First, Thanks to all for a great site. I would not have been able to revive my 029 without the knowledge base I found in this site.
Background:
Walking the dog last spring, I noticed a neighbor was tossing out a Stihl 029 chainsaw. Hhmmm, not one to be a dumpster diver, I walked past on my way around the block. Arriving back at my house, I could see the saw sitting on the curb, just crying for a warm home... well, I couldn't resist. As I was hefting the saw, Pete, my neighbor, walks out of the garage, and says the saw has a hole in the piston. He said it was a good saw for 15 years. Having only ever owned a few Husky saws, I decided to take it home.
After disassembling everything, I guessed the deep scratched on the piston and cylinder near the exhaust port was the reason for the saw to give up the ghost. I priced out Stihl parts and quickly determined it was a bit too expensive to bother. As a last ditch effort, I found a few dealers selling after market cylinders and pistons for the 029. For $75, I purchased a new cylinder, piston, wrist pin, then for another $10 a carb rebuild kit. Heck, for $85 I was going to have my own Stihl.
A few weeks later, I assembled the new parts, and put the saw back together. Oh, yeah, I put on a new bar and chain, a new kick-back lever (the old one was cracked to the point that you couldn't activate the chain brake).
All assembled, I brought it outside for the maiden run. It wouldn't start. Nothing. Back inside, I noticed the flywheel had a sheared off key. Out with the dremel tool, in no time I had a new key fitted to the crank and flywheel, back together and back outside. It started up. Didn't run very well though. Kept bogging down under acceleration, and stalling out if you tried to cut anything.
It would also emit small popping sounds at full throttle. I guessed this may be caused from an air leak somewhere. Sure enough, when I stripped it back down, gas had leaked out at the base of the cylinder. Stripped down, cleaned up with fresh permatex gasket sealer, back together. It ran again, no popping sounds, better acceleration, but after it got hot, it would run like it was too lean, stalling out under load. What the helk. I thought maybe the flywheel key was slightly off-center, causing the timing to be slightly off. Off to ebay, new (used) flywheel - $20 with shipping. Same problem.
- new pulse line $7
- new fuel line $20
- new fuel vent line $8
Put on the new parts, cranked it up. It now idled along happily, even coming off of full throttle. It would still starve itself.
It was obviously fuel related. I tried tilting the saw sideways while running, and removing the fuel cap to see if it was causing a suction problem. What I found was fuel or maybe air was blowing back into the fuel tank from the fuel line.
Carb off for the billionth time, took off both side plates. Noticed the pump or fuel lever under the diaghram was much higher than flush with the top of the carb - so I bent it down flush. Also found a bit of debris in the carb. Don't know where it came from, since I've had this carb off enough times to check things. Oh well, cleaned it out and reassembled.
Back in the saw, set the L and H at 1 1/2 turns out.
Outside again, saw started up as usual, ran like crap until it warmed up. Then ran like crap at full throttle. BUT, this time it reacted to H needle adjustment. I turned the needle in until the saw ran like a banshee, then backed it off 1/2 turn or so until it slowed a bit and sounded more healthy. Saw still idled ok, but stumbled a bit when gunning the throttle. A slight back-off on the L needle and the saw ran great. Wow. Over to the log pile, it ripped through wood the way a saw should. Very nice.
Lesson's learned.
1. For small money, replace the pulse and fuel lines every few years. Even if they don't have cracks, they get hard and can collapse when they get hot.
2. After putting on new fuel line, check for small rubber "flashing" in your carb (from the new fuel line). It can cause your carb to run like crap real quick.
3. Don't use your flywheel as a holder when tightening up the clutch. You can shear off the flywheel key. The manual calls for a small plastic tool that you put on top of the piston to stop the crank from rotating.
4. Be patient with the carb. If the L and H needles aren't doing much, chances are the diaghrams in your carb are either dirty or old and nonfunctional.
Good luck.
:greenchainsaw:
Background:
Walking the dog last spring, I noticed a neighbor was tossing out a Stihl 029 chainsaw. Hhmmm, not one to be a dumpster diver, I walked past on my way around the block. Arriving back at my house, I could see the saw sitting on the curb, just crying for a warm home... well, I couldn't resist. As I was hefting the saw, Pete, my neighbor, walks out of the garage, and says the saw has a hole in the piston. He said it was a good saw for 15 years. Having only ever owned a few Husky saws, I decided to take it home.
After disassembling everything, I guessed the deep scratched on the piston and cylinder near the exhaust port was the reason for the saw to give up the ghost. I priced out Stihl parts and quickly determined it was a bit too expensive to bother. As a last ditch effort, I found a few dealers selling after market cylinders and pistons for the 029. For $75, I purchased a new cylinder, piston, wrist pin, then for another $10 a carb rebuild kit. Heck, for $85 I was going to have my own Stihl.
A few weeks later, I assembled the new parts, and put the saw back together. Oh, yeah, I put on a new bar and chain, a new kick-back lever (the old one was cracked to the point that you couldn't activate the chain brake).
All assembled, I brought it outside for the maiden run. It wouldn't start. Nothing. Back inside, I noticed the flywheel had a sheared off key. Out with the dremel tool, in no time I had a new key fitted to the crank and flywheel, back together and back outside. It started up. Didn't run very well though. Kept bogging down under acceleration, and stalling out if you tried to cut anything.
It would also emit small popping sounds at full throttle. I guessed this may be caused from an air leak somewhere. Sure enough, when I stripped it back down, gas had leaked out at the base of the cylinder. Stripped down, cleaned up with fresh permatex gasket sealer, back together. It ran again, no popping sounds, better acceleration, but after it got hot, it would run like it was too lean, stalling out under load. What the helk. I thought maybe the flywheel key was slightly off-center, causing the timing to be slightly off. Off to ebay, new (used) flywheel - $20 with shipping. Same problem.
- new pulse line $7
- new fuel line $20
- new fuel vent line $8
Put on the new parts, cranked it up. It now idled along happily, even coming off of full throttle. It would still starve itself.
It was obviously fuel related. I tried tilting the saw sideways while running, and removing the fuel cap to see if it was causing a suction problem. What I found was fuel or maybe air was blowing back into the fuel tank from the fuel line.
Carb off for the billionth time, took off both side plates. Noticed the pump or fuel lever under the diaghram was much higher than flush with the top of the carb - so I bent it down flush. Also found a bit of debris in the carb. Don't know where it came from, since I've had this carb off enough times to check things. Oh well, cleaned it out and reassembled.
Back in the saw, set the L and H at 1 1/2 turns out.
Outside again, saw started up as usual, ran like crap until it warmed up. Then ran like crap at full throttle. BUT, this time it reacted to H needle adjustment. I turned the needle in until the saw ran like a banshee, then backed it off 1/2 turn or so until it slowed a bit and sounded more healthy. Saw still idled ok, but stumbled a bit when gunning the throttle. A slight back-off on the L needle and the saw ran great. Wow. Over to the log pile, it ripped through wood the way a saw should. Very nice.
Lesson's learned.
1. For small money, replace the pulse and fuel lines every few years. Even if they don't have cracks, they get hard and can collapse when they get hot.
2. After putting on new fuel line, check for small rubber "flashing" in your carb (from the new fuel line). It can cause your carb to run like crap real quick.
3. Don't use your flywheel as a holder when tightening up the clutch. You can shear off the flywheel key. The manual calls for a small plastic tool that you put on top of the piston to stop the crank from rotating.
4. Be patient with the carb. If the L and H needles aren't doing much, chances are the diaghrams in your carb are either dirty or old and nonfunctional.
Good luck.
:greenchainsaw:
