Low compression, husky 346xp

[cuinrearview]

The description says "low temperature and low pressure" applications for the Indian Head. The cylinder to case area is neither.

 

[ForesterDan]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Unfortunately an OEM cylinder and piston kit seems to be difficult to acquire over here. The best deal I could find online is for £270 from a UK website. I went down to my local Husqy dealership and the guy there gave me a talk about how he had to wait for weeks to receive a single shock absorber spring and shared with me his suspicion that they weren't paying their bills. Well I don't know anything about that.

Anyway, the customs charges for having an OEM kit imported from the USA are usually prohibitive, but may still work out cheaper. But could anybody help me understand why a replacement part, spurious though it may be, won't fit the purpose that it was supposedly designed for. Are there other brands apart from Hyway which would have the same dimensions as an OEM cylinder?

My other option is to have someone machine down the deck a bit. It this a difficult process? Should I let a person with no specific experience with chainsaws carry this out?

 

[cuinrearview]

You should ask @spike60 about international shipping. I have to believe he could help you out, or at least do better than that price.

Any competent machine shop should be able to take material off of the base of that cylinder on their lathe. The key will be for you to determine how much needs to come off.

There is not an aftermarket 346 cylinder that matches the quality and performance of OEM that I've read about. Meteor might come close, and they are a European company. I have no experience with their cylinders but the pistons are decent. That may be something to look into once the avenues for OEM are exhausted.

 

[ForesterDan]

I tried starting it up just to see how she'd run and the results were not very comforting. It took a lot of pulling to get her fired up (normally she'd start after three pulls with the choke open followed by one with it closed off). Once she started I opened up the throttle fully and she'd run high for a few seconds before dying immediately when I release the throttle. Little bit of smoke coming from the muffler end to that didn't strike me as your normal exhaust fumes.



I'm stumped, but then again, the reason I embarked on this project is to learn about how the saw worked and how to fix it. So I can only look at this as an opportunity to learn more.

 

[ForesterDan]

I adjusted the carb and I have her running ok. The chain isn't creeping on idle and she's no longer cutting out. She does sound a bit rough, even raspy, at full throttle. I'm not convinced she's tuned 100% so I reckon it might be wise to take her to someone with a bit more knowledge than me. Or would it be advisable to invest in a tachometer?

 

[cuinrearview]

I adjusted the carb and I have her running ok. The chain isn't creeping on idle and she's no longer cutting out. She does sound a bit rough, even raspy, at full throttle. I'm not convinced she's tuned 100% so I reckon it might be wise to take her to someone with a bit more knowledge than me. Or would it be advisable to invest in a tachometer?

Rough and raspy at full throttle pretty much describes four stroking. In my opinion, the ability to properly tune a carb is a basic skill essential to ownership of this type of equipment. It will save you a lot of money down the road. There are some excellent videos available on YouTube on the topic.

 

[cuinrearview]

When you add aftermarket parts to the mix a tach will not be that useful for carb tuning. It will just be an aide, as the inconsistency in manufacturing would make it hard for someone to recommend you tune to a specific max RPM.

 

[spyder62]

A tach is a very useful tool. But I would be looking for a factory oem cylinder kit from across the pond. I can’t believe custom fees are more than the actual part itself. Like c u said they are about $100 u.s. The factory parts will put a smile on your face. If I’m going to buy an old saw with aftermarket P&C it better be pretty damn cheap. Considering resale value it’s probably cheaper to use oem! F the E.U. Give them nothing

 

[ForesterDan]

Hi all, I just received an oem kit and a tachometer. So I took the saw apart again and a few things popped up which I hope someone on here can help with. for a start I want to make 100% sure that I'm attaching the hose/lines to the right places (picture attached). What I had done was attach the fuel line to the carburettor (I worked out that much myself . I attached the tank vent line to a little plastic nipple on the air intake (a pure guess). Then I attached the line running from the primer bulb to a little plastic nipple next to the fuel vent which seems to open into the fuel tank. I looked everywhere online to find a diagram of this but the majority of the 346xps out there don't seem to have primer bulbs so I had to resort to guesswork/ trial and error. One error which occurred was a kink in this primer line so the fuel couldn't return to the tank from the bulb.


I noticed that there was a vinyl ring/ spacer between the clutch drum and the sprocket. It looks a little worse for where and I can't find any reference to it on any parts diagram or youtube videos which deal with this saw. Should I just leave it?


Finally, I noticed worryingly that the head of the brand new piston I put in is badly pock marked around the edge, as is the top of the cylinder itself. What on earth could have caused that. No scoring or damage to the piston or cylinder otherwise.

 

[decableguy2000]

Tank hose placement looks correct
Don't have a vinyl spacer on any of my clutches. Not in any of the IPL's I've seen.
Water in the gas or a bearing let go, I think, don't quote me on this.

 

[Eric howes]

Almost looks like you had some water in the tank

 

[smokey7]

Does it have matching marks in the combustion chamber? Ive seen cheep cylinders have squish bands machined at the wrong angle. It causes alot of problems similar to this. It sure looks like deto to me or a bearing failure.

 

[ForesterDan]

Does it have matching marks in the combustion chamber? Ive seen cheep cylinders have squish bands machined at the wrong angle. It causes alot of problems similar to this. It sure looks like deto to me or a bearing failure.

The inside top of the cylinder is also marked. Which bearing could the problem be attributed to?

 

[smokey7]

Cound be a crank main bearing but id bed a lower rod bearing. Being it happened so quick with the new top end id saw it probably a rod bearing.

 

[blsnelling]

Water in the fuel?

 

[ForesterDan]

Cound be a crank main bearing but id bed a lower rod bearing. Being it happened so quick with the new top end id saw it probably a rod bearing.

Would that require cracking the case to fix?

Water in the fuel?

Possible, although I've no idea how it would get in there.

 

[cuinrearview]

Would that require cracking the case to fix?

Lower rod bearing would require a new crank assembly, the main bearing would just require a bearing. The crank case must be split either way.

 

[Eric howes]

Water in the fuel?

I have had snowmobile pistons look pitted on the top like that from water in the fuel

 

[Eric howes]

Have you been using ethonal fuel in this saw?

 

[ForesterDan]

I made a mistake. I forgot to put the needle bearing in when mounting the piston. That's probably the culprit?