So I've been a long time lurker here but only recently joined. Hanging out with you guys has given me a bad case of CAD. I was looking for a first project saw when low and behold I tripped over this thing at my father in laws old garage. His garage has been closed for 10 plus years and who knows how long the saw sat there before then. It's crusty and covered in grease as you would expect for sitting in the corner of a full service auto garage for all those years.
So the first thing I did was tear it down and give it a once over. Gas was gummed up,but it had fire and a fresh plug. Piston shows some wear and a few marks, but I've seen worse. It is wearing a practically new Oregon 18" bar with a Stihl chisel chain. My research shows that this is a Poulan 3800 if I am correct.
After tearing it down I decided to try to bring it back to life. Went to the local saw shop and picked up a carb kit, fuel line, and filter. Carb cleanup and fuel line was quick and easy. I flushed the tank several times with mix gas until it was clean. I can see why this hobby is so addicting. Back together and time for a test fire, let's see if it still has any life left in it.
I set my carb screws to 1 1/2 turns out and started yanking. It took a while but eventually I got a pop, then a half choke fire. Took a few minutes to warm it up and adjust the carb in, saw seems to run ok but still starts hard even warm.
Decided to go to town and buy a tool I didn't have yet, a compression tester. Came home and that's when I found this.
It's best test was this one at a hair over 115psi and took lots of pulling to get it,the two tests before this landed at 105 and 110psi. Is this normal for these saws or am I beating a dead horse ? If it's a dead horse what else can be done ? Seems Poulan 3800 top ends aren't laying around everywhere and certainly aren't cheap like the orange colored saws. I certainly can't hurt it, and only have about $15 worth of parts in it at this time. I do recall finding a post long ago about a Poulan/Stihl hybrid of sorts.......
So the first thing I did was tear it down and give it a once over. Gas was gummed up,but it had fire and a fresh plug. Piston shows some wear and a few marks, but I've seen worse. It is wearing a practically new Oregon 18" bar with a Stihl chisel chain. My research shows that this is a Poulan 3800 if I am correct.
After tearing it down I decided to try to bring it back to life. Went to the local saw shop and picked up a carb kit, fuel line, and filter. Carb cleanup and fuel line was quick and easy. I flushed the tank several times with mix gas until it was clean. I can see why this hobby is so addicting. Back together and time for a test fire, let's see if it still has any life left in it.
I set my carb screws to 1 1/2 turns out and started yanking. It took a while but eventually I got a pop, then a half choke fire. Took a few minutes to warm it up and adjust the carb in, saw seems to run ok but still starts hard even warm.
Decided to go to town and buy a tool I didn't have yet, a compression tester. Came home and that's when I found this.
It's best test was this one at a hair over 115psi and took lots of pulling to get it,the two tests before this landed at 105 and 110psi. Is this normal for these saws or am I beating a dead horse ? If it's a dead horse what else can be done ? Seems Poulan 3800 top ends aren't laying around everywhere and certainly aren't cheap like the orange colored saws. I certainly can't hurt it, and only have about $15 worth of parts in it at this time. I do recall finding a post long ago about a Poulan/Stihl hybrid of sorts.......