Homelite XL one of Textron top handle ones

[Jeff Lary]

Hi all it has been a long time maybe a year or so since I have started a thread so bear with me. I had a guy ask me if I could fix a recoil rope for him on a saw he recently bought. You guessed it it's a top handle xl one of the tiny ones quite old "I would say I am not a Homelite guy". Anyway I put in a new rope he told me the guy he got the saw from said it would run but the rope broke.

The saw did after a fashion start and run,.. maybe 2 minutes then it quit and would not restart. I had never had one of these apart but it did not run soooo. I took the engine out and took the carb off, the saw has spark not volumes of it but a lite blue spark. I figured the carb might have some crap in it but I really did not find any to speak of. The muffler screen was pretty well plugged so I burned that clean and moved on. The saw had some crap yellow gas line hard as a brick so I thought that may be it. I swapped it out for some echo line I had the charcoal gray kind very nice stuff.
I figure someone had been in there before me for 2 reasons ,1 being the yellow line and 2, being it has a Zama C2s carb? I would have figured it for a Tilitson or a Walbro. I have a Zama "Z" shaped Zama carb gauge and did discover the metering arm was set too high??? at least according to the " tit" on the Zama gauge. Have you ever seen a lever that was too high? I guess if someone was in there tinkering with it they may have not set the arm to the correct height? I am assuming it was too high I also assume you set the lever with the side of the gauge that says the same type of carb you are working on so I think I did that ok.

The saw still will not start it will pop but not enough to actually run. The piston looks almost new I did not however do a comp test I have a gauge so I guess I could. any ideas? is Zama the right carb??? I dnt feel like it should be. Thanks to anyone who answers,

I pulled the rope till my right shoulder flopped all the over to my left side and fell off,.. got to go nail that rigging back on I suppose....

 

[zogger]

Is the plug getting wet, or staying dry? That's a place to start.

 

[Jeff Lary]

The plug is wet , the more I think about it I think I better do a compression test. The plug was quite wet , I had dripped some fuel in the carb and in the cly but it still only slightly popped maybe for 2 sec 4-5 times. I pulled on it enough to make my shoulder sore only an occasional pop. Do you or anyone know what the compression should be? The piston looked fine but the rings could be spent. He only paid a small amount for two saws one of them being this one,

 

[Jeff Lary]

For what its worth I checked the compression this morning, it is between 100# and 105#. I tried to start it first though and it spit fuel all over my feet from the exhaust it is flooded badly from yesterday. In any case I don't think 100# is enough to start and run well . So as far as I am concerned and him too I imagine she may be all done. Thanks for the responses though have a good weekend . Jeff

 

[a. palmer jr.]

100 to 105 is kinda low but that is a reed valve saw so it might be made to run. The inlet lever has to be set level or it will flood like you describe and the plug will be wet. A bad plug might also be the culprit. Most of those saws that I've had came with a Walbro HDC. I just looked it up and I guess the Zama is used on some of those, along with Tillotson and Walbro, nice to have choices..
I have a Poulan 25 saw that just has 110# compression and it runs but not well..

 

[Jeff Lary]

Yea I hear ya this Zama has a tit on the gauge and if you set the lever using it you end up maybe a 32nd below level. I am going to let the owner dictate what happens next I guess. I have to get back to firewood if it ever stops raining has been lowery and cold damp and rainy the last week here. I spent the morning in the shop making a coal rake and coal shovel for the new wood stove. So the day was not a total loss even if I could not work on the wood pile. Thanks for the response, Jeff

 

[1ruralmailman]

my guess would be it needs either a coil,or condenser,or both.if it runs a short time, then quit it is probably losing spark from on or both of these being on the way out.only way to prove it is get to run again,which probably means a new plug,as it is probably done from the flooding. there used to be a website called houseofhomelite.com it had several guys on there keeping these old classics running.there were even guys there that had bought out old stock from dealers when they were closing and are now selling nos.parts.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I think he's already found most of his problem. With 100 compression it's not gonna do very well. About the ignition though, some of the older ones have points ignition, the newer ones are electronic. I'd guess that any of the plastic bodied ones are electronic.

 

[Jeff Lary]

This one is a magnesium cased saw. I will let the owner tell me the next move. I have been this route once before with a different guy and he said yep fix he up so I did but he wouldn't pay for the parts later. I ended up with the saw a pos bty and sold it for just enough to pay for the parts I put in it.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Around here if you try hard you can go to the flea markets and buy a Homelite Xl, XL2 or Super 2 with more compression than that for 5 or 10 dollars and either use the other saw or transplant the engine into yours, an easy job, I've done several. I have a bunch of spare engines now but I think they're all ones I've taken out of saws, need to toss them I guess.

 

[Jeff Lary]

That is something I should ask.If he wants to sell it ( I don't want it ) what should I tell him its worth? It is all there good bar 70% chain life ect. I figured 30-40 bucks ?

 

[a. palmer jr.]

All of the used ones I've seen or bought around here are either free or less than $10. There's just not much demand for a non-running Homelite XL. If it was a Stihl top handle it might be a different story..

 

[Jeff Lary]

Got ya I feel the same way but don't want to start anything with the lil red lovers out there. Personally I figure $10.00 tops. Thanks for the answer though.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I always liked Homelite saws, have a few now. Fact is though I can get them about any weekend for a low price. Here's mine. I think I have around $10 in this one and it runs perfectly.

 

[Jeff Lary]

very nice !

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Thanks, it's a good saw but certainly not original, it's had an engine change and several other things done to it. After the pic was taken I got rid of that safety chain also.

 

[Jeff Lary]

I go to get my oil changed tomorrow and the owner works there. I will give him the rundown then.

 

[Jeff Lary]

well I told the guy all about it and he gave it to me to keep. He said he had very little invested and did not have the time or interest to mess with it. So now I guess it's time to look for rings or ring? for it.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Just for kicks I bought an XL like we're talking about at a flea market Saturday. Cost me all of $10. The owner told me he bought another one of them for parts because the fuel tank leaked on the one I bought. I knew it probably just had the duck bill valve in the gas tank missing and I was right. The oiler also didn't work and I already knew what was wrong with it by looking into the oil tank at the cap, the duckbill valve was missing there too plus the oil tank gasket was missing also. I pulled the motor today and repaired all of the above and now it runs pretty good and also oils the chain. This one has the short bar, 10 inches or 12. The oiler probably is a little too good for that short of a bar..I can always slightly loosen the cap..
I might mention also that this saw will also continue to oil after the engine is shut off because the oil tank is still pressurized but you can take the cap off to relieve the pressure and stop the oil down..

 

[a. palmer jr.]

well I told the guy all about it and he gave it to me to keep. He said he had very little invested and did not have the time or interest to mess with it. So now I guess it's time to look for rings or ring? for it.

Sounds like a good little project. Rather than take that engine apart to re-ring it I would probably look for a parts saw and rob the engine from it, a lot less work. There's thousands of parts saws out there and most of them are like the one I just bought.