston. Probably only has 5 tanks run through the saw since I purchased but it has been 1 1/2 years. It did run great prior to this weekend. I can get the saw to idle but not without engaging the clutch and rolling the saw in all positions does not affect the tune. I took the carb apart and did a 1/2 ass job of cleaning and nothing looked bad. I say 1/2 ass because I am not a carb expert and only disassembled to a point. Was not comfortable going further based on my experience. The fuel is about 2 months old but it was rec fuel so no ethanol. My next move is to dump fresh in and try but do not expect any results. I wouldn't think it would run great than develop an issue after an hour of cutting all on the same fuel but it is an easy check. If I do not get results from fresh fuel I will be looking for someone to diagnose and repair for me. I am located in mid-michigan but a saw can be shipped anywhere.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Pat
 
I have 2 10mm 044, going to sell soon since i'm late on credit cards, but great saws. If the fuel screen is not clogged in the carb and no obvious debris in the carb, I would do a pressure/vacuum test if you have the means to ID any air leaks, Check the impulse line, is it still rubbery or is it stiff? I also prefer to green ethanol resistant fuel line, though if you store dry and run ethanol-free fuel, should be fine. Work on this saw is no different than really any other, even simpler than newer ones. Make sure the cylinder bolts are tight too and the intake tube is not torn.
 
Don't run her again till you get it fingered out. A pressure test is what she needs. It's possible that one of those crank seals lost its spring during installation or the intake boot has surrendered to the ravages of time.
 
To answer Derrick's reply earlier my fuel lines are nice and soft. I do not have the tooling available to pressure/vacuum test but it sure seems to act like an air leak. IMG_0237.JPG It is a Walbro HD17 carb.
 
If you were horsing on it very likely a torn boot between the carb and cylinder. get it running and put pressure on the top and bottom of the bar, any changes in the way it runs would be a torn boot. Steve
 
Loosened the gas cap, no difference. Looked over the boot and by eye didn't notice anything. Impulse hose a little firm between airbag and cylinder but soft at carb connection. I think the best move would be pressure/vacuum test and go from there. I do not have the necessary equipment for this so I think I will send to another member that has more experience and knowledge. My gut tells me air leak or carb. I will update this post when we figure out the issue.
 
It's hard to see a tear in the carb boot by looking at it unless you take it off and flex it or have it running and apply pressure to the bar which flexes it. If you got it pinched and were horsing on it I'd really check that out good. Steve
 
I have yet to find a torn boot on a 044 or MS440 out of the 40 -50 odd ones I have reworked but have found most that exibit these same symptoms to have bad flywheel side seals, a few times both seals but more flywheel side ones on this series. Richening the carb up past its limiters will sometimes help a little but eventually the seal gets too loose and the saw revs very high rpm if it can be started at all.
 
If it idles high like 5K rpm maybe try spraying WD40 around intake area and cylinder area to see if theres a change in rpm, original carb on my 10mm 044's were zama c3m non intellicarb, so maybe check under the top shroud and check cylinder bolts and sometimes people replace with cylinder with decomp valve plugged, make sure the plug is tight too.
 
MFL said:
Loosened the gas cap, no difference. Looked over the boot and by eye didn't notice anything. Impulse hose a little firm between airbag and cylinder but soft at carb connection. I think the best move would be pressure/vacuum test and go from there. I do not have the necessary equipment for this so I think I will send to another member that has more experience and knowledge. My gut tells me air leak or carb. I will update this post when we figure out the issue.
Click to expand...
Impulse line could be leaking vac pressure test the whole thing though.
 
pioneerguy600 said:
I have yet to find a torn boot on a 044 or MS440 out of the 40 -50 odd ones I have reworked but have found most that exibit these same symptoms to have bad flywheel side seals, a few times both seals but more flywheel side ones on this series. Richening the carb up past its limiters will sometimes help a little but eventually the seal gets too loose and the saw revs very high rpm if it can be started at all.
Click to expand...


My o44 started idling too fast, I called a local logger and his first words were torn carb boot and he was right. Must have happened to him a few times. Steve
 

Similar threads

W
Bad gas? Weird running issues.
Replies
15
Views
822
lwmibc
L
ace4059
Possible new bad gas. What should I do?
6 7 8
Replies
154
Views
5K
Khntr85
Khntr85
D
Stihl 038 Woes
2 3
Replies
58
Views
2K
president
president
Dan hensley
MS 084 AV
2
Replies
22
Views
754
pioneerguy600
pioneerguy600
N
Husky 55 with 028 piston
Replies
8
Views
606
Nitris223
N

Latest posts

Back
Top