Stihl ms170 dead - can I warranty?

[pioneerguy600]

The 170 is a decent enough small saw, we have several that we bought mostly for backwoods fishing and hunting trips just to cut up small wood for the fire. Thing is we leave the saw at the campsite as these sites are more than 4 hour travel from the nearest access road so it has to be packed in. I dump the fuel out into a container, start the saw and let it idle dry, then pull the choke and get a couple more short starts/run and die til it won`t cough again. The saw gets wrapped up well and put in a industrial garbage bag, then hung bar down from a tree in a thicket. These saws really only get run one or two times a year but even after hanging there all that elapsed time they will restart and cut firewood each trip back in. There is now 3 of them left at different sites in the back country, they keep us warm and cook our food with the wood they cut. Fresh mix is packed in on each trip, the old fuel makes good firestarter even when the woods is wet.

 

[HarleyT]

I don’t understand this theory , if it’s ran outta fuel or fuel is turned off and the engine consumes that useable energy of the fuel why would it go lean ? The pre , current and after effect of mix is the oil , it’s what’s left on the cylinder walls , rings , bearings . Engines off what’s it wearing ? Always ran every piece of my equipment outta fuel for storage . Race bikes included , never cooked a top end period

The "lean" term is not very precise. The lube is mixed with the oil, and is the saw's lubrication. These engines can run a bit faster than the factory rpm spec, and in fact, so fast that the engine will be damaged, so the mix is richened to slow it down, as well as provide more lube.
So it can be "leaned out" by an air leak, crack in a boot or fuel line, or simply a carb adjustment.
The leaner the air/fuel mixture, the faster it goes, so more friction and heat.
Since the oil is in the mix, less fuel means less lube too.
So when adjusting a saw on the bench, slowly turning in the high speed screw, the rpm's keep going up to a point, then as you keep turning the screw, the rpms will peak, then start decreasing. Right in that area is where the damage is done. So once you hit that peak range, you need to back off the H screw down to the desired rpms. You need to stay on the rich side of that peak.
So when folks say lean, they could mean "lean" on the air/fuel mix, or also, they could mean "lean" on the oil mix ratio.

There were some interesting threads here a long time ago by a member named "Dagger".
He was an engineer for Solo, as I recall, and he had done some studies and found that running a saw at 40:1 ratio, the saw would run hotter than a saw run at 50:1. Which of course got a bunch of guy's panties in a wad. But they are worth reading

 

[sawfan123]

The above post should be moved to the looking for a fight thread.
Everything is 100% true. But futile

Just to add, dull chain kill saws as much as “ lean”

 

[ZeroJunk]

The above post should be moved to the looking for a fight thread.
Everything is 100% true. But futile

Just to add, dull chain kill saws as much as “ lean”

Yeah everybody knows it has to be 32 to 1 and the engineers are morons.

 

[HarleyT]

Yeah everybody knows it has to be 32 to 1 and the engineers are morons.

 

[Mike Kunte]

I also ran a 170 for a few years. The air filtration is terrible, and lets many "fines" through. These can cause cumulative damage to the piston & cylinder.

My 2c.
Hope the dealer can help you.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

View attachment 1041883

Yeah everybody knows it has to be 32 to 1 and the engineers are morons.

I am pretty sure when I got my first Mac saw, a Model 200, it called for 20:1

 

[ZeroJunk]

My first saw was a Homelite 7-19C and it called for 3/4 pint per gallon 30 weight motor oil.

 

[buzz sawyer]

My first saw was a Homelite 7-19C and it called for 3/4 pint per gallon 30 weight motor oil.

And that was 65 years ago. Thankfully, saws and oils are much improved since then.

 

[ZeroJunk]

And that was 65 years ago. Thankfully, saws and oils are much improved since then.

Yeah, but you didn't have to worry about mosquitos .

 

[mudrat2]

Up here if you also buy a 6 pack of oil at the time of purchase you also get a 2 year warranty on the saw.

 

[jcallahan2]

If your current dealer isn't being helpful and you do have a two year warranty, try another dealer or give Stihl a call or email.

Going thru a 100 liters of fuel or 26 gallons in year seems like a lot of cutting for a ms170 to me, if I read that correctly. That's more than I ran thru my Stihl MS261cm and Husqvarna 346xp in a year combined cutting firewood for two households that heat with wood. The two saws used about 22 liters or 6 gallons combined total cutting firewood this past season.

It sounds like you are cutting quite a bit of wood, so even after you get your ms170 resolved, you might want to look at another saw if you are going to keep cutting at that rate. I know money is an issue, as it is with us all, but you would be well served with a pro saw for that amount of use IMHO.


Good advice from all and good luck to the OP.

 

[Dennisthemenace]

Forget about it, it's a cheap toy that you got plenty of use out of, buy a better one next time

 

[sean donato]

If it's got 26 gallons through it, it's likely shot. I'd still be trying to get it covered under warranty. Get ahold of stihl corporate.

 

[KostasVolos]

What do you think caused lean condition? Always ran fine. I would use it until it ran out of gas often though.

Was it the 2-mix version ?
If yes ,then it is the fixed-jet carburetor to blame.
The MS170 /MS180 chainsaws have a max rpm value of 14,000 .
But my own experience with these saws is that they are adjusted pretty lean from the factory.
I've come across few that were hitting more than 15,000 rpm at WOT.

Once the junk Zama C1Q carburetor is replaced with a
fully adjustable Walbro WT-215 (or a clone ) then you can lower the max rpm at around 12,000 -12,500 ,as I was advised by the
very helpful members of the present forum.

And no ,for the price they are not
'toys' .Actually they are pretty decent small chainsaws.Very easy to start ,very lightweight to handle and quite reliable.

But 100 liters of fuel per year is pretty much use for any saw under 40cc .
"You've sucked it's blood with a straw " .

 

[Chevboy0167]

Hahahahahaha.... ^^^^

In the custom flashlight world, we call lights that drain every last drop of power from the power source a battery vampire. Light continues to work while slowly sucking the life out of the battery.

Hence, I think that using that much fuel in a 170 and it sill would function would be classified as a gas Dracula!

 

[KostasVolos]

My personal point of view is that
the 2-mix tech combined with a rather restricted muffler and a fixed-jet carburetor is a destructive recipe .
Most of the MS170 /MS180 that I've come across ,they runned pretty lean ,while being stock .
Doing a muffler mod and installing an adjustable carburetor will fix
this lean mixture issue,as also will increase the saw's power output.

https://blog.stihl.co.uk/difference-between-2-stroke-stihl-2-mix-engines/
* In this case a restricted muffler will not allow the "extra fresh air" to be fully exhausted .Normally
a muffler mod will lean out the fuel:air mixture,but it seems that this is not the case with a 2-mix( stratified ?)engine.

 

[jcquade]

Homeowner use MS chainsaws, says 1 year. When did stihl ever offer 2 year warranty unless you bought the oil or mix deal to get a double extended warranty? Never heard of that in US. Canada has a 2 year?

When I bought my stihl in Missouri they told e 2 year if I bought the oil mix

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

When I bought my stihl in Missouri they told e 2 year if I bought the oil mix

Exactly what I said last year. Unless you bought their oil or mix to double the time. Thanks for confirming that.
Had to buy the stuff to get it here in US.

 

[jcquade]

Exactly what I said last year. Unless you bought their oil or mix to double the time. Thanks for confirming that.
Had to buy the stuff to get it here in US.

The thing that surprised me is the dealer did not tell me this when I bought the saw. Glad friend mentioned it.