ms260/ms250

[dancan]

i take a 45 minute round trip to pick up a ms260 parts saw , i get there and it shrunk to a ms 250 grrrr , so 30.00$$ later (not wanting to go home empty handed ) i get home with a none running but in real good shape ms250 , i took a quick look at it , no spark at the plug and it might need a piston (not sure might be good enough if i can get spark ).
what a PITA to strip , does anyone have a service manual ?

 

[SawTroll]

No, but I feel with you - a 250 sure is let-down....

...... 021/250 series saws are all over the place here, and concidered junk.....

 

[dancan]

I 'm not taking it as a let down , worse case scenario i have a new chain, good bar , bar nuts and studs , screws and stuff i can sell to someone that needs parts if i can't make it run .

 

[Erick]

...... 021/250 series saws are all over the place here, and concidered junk.....

Only by you....... :monkey:

I really liked mine, thought it was a fine saw for the money.

 

[SawTroll]

Only by you....... :monkey:

I really liked mine, thought it was a fine saw for the money.

No, they sit in the junk pool at the dealers here (Stihl and Husky), and no-one cares to fix them - but the Husky 340-350 never end up in the junk pool, and neither does older Husky and Jred consumer saws, except for the Poulan made ones......

I'd suspect the MS250 etc were made by Poulan, if I didn't know better -cheap and soft plastic everywhere......

 

[madrone]

I used my 025 for 8 years cutting small amounts of firewood with absolutely no problems. It always started and cut well albeit not all that quick. Lately I used a ms250 for lots of grueling limbing firs and have not one complaint about that saw. I just cleaned it up and sold it for $250 and the person that bought it was very happy, and so was I.
It's not all that hard to work on. I found one recently with a cracked case for $30 and parted it out on sleezbay for over $175.
You don't have to keep it, just fix it and sell it or just part it out.
It's a bummer to drive all that way for a let down, but make the best of it.

 

[dancan]

i figured that a bar , chain , and nuts are worth the 30.00$$ cnd , so if it doesn't run sleazebay it is but first it will be offered here if anybody needs it but that wont be till after i give it a good try .
as for the husky 340-345 got one of them POS , belonged to my brother ,
2 yrs old , 5 tanks of fuel , dealer serviced , crank seal let go so it's a parts saw, hmmm maybe sleezebay for that one but before that anybody need parts ?.

 

[windthrown]

The 026 turned into an 025? Typical. I once bought an 026 parts saw that was labeled on Ebay as a 025; had the 025 badge glued to the top. Seller had no clue what it really was. My brother has it now; seems to work as an occasional suburban runner.

PITA to fix these 025 series saws, yes. They can run OK, but... lots and lots of plastic and they are made to break. Handles break (especially if you do not drop start them). Brakes break. Cheap no-adjust oil pumps. Clutch housing is the real weak point; from hot clutch/brake melting it or bearing going out and clutch grenading. I have 2 running in my collection of 4 of these saws. Always needing some tweeking and or tuning or cannibalizing.

Some day maybe Dolmar will even come out with the PS-350 and PS-420 and I will be able to get rid of these saws. Some day... in some mythical time of the far distant future, in a land far far away...

Somewhere, over the chainsaw,
Dolmars fly...
Somewhere over the chainsaw,
Why oh why can't I?

 

[dancan]

Got a manual
thanks to all those that replied
now to get it running or .....

 

[bcorradi]

PITA to fix these 025 series saws, yes. They can run OK, but... lots and lots of plastic and they are made to break. Handles break (especially if you do not drop start them). Brakes break. Cheap no-adjust oil pumps. Clutch housing is the real weak point; from hot clutch/brake melting it or bearing going out and clutch grenading. I have 2 running in my collection of 4 of these saws. Always needing some tweeking and or tuning or cannibalizing.

I know quite a few people that have cut all of their firewood for the past (8-10 years) with an 025 (8+ cords of wood per year)? These people aren't easy on equipment either...I doubt if some have even had the air filter off.

Made to break? Have you personally melted the clutchside of an 025 family saw? If you have you need to maintain your equipment better. Have you personally busted the step flange on them?

PITA to work on? You've been tweaking, swapping parts, etc. on your two and are still mystified or challenged on dissasembly? They are indeed a little more time consuming than pro stihls to work your first time or two, but its definately not rocket science.

Am I saying they are a pro level saw? No, but if properly maintained they are extremely reliable saws that will last you many years.

 

[stihl025]

I know quite a few people that have cut all of their firewood for the past (8-10 years) with an 025 (8+ cords of wood per year)? These people aren't easy on equipment either...I doubt if some have even had the air filter off.

Am I saying they are a pro level saw? No, but if properly maintained they are extremely reliable saws that will last you many years.

I have had my 025 since 1995. Still runs like a champ. Modded the muffler, currently using the narrow kerf bar and chain, and it is still one of my favorites. I have gotten my money back ten fold.

 

[saltydawg]

Well, now I guess it is time to chirp.
I grew up in western Pa, my dad had a Stihl all my life. His ran for near 25 years until it just plumb wore out. Stihl didn't make the parts needed anymore.
To the meat of the story,I grew up dropping trees, but I have moved to south Louisiana, durring hurricane andrew I picked up a little poulan in Jackson Mississippi to clear roads so I could get home (comercial diver) in Morgan city. Now I bought the Poulan because it was on the shelf in wally world and it was at 0130 in the morning and I had to get back down south, I drove back through the fisrt wall of the huricane and was in the eye when it was down graded on the radio to a tropical storm.
The saw an axe and a chain and I got home, even helped some of the Angola gaurds trying to get back to prison along the way with that little saw.
A few years later and hurricane lilly hit where I live and I worked for the Sheriff's department. The high corksucker asked if anyone would volunteer to go out and check for any "victims". I had that little poulan in the back of the unit so I said sure. I cut two families out of mobile homes with that saw and cut stuff that would make the rest cringe. several days later I picked up some new chain and started to clear storm drops.
Now a gal had a big old peacan trea that was by her house and lightning had done a pretty good job on it and the middle was rotten the base was a good six feet across and I started with that little poulan with a 16 inch blade.
Some drunks were there next door and were making some smart a55 remarks about a hillbilly and I was goin to drop the tree on the house. I set a six pak of their beer down the way and told them which joint was going drop on the beer, the bet was they would shut up and buy me a case, or I would get them a case.
I had won myself a case of beer.
But that was the last tree that saw cut down. After I dropped it the poor saw was whimpering.
I went to My Stihl dealer and bought the ms250. Cause I didn't like that plastic bar adjuster on the bigger one they had in stock.
I used that 250 on alot of trees after Lilly, rita,katrina.
The 250 stays in my police car and has cut many, many storm trees and it does just fine. Do I want a bigger one, you betcha I do, do I need a bigger one, probably, but untill this one dies it is the one I got.

 

[dancan]

I'm not making any judgments on how the saw works (because it is not running and have never used one of this series ) but on the construction , i work on cars and trucks for a living and if i have to disassemble the fenders , the grill and the rad to get at the spark plug boot or the valve cover bolts , i class it as a :censored: PITA , even the spark has to be started at the end of you fingers .
i've had a couple of 034's , a ms260 , 2 ms361's, sacks dolmar 115 + 116si , husky 35 ,55 , 340 , 346 , 394 a solo 654 ,jred 2171 and a pioneer or partner something and none had the plastic put together like this , i think the engineer was just making sure he'd have work for the next redesign
i do hope to get it running because it looks to be a lightweight saw that i can keep in the trunk or truck to grab in a hurry

 

[bcorradi]

I 'm not taking it as a let down , worse case scenario i have a new chain, good bar , bar nuts and studs , screws and stuff i can sell to someone that needs parts if i can't make it run .

Yeah the only bad thing is the 95+ % of the hardware (screws, bar studs, bar & chain, etc) won't work on any of your other stihls.

 

[windthrown]

Yes, I have burned, smoked, and destroyed several buzz saws in the 025/250 line. I have had 5 in all, running at one time or other. Two are running now. And not doing all that much either. I have felled and thinned a :censored:-load of trees here. I know how to take care of saws too, and I do not abuse them. But these saws in particular are not the best made, nor are they up to Stihl standard compared to even the 290, the boat anchor of saws. They also tend to vary when starting and running for some mysterious reason. One day they are happy, the next they are not. I run all super gas and NGK plugs, and synthetic Mobile One premix in them. I also run them with 3/8 LP (picco) bars, as they do not have enough guts to really drive a .325 for :censored:.

Hey... if you guys love these saws so much, bid on them when I put them up for sale on Ebay when I replace them. I am REALLY tired of working on them all the time. All the shove-it-together fittings suck. The oil pump is a joke, never mind getting it to seat right. The impulse line is a PITA to get to, and well, its a POS design. Never mind the Achillies heel plasto-melto chutch area, with the plastic oil line that shears off or melts all too easilly. For a little more than the price of a 250, you can get a 290, which is far and away above the 250 IMO. I run the 290 here hard, and it runs and runs and runs.

 

[bcorradi]

If the 025 line of saws isn't holding up for you why would you punish yourself with buying 5? How many of your 025 saws did you buy new?

 

[madrone]

I get the feeling that you just don't like the 025's. Just a hunch though. I kinda 'sense' it.

 

[stihl025]

Yes, I have burned, smoked, and destroyed several buzz saws in the 025/250 line. I have had 5 in all, running at one time or other. Two are running now. And not doing all that much either. I have felled and thinned a :censored:-load of trees here. I know how to take care of saws too, and I do not abuse them. But these saws in particular are not the best made, nor are they up to Stihl standard compared to even the 290, the boat anchor of saws. They also tend to vary when starting and running for some mysterious reason. One day they are happy, the next they are not. I run all super gas and NGK plugs, and synthetic Mobile One premix in them. I also run them with 3/8 LP (picco) bars, as they do not have enough guts to really drive a .325 for :censored:

Why would you waste your time and money on 5 of them then? For the price of 2 new 025/ms250's, you could have had the 260, a pro quality saw. The MS250 is a homeowner rated saw. Sounds like you expected more from it.

 

[SawTroll]

No, but I feel with you - a 250 sure is let-down....

...... 021/250 series saws are all over the place here, and concidered junk.....

Only by you....... :monkey:

I really liked mine, thought it was a fine saw for the money.

OK, I did exaggregate a bit......

 

[saltydawg]

Nice save, by the way.
How ever, I pulled mine out of mothballs been sitting up for a little over a year. That is how I found this site looking for mech tips.
Just done a bunch of carb work around here for the police dept, and others with generators and outboards, so I figured it would be a good idea to break my saw down for hurricanes.
I must say that when I first bought my 025 that the plastic bothered me ( don't like plastic guns either((read glock)) ), but since so many things are made of "plastic" I made the mistake of not researching better before I bought.
The 361 would be the saw for my needs, but the thing that bothers me is that I would need two saws, really I do. The 025 for the crap for work and the 361 for my "personal" stuff.
BOY OH BOY, the other half is gonna be pizzed, not only do I want a new dpms panther .223 now after less than a week y'all have convinced me that I need another saw........damn the internet.......