Craftsman- Poulan not running good ? This may be your simple answer

[sweetgumsux]

I have a 20 inch Craftsman 50 cc chainsaw. Bought it new for around $200 a few years ago. It never seemed to run correctly, even after I made several adjustments to the Hi/Lo carb settings. It would start , but stop running after several cuts and then it did not start back up while the motor was hot.

I was about to toss it out and give up on it. I did some research and someone on youtube said to try this EASY adjustment and see if it fixes the issue.

The adjustment on the spark plug is supposed to be .023 . The guy said to adjust it to .030 and that .023 was to small a gap . He said once the motor gets real hot and you try to restart it, the gap is to small and the spark isn't big enough to get it running again. He also said to drill some holes in the plastic cover that goes over the air filter to allow the air filter more air intake { evidently the cover restricts the airflow a bit to much} .

I did both of these mods, took a couple minutes. The craftsman runs great now and starts up easily even when the motor is hot. I almost threw this saw away, thinking it was just a defective cheap saw, or had some type of air leak around the cylinder gasket, etc.

I wasn't sure if this info had been shared on this forum yet.

 

[Dader]

Good info,thanks,this can apply to many types of saws.I'll put that in my memory bank for future use.

 

[Mustang71]

I have thought about opening the air filter up a bit on those saws but I figured it would get dirty real real quick if I did.

I clean and sharpen saws after every use so it's not a big issue but I don't want to use it for a half an hour and the filter is plugged.

 

[sweetgumsux]

I have thought about opening the air filter up a bit on those saws but I figured it would get dirty real real quick if I did.

I clean and sharpen saws after every use so it's not a big issue but I don't want to use it for a half an hour and the filter is plugged.

Yes....this is why I opened up the air filter cover with several holes drilled in it, BUT, put a snipped pair of pantyhose around the whole air filter itself. This keeps the wood chips out and allows the filter to breathe more air.

 

[Kenskip1]

If I am not mistaken this is the Poulan Pro.50 CC. A decent saw for the price.Get a good chain on it and remove the limiter caps and it should wake up and really surprise you.

 

[sweetgumsux]

If I am not mistaken this is the Poulan Pro.50 CC. A decent saw for the price.Get a good chain on it and remove the limiter caps and it should wake up and really surprise you.

heres the saw...and yes, the stock chain was garbage...

https://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-50...r=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=craftsman+5-+cc+chainsaw

Seen em go on sale for $169 sometimes. Mine runs great now....no muffler mods done...just gap plug to .030 and drill holes in air filter cover.

 

[Mustang71]

Yea i was thinking of the wrong poulan.

 

[old guy]

Yup that is a poulan 5020, no limiter caps but it does take a a splined tool to adjust.
Don't bother modding the muffler, there's nothing in it.

 

[Mustang71]

I made one out of a blue electrical butt connector and a piece of 10 wire. I saw it on YouTube. It works pretty good.