MS 290 Problems...eBay JUNK

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sawinredneck said:
The number one give away, Stihl bars don't wear paint of that easily. I cut better than ten cord with my 390, and the bar looked brand new.
Then he didn't even try to clean it up for pics., sends up a red flag to me.[/QUOTE

Attempting to cut hard, dead wood with a rocked or dull chain will cook the paint right off the Stihl bar. My ex BIL did this till the bar warped, or perhaps he bent it some other way, but I consider it a testament to the 290 that the saw is still fine after some serious homeowner abuse. (with new bar and chains of course)
Click to expand...
 
sawinredneck said:
Yeah, you took it on the buisness end with this one!!!

A couple of tips for the future (we all have to learn something from this right?)

Look at those pics again. If I was a betting man, that saw has seen closer to 30 cord of wood. Look and see if you can figure out how I know that!
Click to expand...

:agree2:

I bought brand new MS290 last May and cut well over 10 cords worth of eastern hardwoods with it since, and my bar doesn't look half as bad as that one.

On all eBay auctions, I download the pictures to my desktop and blow them up to look at details. The fact that he didn't include more pics and no closeups is another red flag to consider.

FYI, a new MS290 doesn't come with the outside dog. You might want to fire off an email asking for the inner dog because he didn't disclose that he had already started to cannibalize it (only that it simply didn't run). The first picture shows the stock inner dog! Heck, you may want to use that as leverage for reversing the transaction (false/deceptive advertising, possible bad rep, etc.).
 
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clutch25 said:
From what I have seen of two strokes (LOTS) and nikasil cylinders....it's junk...

If I'm going to pull it down, I'm going to have parts on hand and not burn through another set of rings to find out something I already know...it needs a top end.

I don't have room in the garage/work bench for a saw torn apart. I have sleds coming in that need shocks rebuilt, top ends etc....

I don't "need" a new saw and I don't really have the money, but I can afford one. New 290's around here are going for straight retail...I was hoping to save $100+
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Don't sweat it, you got burnt, you know you got burnt and what to look for in the future.
There's no point in rubbing youre face in it anymore:cheers:

Can we have a group hug now? HUH? CAN WE:greenchainsaw:
 
Don't know about you, but I'm having a few group beers.

Red's right... forget it. I had too -made a few "less then stellar" purchases in my time...
 
Hmmm... I'd bet the dealer installed the clip badly and bent it... Stihl doesn't make the clips - they are a DIN standard clip available for many manfs... and... used in zillion of places other than chainsaws.


Irrespective of what clips they used, the Golf primary problem was a piston machining issue.
 
fullpower_65 said:
I agree you're likely stuck with the saw, but the ad is definitely misleading: "carb could be gummed up...". Since the guy claims to be the original owner, he's gotta know it was cooked.

Hope it all works out. With the the knowledge and support of the good folks here, I'm sure it will.
Click to expand...

I'm currently deep into an MS290 in almost identical condition. The original owner (my brother in law) didn't know it was cooked.

I suspect my BIL's saw died from cracked gas lines causing it to run too lean. He had a Stihl shop put in new gas lines fairly recently, but it never did run right after that... my theory is that the bad gas lines cooked the saw, but it could still run for a while until the piston/cylinder got too messed up. :monkey:

Anyway, an owner can not know his saw is cooked.

$255? I think a scored MS290 is worth about $100. Sheesh, you can get a "running" 026 for more like $200.

Problem with buying a "running" saw on Ebay would seem to be that you could get a half-baked rebuild job that's going to die a quick death anyway. Personally, I would be a tad leery with any auction that didn't offer a compression reading or at least a picture up the exhaust port.

Hopping it up to a 390 would be great, but where are you going to get the piston/cyl?
 
I would NEVER knowingly sell someone garbage...EVER!

Just passing off a pile of $hit doesn't make it right with me!

I have real trouble with none OEM pistons in any piece of equipment...about the only aftermarket piston maker I trust is CP....
 
Easy to get carried away on Ebay. I find as a seller, it's very important to be entirely honest and not try to disguise anything. I've never had a complaint, except the car I sold that shat its gearbox out on the way home, and I really didn't see that one coming :(

Bad luck though, but lesson learned, won't happen again I'm sure.
 
GASoline71 said:
...and that right there my friend is why buyers have to watch their a$$... great post. I hope you were kidding... :help:

Gary
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I was not kidding. I would write a description of what happened, and that it has a new piston, and see what happens. No reason to lie about anything, or be deceptive. The bidding might not even get to what he paid for it, who knows. There are alot of saws with golf pistons out there. The thing will probably run for years with the golf, or until the next guy runs it on straight gas. It's alot better than re-using the old piston with a $7 set of rings. I'm sure there are alot of saws sold that way on there.
 

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