Hard to Pull Starter Cord on Echo Limbing Saw - What Causes It?

[hotajax]

Echo 330 limber. If it sits for a while, its real ***** to pull the cord. I'm afraid I'm going to break the cord. So when it gets like this, I have to put my foot on it to hold it tight, and start pulling the cord slowly. I have to pull it 8-10 times before it loosens up enough to where I can give it a good yank to get her to run. The more times I pull it, the easier it gets on each pull. What the eff causes this? I don't have this issue with an old Homelite or a Stihl. Really ****** pisses me off. Thanks in advance.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Do you store the saw with fuel in the tank?

 

[cscltd]

You could have a leaky carb inlet needle that is allowing fuel to leak into cylinder when sitting and causing a slight hydro lock?
try setting saw with bar pointing up and with filter off and see if you get fuel residue leaking out of carb after a few hours

 

[cookies]

take the plug out and check for fuel or oil in the cylinder before running it, it may just be a great sealing cylinder/piston/rings with some oil coating them that once gas hits it breaks the seal.

 

[link]

So, the saw gets warm, you stop the saw, the fuel is still warm, it creates a pressure, the pressure fills the cylinder with gasoline.
Naaah, that should not happen.

 

[Old2stroke]

If the saw was hard to pull over because the crankcase was full of fuel, it would not start after just a few pulls to loosen it up. It would be BADLY flooded and fuel should be drooling out of the muffler when it was being pulled over and would not start until properly un-flooded by pulling the plug and pulling it over with the plug hole down. The plug has to be pulled and checked to see if this is really a badly flooded engine or some more mysterious problem.

 

[Franny K]

Do you have the tool to remove the clutch? Perhaps the nubs on the oiler drive have kind of gotten half way under the spurs of the sprocket. I had something like this happen in my trials to get into a rim drive sprocket. Thought the engine was seized or at least was worried.

 

[hotajax]

Do you store the saw with fuel in the tank?

yes, it always has fuel in the tank.

 

[hotajax]

Do you store the saw with fuel in the tank?

Yes, always has fuel in it. But so do my other saws and I don't have trouble with them.

 

[frank_]

if it was flooding, it would be a pig to start
my money would be on the pullcord too short or too thin (not filling its spool)

 

[redunshee]

That was my initial thought. Recoil cord too thin.

 

[copen]

Echo 330 limber. If it sits for a while, its real ***** to pull the cord. I'm afraid I'm going to break the cord. So when it gets like this, I have to put my foot on it to hold it tight, and start pulling the cord slowly. I have to pull it 8-10 times before it loosens up enough to where I can give it a good yank to get her to run. The more times I pull it, the easier it gets on each pull. What the eff causes this? I don't have this issue with an old Homelite or a Stihl. Really ****** pisses me off. Thanks in advance.

I replaced the cord recoil assembly on my 500 and solved the problem that sounds a lot like the problem you're having. The original one was plastic, new one metal. Then the dad blamed thing started having other issues.

 

[Old2stroke]

Need to remove the plug and the recoil starter, turn the engine over by turning the flywheel and see if the problem is still there, if it is, squirt some wd-40 into the cylinder and see if it loosens up right away. Also, have to pull the muffler and inspect the piston for damage, this is starting to sound like a saw that was overheated and shut off while still hot and the engine seized when it came to a stop.

 

[hotajax]

Thanks, gents

 

[Quartzxkr]

Echo 330 limber. If it sits for a while, its real ***** to pull the cord. I'm afraid I'm going to break the cord. So when it gets like this, I have to put my foot on it to hold it tight, and start pulling the cord slowly. I have to pull it 8-10 times before it loosens up enough to where I can give it a good yank to get her to run. The more times I pull it, the easier it gets on each pull. What the eff causes this? I don't have this issue with an old Homelite or a Stihl. Really ****** pisses me off. Thanks in advance.

Mine does the same. But it only started doing so after I did the YouTube mods to the muffler and pulled the plastic nibs off the idle screws to adjust them.It does get better after 3 or 4 pulls so not a big deal for me because I love the performance I got as a trade off,
.

 

[hotajax]

Mine does the same. But it only started doing so after I did the YouTube mods to the muffler and pulled the plastic nibs off the idle screws to adjust them.It does get better after 3 or 4 pulls so not a big deal for me because I love the performance I got as a trade off,
.

I was thinking about doing the muffler mods, but it's the old lady's saw, and she uses it about once a year. Is it easy to find the mods on U Tube for the 330?

 

[hcube]

Echo 330 limber. If it sits for a while, its real ***** to pull the cord. I'm afraid I'm going to break the cord. So when it gets like this, I have to put my foot on it to hold it tight, and start pulling the cord slowly. I have to pull it 8-10 times before it loosens up enough to where I can give it a good yank to get her to run. The more times I pull it, the easier it gets on each pull. What the eff causes this? I don't have this issue with an old Homelite or a Stihl. Really ****** pisses me off. Thanks in advance.

I have a MS250 Stihl and acts like you describe. I think it is just the design as I have read of others having that problem.

 

[super3]

I was thinking about doing the muffler mods, but it's the old lady's saw, and she uses it about once a year. Is it easy to find the mods on U Tube for the 330?

Best mod for that saw is Stihl 63PS chain.

 

[Cedar Row]

I have an Echo 360T and a CS352, the 352 is amazingly easy to start, the 360T has a very hard pull, hot or cold, and has been that way since I got it. I have mostly used it for limbing felled trees and standing trees from the ground. With that hard pull, and the size and weight of the saw, drop starting is hard to do. I just figured that the saw was supposed to be that way, but that is not good for a tree saw. Maybe there is a problem with the saw. I have a CS 361 that won't restart when hot, and an 041 that locks up on start, but would start after several slow easy pulls. It finally would not pull at all. Unfortunately I haven't solved any of these issues. I am now reassembling the 041after cleaning and installing new gaskets. The 361is still a mystery. This is not much help, but the 360T and the 041 are doing something similar to your saw. is doing something similar to your saw. Perhaps someone here will have an answer.

 

[copen]

See #12 and #13