Homelite xl12 "Dad's old blue"

[KUBOTA OWNER]

Need help getting her running again. Sure don't need to, I have many other saws but can't not fix it.
Sitting for over 10 years, Cleaned out all the old fuel and saw starts and runs good until you try to run at full rpm
then it seems just like it running out of gas. If you let the throttle return then it stays running. Will rev until it starts to
die again. Tillotson carb. has been apart 3 times and cleaned and gaskets and diaphragms replaced. Will run with low speed jet out about 3 turns but still will not rev. High speed screw does nothing!! doesn't make a difference if it screwed out 5 turns out screwed all in. Reset the need and seat to run richer and still makes no difference. Have not removed the welch plugs in the carb but carb cleaner seems to squirt through all the orifices? Can't understand why the high speed jet does nothing. What is so funny is that the saw starts good and I can adjust it to have a nice idle. And will rev good and then start to bog if you hold the throttle wide open and will stall unless you let the throttle return.
--Kinda has me stumped. Wish I had another carb to try. Any help would sure be appreciated.

 

[heimannm]

I would replace the fuel line and fuel filter. The lines on the old Homelites were subject to getting soft, that combined with a partially plugged filter could be severely restricting fuel flow.

Mark

 

[Chevboy0167]

The Old Blue I looked at earlier this summer had the paint peeling off in the fuel tank..... clogging up the fuel filter. Line was soft and a bit gooey as well.

Along with the actual tank half gasket leaking when hot/warm.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have a Homelite Old Blue (some called it the Big Blue) sitting on a shelf, and it has an engine that still runs like a bandit and starts easily. It has an oil leak that would require major repair work to fix. Regardless, this chainsaw is an amazing performer in the cut. It might be the loudest chainsaw that I have. I guess Homelite was not interested in selling quiet saws back then. I imagine it's at least 50 years old, but I could be wrong. This saw is an animal. Looks a lot like this:

 

[buzz sawyer]

Have you checked or filed the points and reset? Can you feed fuel into the carb throat and get it to rev up?

 

[KUBOTA OWNER]

I would replace the fuel line and fuel filter. The lines on the old Homelites were subject to getting soft, that combined with a partially plugged filter could be severely restricting fuel flow.

Mark

Thanks for responding Mark, I have replaced the section of fuel line that goes between the copper fuel pipe and the carb. The filter is strange, looks like it is part of the tank. I wouls have to split the saw to remove it. I have flushed tank with hot water, degreaser, carb cleaner, parts solvent and then straight gas. I can turn the saw on its side and get a nice steady flow of fuel through the lines.
Seems to get plenty of fuel? Weird thing is why the high speed needle does nothing? I think I could remove it completely from the carb. and the saw would still run?? I can squirt carb cleaner right down through the passage that feeds to the high speed needle and it comes out into the nozzle inside the carb. where it should.
Maybe I should pop out the welsh plugs, I hate to unless I have new one to replace
Oh well will keep playing with it when I get some time. I'm one that just can't give up until i fix it. Thanks again.

 

[KUBOTA OWNER]

Have you checked or filed the points and reset? Can you feed fuel into the carb throat and get it to rev up?

Yes, cleaned up the complete saw, points look great nice blue spark. Better that newer saws.
I have feed fuel into the carb when the saw is wide open and it will stop bogging and it will run fine until it uses that fuel up or i let it return to idle.
Read a little about a nozzel check valve that may have been blow out? does this carb have that?
Problem it causes still does match mine though.
Funny thing when I started cleaning and fooling with this there was a rubber sink washer on the choke rod to keep the choke from completely opening, would stay at like 3/4 or 7/8.
I think this may have been the way my dad fixed it way back when!! but now that don't seem to help either. Just fun messing with this. love saws. have way to many. like lots of us. Thanks again
Headed north for a few days to cut some fire wood. Will let yu know what I eventually find.

 

[KUBOTA OWNER]

Pulled carb off again this might be the 4th or fifth time. The way the fuel line and filter are on this model makes it hard to access the fuel line. I didn't think it was a filter problem but pulled the fuel out of the tank with very little suction using my miti vac. Still reached down into the the tank and ripped out a hugh felt filter that had a weird shape seemed to flow fuel better reinstalled the carb and started good. Saw still will run out of fuel at full throttle. Will run nice, idle and accelerate but then start stalling at high rpm. I can remove the high speed needle completely and it makes no difference??
Found another older homelite saw under my work bench and it it has a homelite carb on it but looks like it will work. Before switching I though why not fire this up. Fueled it up and a little squirt in the carb and it fired and ran good. I could have just swapped the bar and chain to this saw but I wanted to see why the other saw would not run decent.
Switched carbs and it did fit except for the idle screw was different. Saw started and ran fine ran wide open throttle and never missed a beat. !!! The only thing I never did to the old carb was to pop out the welch plug above the high speed needle. I could squirt carb cleaner into the high speed adjustment screw hole and it would squirt right into the main carb port. So how can it be plugged??? With the carb apart you could look right down through the passage from the fuel chamber with the needle and seat to the high speed mixture screw and into the throttle bore.
Even fished a small wire through. But I pulled out the welch plug above the high speed screw and could not really tell if it was plugged, though I may be looking at check valve that some say may be used in some of these carbs. So I blew out the passage with compressed air and sprayed carb cleaner and it went right into the carb bore just like before. Reinstalled the welch plug that has a small hole in it now and painted it with wife's nail polish.
Reinstalled the carb and fired up the saw, runs different right away. Adjusted the mixture and idle speed and warmed up the saw. Runs fine!!
Still stumped as to why the main metering fuel circuit was not getting fuel before but is now.
The only thing I can think of is that there was some dirt of crud in the port under the welch plug that was acting like a check valve that would shut off the fuel at wide open throttle. Or that there was a check valve and I blew it out and now its gone.????
I think it made about 7 or 8 times that the carb was off and on. I just can give up on something until i get it figured out.
Now I will run the saw for about a tank of fuel or so then put it on a shelf for another 20 years!!!
Thanks to all that helped. Just needed to bring everyone up to date.
Maybe some one has a comment as to what they think might have been happening on this.
Thanks again.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Sound like a really old one. Some had a filer pad built into the side of the tank. I had one like that - I think the fuel line came out of the side - I couldn't find any pics but here is a page from the manual. See lower left in the diagram below. I had a box full of new tank sides with the filter pad. Bought them thinking they were the whole tank. I don't believe I have them any more.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Pulled carb off again this might be the 4th or fifth time. The way the fuel line and filter are on this model makes it hard to access the fuel line. I didn't think it was a filter problem but pulled the fuel out of the tank with very little suction using my miti vac. Still reached down into the the tank and ripped out a hugh felt filter that had a weird shape seemed to flow fuel better reinstalled the carb and started good. Saw still will run out of fuel at full throttle. Will run nice, idle and accelerate but then start stalling at high rpm. I can remove the high speed needle completely and it makes no difference??
Found another older homelite saw under my work bench and it it has a homelite carb on it but looks like it will work. Before switching I though why not fire this up. Fueled it up and a little squirt in the carb and it fired and ran good. I could have just swapped the bar and chain to this saw but I wanted to see why the other saw would not run decent.
Switched carbs and it did fit except for the idle screw was different. Saw started and ran fine ran wide open throttle and never missed a beat. !!! The only thing I never did to the old carb was to pop out the welch plug above the high speed needle. I could squirt carb cleaner into the high speed adjustment screw hole and it would squirt right into the main carb port. So how can it be plugged??? With the carb apart you could look right down through the passage from the fuel chamber with the needle and seat to the high speed mixture screw and into the throttle bore.
Even fished a small wire through. But I pulled out the welch plug above the high speed screw and could not really tell if it was plugged, though I may be looking at check valve that some say may be used in some of these carbs. So I blew out the passage with compressed air and sprayed carb cleaner and it went right into the carb bore just like before. Reinstalled the welch plug that has a small hole in it now and painted it with wife's nail polish.
Reinstalled the carb and fired up the saw, runs different right away. Adjusted the mixture and idle speed and warmed up the saw. Runs fine!!
Still stumped as to why the main metering fuel circuit was not getting fuel before but is now.
The only thing I can think of is that there was some dirt of crud in the port under the welch plug that was acting like a check valve that would shut off the fuel at wide open throttle. Or that there was a check valve and I blew it out and now its gone.????
I think it made about 7 or 8 times that the carb was off and on. I just can give up on something until i get it figured out.
Now I will run the saw for about a tank of fuel or so then put it on a shelf for another 20 years!!!
Thanks to all that helped. Just needed to bring everyone up to date.
Maybe some one has a comment as to what they think might have been happening on this.
Thanks again.

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