saxart
ArboristSite Lurker
Newbie here, needing some advice....
About a year and a half ago my wife bought me a BRAND NEW Husqvarna 359 saw off ebay as a Christmas gift. Being stubborn, I kept using my old Homelite, until finally this spring the Homelite quit for good. I'd used the Husky a few times, but only for small stuff, never really in earnest. No problem, toss old Homelite in garbage (literally) and fire up the Husky!
That Husky is a great saw. Starts quick, runs strong, and cuts GREAT.
We had 5 medium sized oak trees to cut down yesterday. About 2hrs into our day I stopped the saw to move some brush from a downed tree. When I went back to use the saw again, it wouldn't pull with the rope start. WTH???? It ran just fine until I shut it down after my last cut. No strange noises, no strange symptoms, it just wouldn't pull over. WTH???
At first I thought the chain-brake was messed up, but I was able to lock and unlock the chain brake and the chain rotates by hand just fine when the brake is off with the saw is not running.
Next I thought maybe it was something in the recoil start mechanism that must have went haywire, so 4 screws later I had that off. It also works just fine.
At this point, since the recoil assembly was already off the saw, I grabbed the flywheel and noticed that I can rotate it about an inch in either direction until it just stops. It's not a binding type of feeling, but more like the piston or crank is coming in contact with something inside the engine. It just stops rotating and although I didn't do it, I bet it would stop with a "CLUNK" if you tried to spin it hard enough.
Figuring maybe something MAJOR had happened inside the engine (broken rod, etc) I pulled the spark plug and used a thin wooden dowel on top of the piston to see if the it was moving as I rotated the flywheel.
As it turns out, the piston DOES move up and down, but only about 1/4", and right at the bottom of it's stroke. It stops so strongly that you can almost sense the crank or piston is coming in contact with something inside the engine.
Like I said, the saw was running fine, no strange noises or smells. I'm running it on about 45:1 mix using a Pennsoil brand oil.
Does anybody here have any thoughts as to what this could be?
Although we all have our own favorite oil or saw brands, please refrain from telling me I should have bought a Stihl or should have used a different oil. My dad (who was cutting with his OV41 at the time this happened) already jokingly told me that I should have bought a Stihl and it didn't help fix this issue with my saw.oke:
Thanks for your thoughts, this looks like a GREAT forum!:greenchainsaw:
About a year and a half ago my wife bought me a BRAND NEW Husqvarna 359 saw off ebay as a Christmas gift. Being stubborn, I kept using my old Homelite, until finally this spring the Homelite quit for good. I'd used the Husky a few times, but only for small stuff, never really in earnest. No problem, toss old Homelite in garbage (literally) and fire up the Husky!
That Husky is a great saw. Starts quick, runs strong, and cuts GREAT.
We had 5 medium sized oak trees to cut down yesterday. About 2hrs into our day I stopped the saw to move some brush from a downed tree. When I went back to use the saw again, it wouldn't pull with the rope start. WTH???? It ran just fine until I shut it down after my last cut. No strange noises, no strange symptoms, it just wouldn't pull over. WTH???
At first I thought the chain-brake was messed up, but I was able to lock and unlock the chain brake and the chain rotates by hand just fine when the brake is off with the saw is not running.
Next I thought maybe it was something in the recoil start mechanism that must have went haywire, so 4 screws later I had that off. It also works just fine.
At this point, since the recoil assembly was already off the saw, I grabbed the flywheel and noticed that I can rotate it about an inch in either direction until it just stops. It's not a binding type of feeling, but more like the piston or crank is coming in contact with something inside the engine. It just stops rotating and although I didn't do it, I bet it would stop with a "CLUNK" if you tried to spin it hard enough.
Figuring maybe something MAJOR had happened inside the engine (broken rod, etc) I pulled the spark plug and used a thin wooden dowel on top of the piston to see if the it was moving as I rotated the flywheel.
As it turns out, the piston DOES move up and down, but only about 1/4", and right at the bottom of it's stroke. It stops so strongly that you can almost sense the crank or piston is coming in contact with something inside the engine.
Like I said, the saw was running fine, no strange noises or smells. I'm running it on about 45:1 mix using a Pennsoil brand oil.
Does anybody here have any thoughts as to what this could be?
Although we all have our own favorite oil or saw brands, please refrain from telling me I should have bought a Stihl or should have used a different oil. My dad (who was cutting with his OV41 at the time this happened) already jokingly told me that I should have bought a Stihl and it didn't help fix this issue with my saw.
oke: Thanks for your thoughts, this looks like a GREAT forum!:greenchainsaw:
That could be messy.If it did ,that would cause it to lock up as the wistpin would be caught in the transfer port.
