Poulan Pro 330 - help ?

[Rspike]

Hello , New here so dont beat on me too hard for too long . I own a wood stove and we heat 100% with wood as we have for the last 10 years . Last seasion i bought a new Poulan Pro 330 ( 54 cc ) to add with the two Crapsman i have owned ( 28cc + 46 cc both 8+ years old ) I cut about 4-5 truck loads of wood with the Poulan Pro and was starting on a 6th load of the new year and the saw started right up on the second pull ....ran "great" as it always has so far , cut about half of small one tree ( 18" ) and it just died . Couldnt get it started again to save my life . New gas , correct oil mix , kept the say super clean and stored correct . Took the saw in to have it looked at at the local saw dealer/repair shop and he did a compresson test on it and said it tested at 70 psi / lbs . Told me the saw was shot and was not woth fix-en . I have run these cheaper saws for years and never had a problem . I bought the Poulan Pro and it just cut 5 pick up loads of wood ? Is this a common problem with the newer saws or even a common issue with the Poulan Pro ? Maybe the shop was full of it......?..... i just dont were to go with this saw . I guess i finally got wise tho after 10 years of cutting wood ~ my new 372XP is on its way . I would still like to figure this Poulan saw out . Thanks 4 ur help .

 

[spacemule]

Hello , New here so dont beat on me too hard for too long . I own a wood stove and we heat 100% with wood as we have for the last 10 years . Last seasion i bought a new Poulan Pro 330 ( 54 cc ) to add with the two Crapsman i have owned ( 28cc + 46 cc both 8+ years old ) I cut about 4-5 truck loads of wood with the Poulan Pro and wast starting on a 6th load and the saw started right up on the second pull ....ran "great" as it always has so far , cut about half of small one tree ( 18" ) and it just died . Couldnt get it started again to save my life . New gas , correct oil mix , kept the say super clean and stored correct . Took the saw in to have it looked at at the local saw dealer/repair shop and he did a compresson test on it and said it tested at 70 psi / lbs . Told me the saw was shot and was not woth fix-en . I have run these cheaper saws for years and never had a problem . I bought the Poulan Pro and it just cut 5 pick up loads of wood ? Is this a common problem with the newer saws or even a common issue with the Poulan Pro ? Maybe the shop was full of it......?..... i just dont were to go with this saw . I guess i finally got wise tho after 10 years of cutting wood ~ my new 372XP is on its way . I would still like to figure this Poulan saw out . Thanks 4 ur help .

Sure sounds like there wasn't oil in the gas.

 

[Rspike]

That does sound about right but i dont think that is why. I dumped the saw and the tank , both green . Both my other saw ran fine on the same gas/oil and are still running . Hummm

 

[shadetree]

I have been a Poulan service dealer, as well as other makes, for years, I would be the first to tell ya that theres alot of shady service dealers out there!!!
First off If its a Poulan Pro (yellow), Its has a two year warrenty on it, and whatever happened to it, it shouldnt cost you nothing to fix.
Poulan may not be the best saw out there, but I can tell you from first hand experiance, unlike other warrenty work that I do, they do not hassel there service dealers about a claim, they just want it fixed, and send them the bill.
Poulan and Husqvarna, are owned by the same company, Electrolux
So if it were me, I would take it to another serivce dealer, because if it had the right fuel mix, from my experance they dont give that much trouble, and like I said it shouldnt cost you anything
Shadetree

 

[Cut4fun]

The poulans all come so lean from the factory to meet the epa crap. Have you ever tuned the carb yet? Pulled the limiter caps off carb? Have you opened up the muffler to get the heat out quicker?. Take the muffler off and look in your cylinder for scoring. Do you still have spark? Did you see the dealer use a gauge or did he do the rope test? The 330 is a good saw made by poulan, not like the walmart ones sold. The dealer probably just wants to sell you his brand of saw. Let us know what you have done?

 

[Cut4fun]

Here is the 330 breakdown for you. http://www.odref.com/poulan/pdf/POULAN-PRO/gas-saws/pp330.pdf
You can get a ring for less then $3 and base cylinder gasket kit for less then $5. I had a dealer tell me it would cost $200 to fix a fried top end on my 3750 (same as 330 saw but has 60cc piston and cylinder) I put in a ring and gasket and honed it for a grand total of $16. First saw I have ever worked on at the time. The 330 is a very simple saw to work on.

 

[spike60]

If the dealer had only performed the rope test, he wouldn't have come up with the 70psi number. But you still need to take a look inside the cylinder to see if there is any damage. Since you have double-checked your fuel mix, I would guess that it had an air leak from the factory. This could be confirmed by doing a leakdown test. This of course, would be a warranty repair, if you could find a dealer interested in doing it. (I'm just guessing that it came from a box store) As mentioned, some Poulan parts are fairly cheap, so if you are handy, you could do it yourself. But again, if it's sucking air somewhere, the failure would probably repeat itself.

 

[Cut4fun]

The Dolmar, Echo dealer is the Poulan authorized warrenty repair shop in my area. Just go to Poulan site and put in your info to find a dealer that will help. The dealer could have used the rope test and then stated it feels like 70lbs to me. Thats all I was saying about that. Sounds like the dealer is blowing smoke anyway.

 

[Cut4fun]

Dealer service info http://www.poulan.com/support.asp

 

[Marco]

Where in the midwest are you Rspike? You can call the 800 number on the saw and find a repair center.

 

[zart1953]

PoulanPro 330

I bought a used PP330 and initially it ran OK, but was always a little hard to start. This only got worse with time, so I pulled the muffler and saw verticle streaks on the piston. Thinking I could repair the saw, I purchased a new set of rings and tore the saw down and replaced the piston ring. To make a long story short, there was no improvement in the compression and now I have an air leak somewhere because the saw will start and then quits running. Do I need to replace both the piston and cylinder? If the piston isn't scored other than the appearance of streaks, will it be OK with a new ring? What's your advice?

thanks
Art

 

[Marco]

fuel tank vent is not as good as it used to be on the newer models, could be part of the problem, cause all sorts of headaches

 

[Cut4fun]

Besides carbs being set to lean from the factory. i wonder if there is a leaky base gasket issue. My 3750 had the same issue of a bad base gasket leaking when i received it. Which shares the same parts with the 330, but with bigger topend.

 

[zart1953]

PoulanPro 330 rebuild

I broke down and purchased a cylinder for my saw because the old one had a ridge in it from the factory ring being broken with a 1/4 inch piece missing. I put a new ring on the piston and replaced the gasket between the crankcase and the cylinder. That was the cause of the leak from my previous rebuild, so I corrected that problem. Right now the saw doesn't idle and only runs on partial choke, so I suspect a leak between the carborator and intake manifold. Also, I had hoped to feel more compression when I pulled the chord, but I might have to wait for the rings to seat to the cylinder. What compression should I get if everything is what it should be?

 

[zart1953]

PoulanPro 330

Just a quick update. I finally got back to working on my saw after a busy year. My summer project was getting a $5.00 self propelled LawnBoy running again, and it works well now (clogged exhaust port). I tried the Pick-up-the-saw by the pull start compression test and the saw does not seem to do so well. I broke down and bought a good compression tester and with the new rings and new cylinder (used), I get 140psi on the 4th pull, so the compression is good now. I found two intake leaks, one between the carberator plate and plastic housing, and the other on the rubber intake interface to the plastic housing. The problem on the carb side was that the gasket was too thin and didn't fill the gap. I put an "o" ring on the flange of the plate and it seated well, so that one should be fixed. On the other side, the metal flange is too soft and bends. I removed it and flattened it with a hammer on the edge of a 2X4, and it now mounts flush.

Art