thepupster
New Member
Hi, new member here trying to find out about a Homelite 500 chainsaw. Been looking through this and other sites and not one mention of this saw. This saw was in the basement of my great uncles house which my mother had fixed up about 12 years ago. Been sitting all this time collecting dust. For some reason I decided to get it running. Just looked neat compared to some other saws we've had- old, big and all metal (well 99% metal-throttle lever and manual oil button are plastic). Tore it completely apart, cleaned everything, put it back together and got it to run for maybe 30 seconds off and on. Got it to idle nicely for the last 10 seconds but it wouldn't accelerate when I pulled the throttle lever and then it died and I couldn't get it to run anymore. First question is for general info about this saw (ie. years these were made, hp, quality (from this site and others sounds like old Homelites are good saws) etc.). Second question is how to get it running and what settings to use for the carb as there is no manual. It has good compression, a good spark, and fuel reaching the cylinder (because it's going out the exhaust) but won't fire. It's driving me nuts because it should start, right. Only thing I can figure is the old spark plug because I thought since it was giving a good spark it should be fine or is it possible that a plug can give what appears to be a good spark and yet still not work?
Late last night I decided to check the action of another plug in it(not the right type but all I had) and noticed that it sparked with every pull but when trying the original one again it didn't spark with every pull. "AHA" I said to myself "maybe if I gap the plug correctly, but what gap?". Two other chainsaw manuals I have said .025 and .023-.027, so I gapped at .025 and guess what? Sparks every pull. So now maybe it will start ( I didn't try right then because I thought it not a good idea at 3 in the morning, although I wanted to!). If it doesn't start this morning I guess I'll try a new plug and if that doesn't work then...??? Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks, Steve.
Late last night I decided to check the action of another plug in it(not the right type but all I had) and noticed that it sparked with every pull but when trying the original one again it didn't spark with every pull. "AHA" I said to myself "maybe if I gap the plug correctly, but what gap?". Two other chainsaw manuals I have said .025 and .023-.027, so I gapped at .025 and guess what? Sparks every pull. So now maybe it will start ( I didn't try right then because I thought it not a good idea at 3 in the morning, although I wanted to!). If it doesn't start this morning I guess I'll try a new plug and if that doesn't work then...??? Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks, Steve.
