New to Me CS-2511t

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Thanks for all the insight so far. Sounds like things aren't looking good however.

So to try and save the cylinder, I would need to smooth the area shown in the photo below? But if the scratches are too deep into the cylinder wall, it will prevent the ring from sealing, and I'll continue to have low compression.

View attachment 1136733

I have a few questions. How is it that the saw was able to run and cut with such low compression? Any chance the reported compression is lower than what it actually is? I used a Mityvac MV5530 tester - which I typically use for motorcycles. The gauge, with adapters, was about 12" long. I've heard an overly long length of tubing can report lower values.

Looking at a cylinder and piston kit, I will end up into this saw what a new one costs. 🙃
The area around your upper arrow needs cleaned up. It is below where the ring rides, so it’s mostly untouched. The area around the lower arrow is what the rings have ridden on. They’ve scraped away most of the aluminum transfer, but at the expense of likely having damaged the plating. The notch at the top of the exhaust is called a rafter port. Its purpose is to reduce starting compression, but it doesn’t affect running characteristics much.

As far as compression, hose length/volume affects the number of pulls to reach maximum compression, but the max number will be the same regardless of length.

The 2511 uses a small plug and most compression testers need an adapter to fit it. One thing that will affect the reading is whether your adapter has a valve in the end of it that screws into the combustion chamber. On small saws, the reading can be 50psi off without the proper adapter with the valve
 
Looking at a cylinder and piston kit, I will end up into this saw what a new one costs.
I am sorry to hear that you could possibly be "into this saw" for what a new one would have cost.

However, as you go over the saw. make sure to check for lower end bearing play, pressure and vac test the saw once you get it put back together. Run the saw till it heats up, cool it down and recheck fastener tightness.
Once you do, the saw will be a known entity to you and you will virtually be starting with a new saw, minus stuff like bumps and bruises, carb, fuel system, ignition etc. But I suspect that you will get a good lesson and good feel for your saw once you do.

This all reminds me of my first 1972 car, and my subsequent'77 and '88 Ford Trucks, '83 Honda Civic Wagons, etc. I know just about every inch of those cars since I have driven and maintained them all ever since 1978 - 2 years before I could drive. Since becoming a saw owner in 1994 and needing to work on that saw once it acted up in 2015 or so, I learned just about all one needs, in order to diagnose, fix and keep a saw going nearly forever.

You can likely get there too. I have loads of good resources I learned from, and people like huskihl etc in here are also invaluable in their years of expertise.
 
I'm gonna chime in here on a couple of items as I also have the same saw but it's newer and no issues 'cause I treat mine to a proper oil mix and have from the get go....

First off, any Echo dealer with beans should have the drive sprocket clutch assembly because in reality it's a 'consumable item' and I believe Saw it again has them in stock or at least they did last time I checked.

Echo has what I consider to be a sneaky approach to Cat's in the muffler. Mine had one when I bought it and by the way, a new piston and jug won't come close to what the saw retails for. I actually replaced the muffler on mine before I even started it the first time and I replaced it with the OEM non cat muffler, I'd give you the part number but I tossed the box it came in, but rest assured, if there is a circular cat in the muffler (you can see it if you remove the top baffle plate easily), if no cat forget about the above...

I also modified the top baffle plate, I removed entirely the under plate that Echo installs, for whatever reason I'm not sure about, but it's gone now. Did the same deal on my Timber bear as well.

Far as sealing the air cleaner to the carb throat, get yourself an '0' ring to fit the throat firmly and add a smaller '0' ring to the back side of the filter housing, issue of ingress of fines, solved.

Probably take some 'slack' for this comment but, if you replace the piston and jug (and in my humble opinion, you need to replace both, start the saw out (first couple tanks on 40:1. not the 50:1 and use Echo Red Armor 2 stroke oil and not Stihl or some off brand. I run all my saws on Red Armor and when I inspect the exhaust ports and mufflers (I'm anal about carbon buildup, always have been actually because carbon in the exhaust port and muffler entrance robs power), with Red Armor I get NO carbon at all. Now, because I run mine infrequently, I do use the Echo Red Armor canned (50-1) fuel but that is me and I don't use them every day either.

They seem to take at least 3 tanks of pre-mix or canned fuel to develop good power. Had a Stihl professional top handle arborists saw and when I first got mine, it felt like it was down a bit on suds but that has vanished now the saw has been run a bit. Don't ask what happened to the Stihl top handle except to say, I ran it over with my truck and that was the end of a 700 buck saw.

Far as the bar goes, I'd take a good look at the rails as well inner track. You can buy genuine Echo bars for your saw on Amazon as well as replacement loops pretty cheap (I'm not a big fan of Amazon but they are there).

Compared to my flattened Stihl, I feel that once the saw had some time on it, it is comparable to the Stihl top handle now and you'll go through the same 'break in' if you replace the piston and jug. Just make sure you properly torque the hold down bolts and use an inch pound torque wrench as 'good-n-tight' don't work well.

I like mine just fine and now that it has some hours on it, quite satisfied with it, especially when considering the cost of the Echo was just about half what the Stihl cost me.

Like I stated, I'm not a professional arborist, just a farm owner with a huge woodlot that needs taken care of.

Finally, on chains, I grind all my own chains. I own 2 chain grinders, I really only need one but I sharpen chipper knives for all the local arborists and I also grind their chains now that the cost of chains has kept pace with inflation so I need 2 grinders, one to grind the cutters and the other to set the rakers and on the subject of what I refer to as the 'ghost raker' on the low kickback loops, I drop them when I set the normal rakers, usually at least 0.030. That eliminates the 'chatter' effect that was mentioned in a previous post.

It's a good saw in my humble opinion and yours was at some point either run lean or not enough oil added to the fuel. If the blanking plugs are intact on the carb screws, I'd say a bad batch of pre mix was used. If not, the previous owner was fooling with the mixture screws. Echo likes to set their saws from the factory, slightly rich for some reason. I've never fiddled with either of mine as I can deal with a tad bit of 4 stroking when pedal to the metal and that vanishes once the saw is in the wood and pulling a cutting chain anyway.

Just my 2 cents for what it's worth, take it or leave it, I'm good with that.
 
The 2511 uses a small plug and most compression testers need an adapter to fit it. One thing that will affect the reading is whether your adapter has a valve in the end of it that screws into the combustion chamber. On small saws, the reading can be 50psi off without the proper adapter with the valve
I checked my compression tester, and it does have a small schrader valve in the end of it. So I guess the compression test numbers are accurate, yikes! Looking at the service manual, Echo has a specification of 150 psi, and states anything less than 75% of that value is an issue. My wet compression test was 100, so I'm short of the lower minimum of 112.

A new cylinder and piston kit runs $120 on SawAgain. A complete engine with crankcase assembly runs $145. Which would you pick?

Is sandpaper my best bet for cleaning up the cylinder wall? I saw some people use muriatic acid to eat the aluminum, but if your plating has been scraped, the acid can then eat into the cylinder wall. Makes me think some high grit sand paper and elbow grease is the safer option.

Chilipeppermaniac, thank you for the videos. They've been very helpful in educating me on how these small engines work!

I'm gonna chime in here on a couple of items as I also have the same saw but it's newer and no issues 'cause I treat mine to a proper oil mix and have from the get go....
Thank you for taking the time to offer all that advice. I've started looking at o-rings to create a better seal at the air filter. I think that should work well. So for a piston and cylinder to have the scarring that mine do, the saw was either run at a bad fuel mix or there would have to be an air leak? Are there any other ways this could have been caused? I do not want to replace the piston and cylinder if the underlying issue of why this occurred has not been fixed.
 
I would buy the whole assembly for $145. It’s a sealed unit and you don’t have to mess with the wrist pin bearing shims on either side of the rod and trying to get the clips in properly
In my opinion, THIS is a huge HUGE pro for Echo,,,,, as far as something that really can be a bonus for owners of a 2511.

Essentially get the guts of a saw and swap it into the body/handle, Carb etc and resume cutting.
 
Chilipeppermaniac, thank you for the videos. They've been very helpful in educating me on how these small engines work!
Glad it helps.
I may not be an expert or as knowledgeable as some of our experts in here, but I have learned so many invaluable lessons from them and from youtube/reading.

When we understand our equipment, we can be better equipped to know if we are having an important sign of trouble, and how to deal with it, if it is a significant issue.

My first Youtube lesson was quite a revelation to the world of possibilities on learning stuff from others who share their knowledge.
I learned how a Lawn Mower Carb works, and how to set one up to work right.
 
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