Did I overheat or damage my new Stihl?

[AKDoug]

Question is, did your dealer screw up and not tune the saw properly before letting you take it home!


opcorn:

Wouldn't matter anyway. Most dealers are going to turn the H screw to full rich and send it out the door. Best thing is , running at 97F will cause a saw to run rich anyway, so it should be just fine.


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[Busmech]

So, What Do You Guys Think, Did I Screw Up, Pushing It So Hard On A 97 Degree Day, When New? Is There Anything I Can Check Or Inspect To Ensure Its Ok?? I Would Like Some Piece Of Mind To Know I Didnt Ruin It. Thanks In Advance.[/QUOTE]

You bought a new saw,everything is tight( new bar, new chain ) rings are not seated. Give it a few tanks and report back, I'll bet you feel a lot better after the fourth or fifth tank. You may have to readjust the carb as the rings seat. It will get stronger. A new bar and chain can drag a saw down quite a bit. I doubt you hurt it all.

 

[Adirondackstihl]

Wouldn't matter anyway.

I beg to differ. Especially with limiters in place. Way too many saws are frying up as of lately thanks to EPA regs and dealers who dont GAS.

The saw, if you read the OP, sounds lean on the idle/low speed circuit - typical for a NIB saw from MOST dealers who dont know how to tune a carb.

 

[AKDoug]

The point being, very few dealers are going to pop a H limiter cap on a 290 and test it in wood.

 

[RiverRocket]

So, What Do You Guys Think, Did I Screw Up, Pushing It So Hard On A 97 Degree Day, When New? Is There Anything I Can Check Or Inspect To Ensure Its Ok?? I Would Like Some Piece Of Mind To Know I Didnt Ruin It. Thanks In Advance.

You bought a new saw,everything is tight( new bar, new chain ) rings are not seated. Give it a few tanks and report back, I'll bet you feel a lot better after the fourth or fifth tank. You may have to readjust the carb as the rings seat. It will get stronger. A new bar and chain can drag a saw down quite a bit. I doubt you hurt it all.[/QUOTE]
:agree2: I doubt that you hurt anything. As far as the power goes, It isn't broke in yet...you will notice a big difference after you have a half dozen tanks through it.
Keep the chain sharp....overworking it with a dull chain can be hard on it..

 

[Wood Doctor]

You bought a new saw,everything is tight( new bar, new chain ) rings are not seated. Give it a few tanks and report back, I'll bet you feel a lot better after the fourth or fifth tank. You may have to readjust the carb as the rings seat. It will get stronger. A new bar and chain can drag a saw down quite a bit. I doubt you hurt it all.

:agree2: I doubt that you hurt anything. As far as the power goes, It isn't broke in yet...you will notice a big difference after you have a half dozen tanks through it.
Keep the chain sharp....overworking it with a dull chain can be hard on it..

A sharp chain is worth about two horsepower on an average saw or 40% of the rated horsepower on any saw. And, the duller the chain, the greater the improvement offered by the sharp one.

 

[dieselfitter]

I use this website to find nearby sources of ethanol free gas.
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

 

[BULLSPRIG]

Which farm store?

 

[lone wolf]

Hello All, Great Forum Here, And Lots Of Great Info. This Forum Was Very Helpful In Helping Me Pick My New Saw.

I Bought A New Ms290 20" Stihl, To Replace My 16 Year Old Poulan.

I Picked it Up Monday, Inspected And Adjusted The Chain, And Filled It With Stihl Hp Premix, And Stihl Bar Oil. I Started It Up, And Ran It For A Few Minutes, And It Ran And Idled Great.

Then Tuesday, I Had A 32" Oak Trunk I Need To Cut Up And Move. It Was A Humid 97 Degree Sunny Aftetnoon. I Knew I Should Have Waited Until It Cooled Off, But I Really Wanted To Get This Tree Moved, So Away I Went.

I Cut The Trunk Four Times, In About 25 Minutes, With Short Breaks, To Move The Pieces. I Burned One Tank Of Fuel And Stopped.

While Cutting, The Saw Seemed Pretty Hot. It Ran Good, But Seemed To Be A Little Low On Power, For What I Expected From This 290. It Did Die A Time Or Two, While Idling, But Was Easily Restarted.

MAybe My Perceived Lack Of Power Was Due To The 20" Bar, And The Super Hard Oak. This Is Also My First Experience With A Saw This Size.

But, I Have To Wonder, If I Damaged My Saw, Subjecting It To Such Heat, When Brand New. I Plan To Take Care Of This Saw, And Keep It For Many Years. I Hope I Didnt Shorten Its Lifespan.

So, What Do You Guys Think, Did I Screw Up, Pushing It So Hard On A 97 Degree Day, When New? Is There Anything I Can Check Or Inspect To Ensure Its Ok?? I Would Like Some Piece Of Mind To Know I Didnt Ruin It. Thanks In Advance.

Run it again with a sharp chain if it still seems low on power pull the muffler and look for scoring. That is a small saw for that size wood in that kind of heat and if the chain was dull you leaned on it more than you should it could heat up and seize especially new with tight cyl to wall clearance.
Maybe nothing is wrong and the chain was dulling IDK! You could also do a compression test.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Run it again with a sharp chain if it still seems low on power pull the muffler and look for scoring. That is a small saw for that size wood in that kind of heat and if the chain was dull you leaned on it more than you should it could heat up and seize especially new with tight cyl to wall clearance.

Maybe nothing is wrong and the chain was dulling IDK! You could also do a compression test.

'Wolf, last month I witnessed a tree trimming/felling crew running saws with dull chains. Powder all over the place and almost nothing getting cut. The saw engines were screaming for help. They were working in my neighbor's back yard trying to drop birch trees. Frankly, I couldn't stand it anymore and volunteered to sharpen all of their saw chains for free--three 16" Stihl limbing saws, an MS 290, and a big Stihl 460 saw with a 25" bar.

The foreman agreed in disbelief. Less than an hour later I finished sharpening them all with my Oregon 511a. After he sampled my work, he handed me a $50 bill. I gave him a $20 bill back in change.

 

[lone wolf]

'Wolf, last month I witnessed a tree trimming/felling crew running saws with dull chains. Powder all over the place and almost nothing getting cut. The saw engines were screaming for help. They were working in my neighbor's back yard trying to drop birch trees. Frankly, I couldn't stand it anymore and volunteered to sharpen all of their saw chains for free--three 16" Stihl limbing saws, an MS 290, and a big Stihl 460 saw with a 25" bar.

The foreman agreed in disbelief. Less than an hour later I finished sharpening them all with my Oregon 511a. After he sampled my work, he handed me a $50 bill. I gave him a $20 bill back in change.

You would think people would know this.

 

[Jimbo45]

I use this website to find nearby sources of ethanol free gas.
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

Thanks! I will be visiting the nearest one asap!

Which farm store?

Rural King. Love the store, and got a great price, but Ive never had the staff to repair anything for me. I just prefer to work on my own stuff. I have no personal experience with their stihl tech, so I guess I cant say either way.

Run it again with a sharp chain if it still seems low on power pull the muffler and look for scoring. That is a small saw for that size wood in that kind of heat and if the chain was dull you leaned on it more than you should it could heat up and seize especially new with tight cyl to wall clearance.
Maybe nothing is wrong and the chain was dulling IDK! You could also do a compression test.

This was a brand new saw, with a brand new chain. I would love to do a comp test if I had a gauge. I used to have one but haven't seen it for years.


Thanks again to all, for the help/reassurance. I hope to use the saw again this week. I will do some tuning and pull the muffler if I get time.

....oh, by the way, anyone know if these typically come setup in the summer or winter setting for the airflow? I didn't even notice that feature when checking the air filter before starting it. Hope it wasn't in winter mode for that hot break in! :msp_ohmy: I am going to have to go out and see tonight!

 

[Wood Doctor]

You would think people would know this.

Yes, you would. I was in shock watching them wear out good saws. I guess as long as they were being paid by the hour, they could care less what happened to the equipment.

 

[AKDoug]

....oh, by the way, anyone know if these typically come setup in the summer or winter setting for the airflow? I didn't even notice that feature when checking the air filter before starting it. Hope it wasn't in winter mode for that hot break in! I am going to have to go out and see tonight!

They are shipped from the factory in summer mode.

 

[Jimbo45]

They are shipped from the factory in summer mode.

Yep, just went out and double checked. Whew! Thanks!

 

[Jimbo45]

Helped My Brother Take Down And Chop A Large Hickory Today. The Saw Seemed To Run Stronger Today. I Do Love This Saw! We Made Short Work Of 60' Tree With Our Stihls. I Would Like To Mod The Muffler, And Tune For More Power Though. Is There Enough Adjustment On The Carb To Mod The Newer Saws?

 

[AKDoug]

The muffler mod will help. You can get enough adjustment from the carb if you pop the limiter cap. Do a search, there are multiple threads on these two items. However, it is still just a 290 and it will never be a 362.

BTW it will void your warranty if you care.

 

[treesmith]

it will take a little time to get to know your saw in different wood, just make sure it is sharp. Try a real hard wood and you might think there's something wrong with it but when you try a softer wood you'll get it. A great way to damage a saw is running it full tilt with a blunt chain and forcing it, doesn't do the chain or bar any good either. Good shaken fuel mix, a proper tune and a sharp chain are the important bits, ambient temperature shouldn't matter too much.

 

[lone wolf]

Helped My Brother Take Down And Chop A Large Hickory Today. The Saw Seemed To Run Stronger Today. I Do Love This Saw! We Made Short Work Of 60' Tree With Our Stihls. I Would Like To Mod The Muffler, And Tune For More Power Though. Is There Enough Adjustment On The Carb To Mod The Newer Saws?

Leave it alone you will thank me later.

 

[AKDoug]

Leave it alone you will thank me later.

Yep, just the first step to CAD On a side note, I have been renting a pair of 290's out of the rental dept. of my business for four years. Neither have had a single engine or carb related issue in that time and they have been beat to hell for all those years. I honestly don't think I will be replacing them any time soon.