Problems with Huskvarna and it's new T540
- Thread starter newmexico
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KingDavey
ArboristSite Operative
All new saws will have bugs, just like cars. They will be fixed under warranty. Autotune is phenomenal when working correctly. It can and will be fixed. The future is now!
jdhacker
ArboristSite Operative
Nothing weaker about the other brand, if you like Internet saws fine, no need to bash number 1
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
most likely an isolated problem. there are a few good videos out there where this saw seems like the cat's meow, a lot of good reviews from the few saws ppl have gotten their hands on, I don't by any means want to imply the 540 isn't or won't be a great saw, but, yeah, If I had a dealer, problem solved.
I have pulled the plug periodically (I know color of the plug isn't everyting) and it doesn't appear from the plug to be running excessively lean. (( edit to add(but yeah, I won't run it anymore ))
I am a Husky guy by ... well, it's all I used to own, liked them, had them, they worked great, had enough that if I got a new one I had parts from old ones on hand that interchanged, I don't want to switch, but this stonewalling from Husky and lack of good dealers near me might be enough to make me switch brand loyalty
and adding another thing on the edit...(internet saw buying... I've had 8 or 10 good ones, both new and used saws, sight unseen from here on arboristsite, and from retailers other places -- been happy with all and never a qualm or question, I may have to pursue returning it, not to husky, but, from the company I bought it from.
I have pulled the plug periodically (I know color of the plug isn't everyting) and it doesn't appear from the plug to be running excessively lean. (( edit to add(but yeah, I won't run it anymore ))
I am a Husky guy by ... well, it's all I used to own, liked them, had them, they worked great, had enough that if I got a new one I had parts from old ones on hand that interchanged, I don't want to switch, but this stonewalling from Husky and lack of good dealers near me might be enough to make me switch brand loyalty
and adding another thing on the edit...(internet saw buying... I've had 8 or 10 good ones, both new and used saws, sight unseen from here on arboristsite, and from retailers other places -- been happy with all and never a qualm or question, I may have to pursue returning it, not to husky, but, from the company I bought it from.
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KenJax Tree
Terraphobic
Sounds like you might've gotten a lemon. One of our climbers got one and has run the snot out of it and hasn't had any problem that i've heard of. I didn't run it but i held it when he first got it and i didn't care for the feel of it.
Sent from my Autotune Carb
Sent from my Autotune Carb
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
It's a lemon, a sour biscuit, a -- well some of those sourdough biscuits are right good, but pie, it's hard to go wrong with pie...
and now to top it all off... I just found a flatworm on my dog's ____... I knew I shouldn't have let him eat all the mice, gophers, and voles he catches... now I gotta worm him on top of all this mess..
and the feel is --- it's different than what I'm used to, havent' switched out the hand grips yet, but I'm with you on the feel, I don't like it but feel I'm willing to get used to-- I'm adaptable. I like the full wrap on my big saws, but can deal with a half ....
and now to top it all off... I just found a flatworm on my dog's ____... I knew I shouldn't have let him eat all the mice, gophers, and voles he catches... now I gotta worm him on top of all this mess..
and the feel is --- it's different than what I'm used to, havent' switched out the hand grips yet, but I'm with you on the feel, I don't like it but feel I'm willing to get used to-- I'm adaptable. I like the full wrap on my big saws, but can deal with a half ....
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MreeceC
ArboristSite Lurker
I have had two T540 and have been very happy. From what I can tell they are engineered very well. BTW why does bsnelling not have one yet??
spike60
Addicted to ArboristSite
Being a member here for as many years as I have, I'm not surprised at some of the mis-information and conclusions being drawn here. So often things on sites like this get magnified way out of proportion to reality. "It" becomes "they", and a problem with one saw has guys thinking that "they all" have the same issue. Similar to a guy posting that "a" 346 beat "a" MS261 and concluding that "the" 346 beats "the" 261, as in all of them every time. Followed by 5 pages of Husky vs Stihl arguing. 
I have seen some bad carbs on AT saws. No more or less than on regular saws. The problems requiring replacement have been carb and not AT related. The issue with the OP's saw might be corrected by resetting the factory fuel settings, but it might just be that the carb is junk out of the box. Can't figure it out on a chat site and calling Husky will do no good as they will refer you to a dealer. Distance between the OP and a competent dealer is beyond the control of anyone. Have you contacted the people you bought it from? That would be the first step IMO. Making things worse with AT is the voodoo mentality where anything and everything that goes wrong is attributed to auto-tune. "I swear I used to get better radio reception before I put that auto-tune saw in the truck with me"
I have seen some bad carbs on AT saws. No more or less than on regular saws. The problems requiring replacement have been carb and not AT related. The issue with the OP's saw might be corrected by resetting the factory fuel settings, but it might just be that the carb is junk out of the box. Can't figure it out on a chat site and calling Husky will do no good as they will refer you to a dealer. Distance between the OP and a competent dealer is beyond the control of anyone. Have you contacted the people you bought it from? That would be the first step IMO. Making things worse with AT is the voodoo mentality where anything and everything that goes wrong is attributed to auto-tune. "I swear I used to get better radio reception before I put that auto-tune saw in the truck with me"
zogger
Tree Freak
Being a member here for as many years as I have, I'm not surprised at some of the mis-information and conclusions being drawn here. So often things on sites like this get magnified way out of proportion to reality. "It" becomes "they", and a problem with one saw has guys thinking that "they all" have the same issue. Similar to a guy posting that "a" 346 beat "a" MS261 and concluding that "the" 346 beats "the" 261, as in all of them every time. Followed by 5 pages of Husky vs Stihl arguing.
I have seen some bad carbs on AT saws. No more or less than on regular saws. The problems requiring replacement have been carb and not AT related. The issue with the OP's saw might be corrected by resetting the factory fuel settings, but it might just be that the carb is junk out of the box. Can't figure it out on a chat site and calling Husky will do no good as they will refer you to a dealer. Distance between the OP and a competent dealer is beyond the control of anyone. Have you contacted the people you bought it from? That would be the first step IMO. Making things worse with AT is the voodoo mentality where anything and everything that goes wrong is attributed to auto-tune. "I swear I used to get better radio reception before I put that auto-tune saw in the truck with me"
I agree with everything you said up above, especially the competent dealer part. That's on Husky's shoulders to insist their dealers get up to speed with the software and cables, etc. Advertising a shop as a servicing dealer, when they can't service, is just not right. I can see a delay when autotune first came out, but this is 2014 now, and autotune is a big part of Husky's forward strategy (AFAIK), and it's not like it costs ten grand or anything, the disk and stuff is cheap, and I know they have online courses for training, I've seen it on the screen myself..
snip
Have you contacted the people you bought it from? That would be the first step IMO.
snip
"I swear I used to get better radio reception before I put that auto-tune saw in the truck with me"
That is what I am waiting for a report on. I am on the sponsor this saw came from email broadcast list. They send me sale stuff but it seems the saws are msrp but they will match a price. It seems kind of unfair to expect one of the mini sponsors (no banner at the top) who would have gassed it and tested it out first to spend a lot of effort on the keyboard.
God I'm glad I have older saws. NEVER going to buy any OPE with that ever-screw you EPA.
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
I do believe this is an isolated issue and that the vast majority of these saws won't have any problems.
I am in communication with the company I bought it from and am waiting on an answer from them. Right now I am asking to return it.
If that fails I have ordered the diagnostic tool and plan on taking the saw along with software and cables to a dealer the next town over who seems to be helpful but who doesn't have the tool yet. I don't foresee any problem in learning how to use it. Once at the dealers hopefully they can enter their code into it and reset the AT, and if that doesn't help they can order a new carb or whatever they need to do.
I am in communication with the company I bought it from and am waiting on an answer from them. Right now I am asking to return it.
If that fails I have ordered the diagnostic tool and plan on taking the saw along with software and cables to a dealer the next town over who seems to be helpful but who doesn't have the tool yet. I don't foresee any problem in learning how to use it. Once at the dealers hopefully they can enter their code into it and reset the AT, and if that doesn't help they can order a new carb or whatever they need to do.
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
From now on when buying a new saw I intend on going through one of this sites smaller sponsors. I had a gift certificate that influenced me to purchase this saw from who I got it from..
spike60
Addicted to ArboristSite
If you have the diagnostic tool, you don't need anyones help to reset the factory fuel settings. A dealer only needs to be involved if you need to download software from the Husky site. And honestly, this is really only necessary when installing a new carb. New carbs come "blank" and have to be programed.
You can do most anything else yourself. If doing the reset, just reset the fuel settings. Do not hit the master reset. That's only for a saw that's been rebuit or whatever. Also check for any possible failure codes. If there are any, they should be fairly recent to be valid. Say, within the last 10 or so starts. Something that happened 50 some starts ago isn;t important. But if you have one in there it will be recent. Also, a "start" is only registered after the saw has run for 60 seconds. There are 3 tests that you can do while plugged in: Throttle position, Temperature sensor, and fuel valve. All are really simple to do.
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
Thanks Spike, That's good news, I was under the impression that all I could do with the tool was view fuel setting, run time, number of starts, max rpm, failure codes, etc. Nice to know I can reset the fuel settings. It'll be a couple of days or probably next week before I get it in, I''ll reset the fuel setting and see what happens, unless of course I get word that I can just return this saw to who I bought it from. They said that their Husky rep had been out due to the holidays and that they would speak with him and get back to me soon.
fingers crossed
fingers crossed
KenJax Tree
Terraphobic
How much is the diagnostic tool?
Sent from my Autotune Carb
Sent from my Autotune Carb
spike60
Addicted to ArboristSite
What???????????? That's what they told you? That's BS. They put you in a holding pattern until they talk to the rep who's on vacation? Come on. I mean shipping would have to be on you, but it's clearly their responcibility to repair that saw. There's no reason to talk to the rep anyway. He's not in a position to do anything and probably doesn't know much of anything either. Should it be necessary for them to contact Husky, it's a call to tech service. And even more stupid is that they can't call tech service if they DON'T EVEN HAVE THE SAW! Tech will ask some questions; what are they going to tell them? This is nuts, and not the way things work.
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
$125 is what I got it for, shipped. I know it's a lot, but then again what does a good tachometer cost. either I'll keep it as a curiousity that can provide me with little tidbits about about saws or will donate it to a local dealer who will have a better use for it than I-- ahh no I'll let them see it, use it and hopefully they'll get figure out it ain't all that bad and get their own.....
newmexico
ArboristSite Operative
I know, I know, but I'm a patient sort that gives the benefit of a doubt more often than not. I like to think they are working on it and have my best interest in mind. I don't have to give them my business in the future, if they make it right, I will---- If they don't, I won't. Simple. I may lose a little but they stand to lose more. I'm calling it a litmus test or sorts.
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