Is a stihl 038 a good saw and what's it worth?

[Mad Professor]

Piston and rings are junk.

The cyl may clean up if you do it right. Take some detergent and scotch brite to get the surface stuff off then post another picture.

There are two methods to get the aluminum off the cylinder., acid and "honing", honing is not like a cast iron cylinder........ read up, and the acid can dissolve your cylinder and hurt you.

With either one if you do it wrong you can make cylinder MUCH worse. Do a search here and educate yourself, before proceeding.

P.S. is the clutch and flywheel still on?

 

[August76]

Yes still on

 

[August76]

Off to the store for scotch brite pads. I'm tempted to order the 24.99 farmertec jug and piston and ring set it's the very last one on eBay I can't imagine them being sold anywhere else for less than that
At the same time I don't want Chinese junk on my saw I also saw that there was some other te tecomec piston with Caber rings for 14.99

 

[Mad Professor]

Yes still on

It will be a PITA to try to get the flywheel and clutch off when you have removed the cylinder. Didn't I tell you this? Many posts ago?

Why do you want them off? It's a > 30 year old saw so you want to replace the seals, which may be the reason it seized in the first place...........LOL

best of luck it's 3 AM here and I need to fix a tractor , mow the lawns , and deal with a 1/2 acre garden today. Good night.

 

[August76]

It will be a PITA to try to get the flywheel and clutch off when you have removed the cylinder. Didn't I tell you this? Many posts ago?

Why do you want them off? It's a > 30 year old saw so you want to replace the seals, which may be the reason it seized in the first place...........LOL

best of luck it's 3 AM here and I need to fix a tractor , mow the lawns , and deal with a 1/2 acre garden today. Good night.

Yep Arizona mountain standard time. No daylight savings. I love it. Gnite and thanks for all the advice. I'll put it back on and remove them later

 

[Mad Professor]

Off to the store for scotch brite pads. I'm tempted to order the 24.99 farmertec jug and piston and ring set it's the very last one on eBay I can't imagine them being sold anywhere else for less than that
At the same time I don't want Chinese junk on my saw I also saw that there was some other te tecomec piston with Caber rings for 14.99

I'm still awake, Gomer!

You don't know yet wether you need a cylinder? Do you. But you want to buy a POS cyl anyway.........

You can build it any way YOU want. I'm done coaching, will watch this play out from the bleachers........best of luck

OMG what have I done.....clutch is left hand thread and you need a puller for flywheel.

 

[August76]

I'm still awake, Gomer!

You don't know yet wether you need a cylinder? Do you. But you want to buy a POS cyl anyway.........

You can build it any way YOU want. I'm done coaching, will watch this play out from the bleachers........best of luck

They are that bad ok. I won't do that then. I want it done right

 

[August76]

Seems to be cleaning up very slowly but quite well.
So I need oem piston and caber rings and gasket set and maybe more

 

[August76]

Just for laughs

 

[drf255]

A few things.

What’s the SN start with? That looks just like a Brazil 038 Mag to me.

Have you determined the bore yet? Maybe I missed it. A meteor piston will run fine as long as you clean up the transfer.

Most important, you need to do a vacuum check on that saw before you run it. It certainly could have been straight gassed, but it also could have an air leak that caused the scoring to happen. If you don’t find the route of the problem, you will just ruin the new piston and jug.

Just my $.02

 

[August76]

A few things.

What’s the SN start with? That looks just like a Brazil 038 Mag to me.

Have you determined the bore yet? Maybe I missed it. A meteor piston will run fine as long as you clean up the transfer.

Most important, you need to do a vacuum check on that saw before you run it. It certainly could have been straight gassed, but it also could have an air leak that caused the scoring to happen. If you don’t find the route of the problem, you will just ruin the new piston and jug.

Just my $.02

Where do I find the serial #
52mm not exact or my caliper is off.
The jug says stihl 1119
I want to replace all the seals to be sure. No matter if they look good or not.
I think the jug maybe ok.
I really dont know what the best stuff to use is or what is good or bad. I want caber rings. I hear they are harder than stihl. So well see but I'm ready to order soon

 

[drf255]

SN stamped on a flat area on Clutch side under brake handle area. Your brake should be mounted to a metal flag.

Next to muffler.

My bet is your SN starts with 3, as your saw is identical to my buddies 038M.

 

[August76]

SN stamped on a flat area on Clutch side under brake handle area. Your brake should be mounted to a metal flag.

Next to muffler.

My bet is your SN starts with 3, as your saw is identical to my buddies 038M.

I'll look tomorrow. Heard email notice..back to bed here. Thanks

 

[August76]

SN stamped on a flat area on Clutch side under brake handle area. Your brake should be mounted to a metal flag.

Next to muffler.

My bet is your SN starts with 3, as your saw is identical to my buddies 038M.

Yep #3317something

 

[August76]

I don't know about this cylinder if I run a razor blade inside of it I can feel spots.
Crank and rotating assembly feels fine the bearings in the wrist pin looks good I poured gas in the crankcase just to see if I had a really bad leak nothing poured out I repurposed whatever gas was in the saw to clean everything with because I know I'm not going to use that gas again

 

[Mad Professor]

Looks like you did a good job cleaning things up.

I'd put in an OEM or Meteor piston kit (about $20 difference in price) and seals (from gasket set), then do a vacuum/pressure test. Might want to do fuel and impulse line too, since they are cheap, and you have it clean and apart. Pull the clutch cover, clean out the crud and inspect things for wear, in particular the drive gears for the oil pump. Once clean you might want to put some oil in the tank and let it sit a bit before reassembling, If the oil pump is worn or seals tired it will seep/leak a bit. Easy to fix if you get the needed parts.

Look the carb over if you can get it apart without tearing the gaskets/diaphragms. Otherwise just want to throw a kit in that too. If it's a Bing carb it's kind of $$$, thats why I mentioned inspecting without ripping up the rubber that's in there now.

Good luck and keep us updated on the progress, the pictures help a lot.

 

[August76]

Looks like you did a good job cleaning things up.

I'd put in an OEM or Meteor piston kit (about $20 difference in price) and seals (from gasket set), then do a vacuum/pressure test. Might want to do fuel and impulse line too, since they are cheap, and you have it clean and apart. Pull the clutch cover, clean out the crud and inspect things for wear, in particular the drive gears for the oil pump. Once clean you might want to put some oil in the tank and let it sit a bit before reassembling, If the oil pump is worn or seals tired it will seep/leak a bit. Easy to fix if you get the needed parts.

Look the carb over if you can get it apart without tearing the gaskets/diaphragms. Otherwise just want to throw a kit in that too. If it's a Bing carb it's kind of $$$, thats why I mentioned inspecting without ripping up the rubber that's in there now.

Good luck and keep us updated on the progress, the pictures help a lot.

So you think that the cylinder is good enough to reuse?

 

[August76]

I can't really feel anything with my finger now but with a razor blade I can feel it mostly underneath the lower part of the intake port I took some 1200 grit sandpaper and just went over it real light I really don't think it did much but do you guys think this thing is good enough to reuse and is this a brazilian-made one because the tag on the starter coil says made in West Germany but the serial number starts with a 3

 

[August76]

Is there a benefit to deleting the lower gasket on this site for higher compression?

 

[Tml061583]

No it not a clamshell. It's a damn good saw . Pull the muffler. Insert straw into cylinder till it touches the back wall. Turn it over slowly till piston just crimps straw. Then measure straw.