howellhandmade
Addicted to ArboristSite
Recently my MS290 developed a kind of quirky problem. Started great from cold, and cut great for a tank or two of gas. But after cutting steadily for an hour, the idle revs would drop, the saw would stall out and not restart. When it cooled down it would start again. Acted like the clutch was dragging, though it looked fine and the sprocket would spin freely. Idle speed couldn't be raised enough to counter the drag when the saw was hot without running the chain. Chain brake? Since the saw was still under warranty I decided I didn't have to troubleshoot any more and took it back to the dealer today. He called after a while and said that he thought maybe the problem was the octane of my gas, that he'd dumped it and refilled with 89 octane and the saw started and cut fine. I said, yes, the saw ALWAYS starts and cuts great from cold, always cuts fine for the first tank, and what just got dumped was fresh 93 octane mixed with Stihl HP.
Hmm, he said, everything looks fine and there's no real way to diagnose it when it's not having its problem, so why don't I just give you a new saw and put this one out as a rental. Either it won't get run that hard or somebody will bring it back when it's acting up and then we can diagnose it. As it stands there's nothing to fix, but you've put up with it long enough and there's no point in costing you more trips.
Sounds good, I said. Any problem if I put it toward a 361?
Nope, he said.
Hmm, he said, everything looks fine and there's no real way to diagnose it when it's not having its problem, so why don't I just give you a new saw and put this one out as a rental. Either it won't get run that hard or somebody will bring it back when it's acting up and then we can diagnose it. As it stands there's nothing to fix, but you've put up with it long enough and there's no point in costing you more trips.
Sounds good, I said. Any problem if I put it toward a 361?
Nope, he said.
