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babybart

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So, a few months back my dad drops off his 450 rancher and asks if I want it. I say sure, who does not want another saw. He only used it maybe 2-3 hours and had just picked it up from getting new fuel lines and such since it was sitting for a couple years. I use it a couple times and it is a nice saw but I am really attached to my Echo cs520 so that is my go to 50cc saw. A co-worker has a Stihl 290 that " just quit working " and is asking if I have any saws for sale. I tell him I just got an almost new 450 that I would sell him. We do a deal for some cash and other things about 2 weeks ago. So this past Saturday I needed to move a downed red oak from near the road that is drawing a lot of attention from passerby's. Start with the 288xp from @Johnmn that I put a 32" b/c on and go for a tank full. Finally got to run that saw after buying it a couple months ago, FUN. Move on to my 371xp with the 24" b/c for 2 tank fulls and finally the Echo with a 18" b/c to finish the cutting for the day, or so I thought. About 20 min in with the Echo which is very fuel efficient, I finish a cut and when I let off the throttle the idle is real high. I immediately cut the saw and can't believe I'm out of gas already. Clean my saw off, pop the fuel cap, more than half full and my heart drops. I am guessing that I have acquired an air leak but I don't have time to work on my saw right now, to many irons in the fire as it is. I didn't really have the time to spend all day cutting but is what it is. So, long story short, I have two 50cc saws not running, (the 290 came to me free because my buddy did not want to mess with it) , and no time to look at either one, after selling a perfectly good one I figured I did not need. Buddy loves it and I can not get it back. Long, boring story later I NEED to buy a saw due to 50cc gets used all the time with branches coming down, fence posts, CAD. I'm interested in Echo, Husky, Dolkita but have not found anything that I want to pull the trigger on. Maybe talking about it will help the urge pass and I will just put a 20" b/c on the 371 and suffer through until time permits.
 
290 is heavy af, but sounds like you are into it for the right money to fix and make something out of it and its the size class you want. IMO I'd get after fixing that or your old Echo. Unless you have more money than time.
 
I am definitely fixing the Echo! First saw I bought and love it. A new motor is mid $200s from Echo and since the bearings were starting to get noisy that is the route I will go. The 290 is gonna become a 390 as I have seen a few threads on that and that would fill the 60cc spot or get sold. I guess it's more just a whining and complaining thread about time, money, wanting new stuff, if not for bad luck I'd have no luck at all, disease called CAD... ;)
 
Before you tear to deep into that Echo, check your fuel line. I have never worked on that model, but have had a Super 25 do the exact thing you described. It was a small crack in the fuel line right where it came out of the tank. It would run fine when full, but when it used a little gas it would act empty. I finaly figured it out when I noticed it would run at one angle and rev high at another angle. Cheap to fix but a pain to replace on that old Poulan.
 
I will certainly do that. I was thinking just the same thing at work last night, never replaced a fuel line on it in the 10+ years I've owned it. On a side note, I priced the new short block, clutch and air filter from Echo- $360 and some change shipped. I believe that is a little less than I paid for the saw new. :dizzy:
 
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