Stihl 038 AV Super wont start anymore

[SEAM]

Choke flap in the air cleaner probably did/does not close fully or air cleaner was not installed...

 

[lonelyowl7]

Welp that sounds like good news..from the pics the saw looks pretty nasty, i would tear it all the way down except for splitting the cases and give it a good cleaning. Can be done in sink or bath tub with a brush and degreaser. Replace fuel line, impulse line, intake boot and anything else that you may find that needs replacing. Would be a great learning experience also and to get familiar with your saw. Its all a pretty easy procedure.

Yea, it is pretty nasty, and thats after a pretty good surface clean. I probably will at some point try and take it all apart and clean it really good. A few months ago i bought a dirt bike that wasnt running, the guy said the carb just needed to be cleaned, which i knew wasnt true. I ended up rebuilding the whole engine. That was an amazing learning experience, and ive always said that everything i fix or have to take apart i feel better about, cause I know how everything goes together, and how it works.

I was thinking about getting a new handle assembly off ebay or something, cause the bottom part of the handel on mine is cracked and missing a piece, and it would just look a lot better than trying to clean the one i have. Any experience with, probably cheap

 

[Jkstihl]

Yea, it is pretty nasty, and thats after a pretty good surface clean. I probably will at some point try and take it all apart and clean it really good. A few months ago i bought a dirt bike that wasnt running, the guy said the carb just needed to be cleaned, which i knew wasnt true. I ended up rebuilding the whole engine. That was an amazing learning experience, and ive always said that everything i fix or have to take apart i feel better about, cause I know how everything goes together, and how it works.

I was thinking about getting a new handle assembly off ebay or something, cause the bottom part of the handel on mine is cracked and missing a piece, and it would just look a lot better than trying to clean the one i have. Any experience with, probably cheap

They are only 10$ right now on the huztl website. Cant really go wrong for 10$ lol. Will take 2-3 weeks to get to you from china. Have a look around on this website https://m.huztl.net/ and check out all the 038 parts, quality is not as good as oem but most of the parts are decent. They have complete rebuild kits for 038s also.

 

[1hander]

thats awesome bud..im glad for you..its possible that the momentary run on starting spray primed the carburetor enough for the subsequent start..

your not out of the woods just yet though..

as stated above.. the choke plate maybe wasnt closing all the way or some of the following, its a stihl, it should start every single time .. without fail..

1. check if the choke plate is fully engaging and closing the carburetor throat, if not find out why
2. just to be on the safe side completely reset your carb needle settings to make sure they are not lean and once your done tuning, you
will know where they are you know

on your saw carb settings should be
a. close H and L needles all the way down onto the seats,(till they stop) dont force them though
b. turn them both out 1 whole turn from fully closed
c. i would turn the idle stop screw in 1 whole turn from wherever it is right now because the L needle will probably be rich and it may not want to idle
d. restart and tune from there , be sure your getting full choke and using the throttle lock for starting, the throttle lock makes starting a cold saw much easier,
and is a must in cold weather..i actually have to use it cuz of the 1 handd thing but most people just use their finger to hold some throttle while
starting.

also i didnt know it was that cold where you are, at that temperature the saw is going to contract and tighten up and have alot more friction than when its warmed up.

if your using gasoline with ethanol...
after your done using your saw, empty the fuel tank, and restart the saw and let it run till it dies, i usually restart 2 or 3 times to make sure all of the gasoline it out of the carb

iff i can find it which i usually can, i always use ethanol free gasoline to avoid the garbage ethanol brings to carburetors, if i cant find it, i use the above procedure


3. if you get where the saw wont start again and the spark plug is dry
you may still have
a. a damaged carburetor pulse line, or a clogged pulse port..im not sure which one the 036 has
b. sticking closed metering valve, because ethanol fuel causing corrosion.
c. torn or hardened diaphragm
d. stuck or damaged pump section,

4. if you get where it wont start again and the spark plug is really wet
a. sticking open metering valve
b. stuck or damaged pump section

keep us posted

as CPT Jean Luc Piccard says

MAKE IT SO

 

[Teemore]

I picked up an 038 Farmboss (Super Equivalent in my part of the world...) some time ago and I found that since it had sat for "a while" the carb diaphragm had dried up. I pulled it over on "stop" to pull a bit of fuel up into the carb and left it for a few days. That seemed to soften the diaphragm and it was enough to get it to draw fuel up into the carb on its own when I went back to it and it popped after five or six pulls and fired up on the next pull. It got a clean, a carb kit and re-tuned. It starts and runs grand now. A carb kit wont hurt your saw in the fullness of time.