Last trip to my local Stihl dealer in Wiscasset

[roundpond]

Three years ago I purchased a secondhand, little used Stihl 025 from a retired homeowner who had used it one year to clean up his yard. I had it looked over by my local dealer, Francis Nadeau chainsaws in Wiscasset, Maine who fitted a new chain and declared it good to use. I used it to buck about 4 cords of wood over two years, taking care to use new fuel with Stihl oil additive. I had the dealer look it over each year and assure me it was safe and would work well; as you can see I am not mechanical and am somewhat afraid of these machines. Recently I took it back to the same dealer for checking since I was having difficulty starting and running. He cleaned it and set the mixture controls which he said had become too rich. He showed me how to sharpen the chain, which I did.

This week I ran it for about an hour and was having problems with power loss and starting. Francis Nadeau declared that the mixture was too lean and that I had burnt the piston and made the saw worthless. He said I should have changed the settings when the problem started.

I am surprised and upset that this should happen and that neither Francis Nadeau nor Stihl Customer Service should be willing to help in any way. Stihl bases all their marketing on dealer service and excellence: I wonder how often they inspect them. A neighbor tells me he had the same experience with a five year old saw with the same dealer. Fortunately the dealer has not kept up his stock and had nothing for sale that was comparable. Needless to say neither of us is going to buy another Stihl.

 

[nmurph]

probably not the dealer's fault. have you ever had the fuel line replaced on this saw? if not, i would bet that you have a crack in the line and it has lead to a lean seizure. these saws are also prone to crank seal failure. these things happen. it is nature of equipment. you admitted that you are not the most mechanically inclined person. the saw could have been in A-1 condition when it left the dealer and developed a problem which was ignored and became a catastrophic event.
you won't get much sympathy coming on here and blasting a dealer without more supporting evidence that what you have presented. at worst, you have a lame dealer and this should not be an indictment of stihl as a whole, which is how you have tinted this post. right, THALL????

 

[RAMROD48]

Last I checked Stihl doesn't offer a forever warranty....

Live and learn...maybe its time to read up on saw maintenance...

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

The saw is used and 7-10 years out of warranty, they stopped making the 025 in about 2002. Buy yourself a good used top end on ebay and learn to rebuild the saw yourself.

 

[MCW]

Although I can sympathise with you it always pays to be very very careful naming a particular business in a negative light in any public manner. This can, and has lead to defamation lawsuits. I believe you would have a lot more luck if it was a new saw that had been wrecked. Older saws, even if they haven't been used much, can and do have unseen catastrophic failures that are not really anybody's fault. In fact a "little used" old saw is probably more likely to have more brittle rubber seals or gaskets leading to air leaks and associated lean sieze failures than a saw that sees a lot of use.

 

[spike60]

probably not the dealer's fault. have you ever had the fuel line replaced on this saw? if not, i would bet that you have a crack in the line and it has lead to a lean seizure. these saws are also prone to crank seal failure. these things happen. it is nature of equipment. you admitted that you are not the most mechanically inclined person. the saw could have been in A-1 condition when it left the dealer and developed a problem which was ignored and became a catastrophic event.
you won't get much sympathy coming on here and blasting a dealer without more supporting evidence that what you have presented. at worst, you have a lame dealer and this should not be an indictment of stihl as a whole, which is how you have tinted this post. right, THALL????

Correct, correct, and correct again. It is certainly possible that the dealer leaned it out too much, but this is not likely. It strikes me as a little bit as a classic case of the "you touched it last" syndrome that all dealers have to deal with on occasion. Anything that happens to a saw, and the first thing out of the customers mouth is "You just worked on it."

This post is in part due to todays mentality of assigning blame and fault to someone else for every disappointment that comes around lifes corner. A ten year old saw blew up, and can we figure out how to get someone else to pay for the mishap.

Again, being a dealer myself, I'm looking at this from the dealer's side of the counter, and he may have indeed screwed up. But the OP needs to be open minded about the fact that it could also have been some other problem with the saw for which the dealer is blameless.

 

[CentaurG2]

Kinda being a little rough on your local dealer here. Older tools and brand new ones can easily develop an air leak and lean out at any time no matter what the brand. Most folks in Maine are pretty reasonable. See if you can work out a deal with your dealer for a trade in on a new saw.

 

[MCW]

This post is in part due to todays mentality of assigning blame and fault to someone else for every disappointment that comes around lifes corner. A ten year old saw blew up, and can we figure out how to get someone else to pay for the mishap.

Again, being a dealer myself, I'm looking at this from the dealer's side of the counter, and he may have indeed screwed up. But the OP needs to be open minded about the fact that it could also have been some other problem with the saw for which the dealer is blameless.

Very well said mate and I agree 100%. I thought it may have just been Australia where everybody rolls over and plays "victim" at every opportunity - this comment is by no means directed at the original poster but I see what spike60 has outlined happen all the time...

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

Correct, correct, and correct again. It is certainly possible that the dealer leaned it out too much, but this is not likely. It strikes me as a little bit as a classic case of the "you touched it last" syndrome that all dealers have to deal with on occasion. Anything that happens to a saw, and the first thing out of the customers mouth is "You just worked on it."

This post is in part due to todays mentality of assigning blame and fault to someone else for every disappointment that comes around lifes corner. A ten year old saw blew up, and can we figure out how to get someone else to pay for the mishap.

Again, being a dealer myself, I'm looking at this from the dealer's side of the counter, and he may have indeed screwed up. But the OP needs to be open minded about the fact that it could also have been some other problem with the saw for which the dealer is blameless.

This is why we don't sell used hand held equipment, and rarely sell used mowers.

 

[spike60]

This is why we don't sell used hand held equipment, and rarely sell used mowers.

Same with me, nothing used. Sell an old tractor for $200 and you're married to it for the rest of the year. Anything used from a shop, and people want a warranty, which is really not an unrealistic expectation. Standing behind what you do is part of what the business is all about in the first place. But how can you stand behind 10-15 year old equipment that is sold at yard sale prices?

Another interesting note is that the OP, who only has two posts, comes on here calling out the Stihl dealer by name. Makes ya wonder.

 

[lewis16]

Three years ago I purchased a secondhand, little used Stihl 025 from a retired homeowner who had used it one year to clean up his yard. I had it looked over by my local dealer, Francis Nadeau chainsaws in Wiscasset, Maine who fitted a new chain and declared it good to use. I used it to buck about 4 cords of wood over two years, taking care to use new fuel with Stihl oil additive. I had the dealer look it over each year and assure me it was safe and would work well; as you can see I am not mechanical and am somewhat afraid of these machines. Recently I took it back to the same dealer for checking since I was having difficulty starting and running. He cleaned it and set the mixture controls which he said had become too rich. He showed me how to sharpen the chain, which I did.

This week I ran it for about an hour and was having problems with power loss and starting. Francis Nadeau declared that the mixture was too lean and that I had burnt the piston and made the saw worthless. He said I should have changed the settings when the problem started.

I am surprised and upset that this should happen and that neither Francis Nadeau nor Stihl Customer Service should be willing to help in any way. Stihl bases all their marketing on dealer service and excellence: I wonder how often they inspect them. A neighbor tells me he had the same experience with a five year old saw with the same dealer. Fortunately the dealer has not kept up his stock and had nothing for sale that was comparable. Needless to say neither of us is going to buy another Stihl.

Keep looking on this site, you will soon be a master at working with, and on saws. It is not stihl's fault. Just a crappy dealer. Stihl are good saws and dominate dealer support.

 

[gallegosmike]

If you buy something used... You take a gamble! Nobody in their right mind is going to give a long term warranty on used equipment! With all the things that can go wrong with out door power equipment from misuse on the owners behalf.

I used to sell laptops that I bought used and repaired. Not anymore, I got sick of customera asking for free tech support after month long warranty ran out or asking for refunds one year after the the sale! Yes, cheap fools would do that!

Most of us guys on AS that buy used saws. Are going to go through it with a fine toothed comb. That includes a vac and pressure test. Why spend the money for a saw? And ruin a saw over a half hour of checking and testing!

My .02

Mike

 

[pops21]

It can be rebuild pretty easy. Just take your time and do a search on the site for stihl 025 service manual. I know there is one that is downloadable jus not sure where. Also try and get a IPL which is a parts list. That will show you the part numbers and where parts go and how it goes back together. Ebay should have all the parts you need. Which should only be a piston and ring. The cylinder should clean up with some muratic acid heat and sand paper. If I were you I would start another thread with pictures so people can help guide you.

 

[THALL10326]

probably not the dealer's fault. have you ever had the fuel line replaced on this saw? if not, i would bet that you have a crack in the line and it has lead to a lean seizure. these saws are also prone to crank seal failure. these things happen. it is nature of equipment. you admitted that you are not the most mechanically inclined person. the saw could have been in A-1 condition when it left the dealer and developed a problem which was ignored and became a catastrophic event.
you won't get much sympathy coming on here and blasting a dealer without more supporting evidence that what you have presented. at worst, you have a lame dealer and this should not be an indictment of stihl as a whole, which is how you have tinted this post. right, THALL????

Huh, I feel his pain. That dayumm Francis should have been there when the guy was running that saw for about a hour and knew it was having problems while doing so. Francis should have been there to tell him to do the unthinkable, cut it off. Dayummm that Francis, what kind of dealer is he. Now neither the man nor his buddy will ever buy another Stihl again all because of Francis. I gather Francis won't even warranty that 10 year old plus saw, what a low life that Francis is.

(good job Francis, babysititng isn't our job)

 

[nmurph]

Now neither the man nor his buddy will ever buy another Stihl again all because of Francis.........(good job Francis, babysititng isn't our job)

you might consider the impact that these two individual and their purchases will have on stihl's #1 ranking in OPE sales........i think you need to show Francis the woodshed and convince him of the error of his ways.......what good is a warranty if a dealer won't honor it 10 yrs after it expires.

 

[THALL10326]

you might consider the impact that these two individual and their purchases will have on stihl's #1 ranking in OPE sales........i think you need to show Francis the woodshed and convince him of the error of his ways.......what good is a warranty if a dealer won't honor it 10 yrs after it expires.

Good point. The impact of all this is almost more than I can bare. Of all the folks in the world I would neve have thought he would do such a thing. My heart layth heavy and my eyes water. My only wish is that that low life Woodie had been the 025 owner,:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[nmurph]

My only wish is that that low life Woodie had been the 025 owner,:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

RAOTFLOL (rolling all over the floor, laughing out loud).

that right there's funny, i don't care who you are (even woodie).

 

[willysmn]

Smoked 025

I'm not a dealer and I disagree. If the dealer set the mixture very recent to the piston seizing, then he has most of the responsibility. How else can it be? If he set it a year ago, then not so.
But the advice to find out how to rebuild with new cylinder/piston is very good.
Might try Chanisawr for parts, or even working on it.
Dealers s don't like to sell older used saws, but they do like working on them.

You could buy a new Husky and avoid this dealer and get a good saw.

 

[StihlyinEly]

I'm not a dealer and I disagree. If the dealer set the mixture very recent to the piston seizing, then he has most of the responsibility. How else can it be? If he set it a year ago, then not so.

Nmurph already mentioned two ways in which the saw could have run lean on its own with no responsibility to the dealer (cracked fuel line, bad seal).

Dealer sets the mixture screws, saw goes out the door, coupla weeks later after cutting, crack develops in 10-year-old brittle fuel line or seal starts to fail, and saw runs lean, thus seizing.

I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm responding to your rhetorical question bolded in the quote.

 

[turnkey4099]

you might consider the impact that these two individual and their purchases will have on stihl's #1 ranking in OPE sales........i think you need to show Francis the woodshed and convince him of the error of his ways.......what good is a warranty if a dealer won't honor it 10 yrs after it expires.

And on a saw he didn't even sell

Harry K