The Stihl 362 disappointment

[bluchz]

Bought a brand new Stihl 362 in July of 2013. Took it to the shop yesterday, Jan. 10 2014, because it would not start. The dealer tore it down to find carbon on top of the piston so thick it was hitting the top of the cylinder, 2 broke cylinder bolts and 1 was loose one. I asked what caused this and was told "gas. (well the saw wont run without it)This saw was recomended to me by a Stihl Product Specialist after I complained that my saws weren't lasting much longer than 6 months. I was running Stihl 460.I will tell you that i do run my saws hard, topping 8 to 10 loads of hardwood per saw in the average day. I was told to expect more than 6 months of use from this saw for my application. I buy my gas 2-1/ to 5 gal at a time and was told only to use fresh gas and mix it according to the mixing oil ( I only use Stihl in the orange bottle) instructions.
Stihl rep said it would be about 2 weeks before he could look at the saw and see if he could help me with it. SO i will update after that and let everyone what they say and do or don't do.

Instead of waiting around i went and bought a bigger saw, 70cc or so, from a different manufacturer. I will see if i can get more than 6 months from a different brand of saw.

 

[bryanr2]

are you going to have the 362 fixed? What bigger saw did you go buy?

 

[bluchz]

Waiting to see what Stihl says about the 362. the mechanic that tore it down seemed to think there was a problem with the crank shaft bearings. I won't rebuild it without help from Stihl.
Bought a Dolmar 7310. wanted one closer to 60cc but the dealer didn't have one.

 

[sunfish]

According to some folks here Stihl saws never break down?

 

[LowVolt]

That really sucks. I would have to believe that something was originally wrong with saw. Any manufacturer pro saw should last longer than that. Covered under warranty? I would be wanting a new saw.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

opcorn:

 

[Nate66n1]

I'd be going to a different dealer if mine told me it was my fault only after a couple months of use

 

[066blaster]

if you use them as much as you say, you should probably have the top end done or at least inspected more often. i would remove the screen from the muffler and do a muffler mod on your saws. i owned a lawn care business and put a lot of time on string trimmers, after a couple years the exhaust ports were almost completely closed and they wouldn't run. i did a little muffler mod to them and it never happened again. and maybe use premium gas it has detergents in it that might help. and it was probably the oil more than the gas that caused it.

 

[KenJax Tree]

XSKIER do you care to comment here?


Sent from my Autotune Carb

 

[F.W.P.T]

So both your 362 and 460 lasted 6 months each???? I was under the impression that you can't kill a Stihl! Did you keep air filters clean? Chains sharp? Don't they come with a warranty? Wonder why dealer didn't repair or replace them at no charge?

 

[MustangMike]

Bought a brand new Stihl 362 in July of 2013. Took it to the shop yesterday, Jan. 10 2014, because it would not start. The dealer tore it down to find carbon on top of the piston so thick it was hitting the top of the cylinder, 2 broke cylinder bolts and 1 was loose one. I asked what caused this and was told "gas. (well the saw wont run without it)This saw was recomended to me by a Stihl Product Specialist after I complained that my saws weren't lasting much longer than 6 months. I was running Stihl 460.I will tell you that i do run my saws hard, topping 8 to 10 loads of hardwood per saw in the average day. I was told to expect more than 6 months of use from this saw for my application. I buy my gas 2-1/ to 5 gal at a time and was told only to use fresh gas and mix it according to the mixing oil ( I only use Stihl in the orange bottle) instructions.
Stihl rep said it would be about 2 weeks before he could look at the saw and see if he could help me with it. SO i will update after that and let everyone what they say and do or don't do.

Instead of waiting around i went and bought a bigger saw, 70cc or so, from a different manufacturer. I will see if i can get more than 6 months from a different brand of saw.

Sorry to hear of your problem, hope they take care of it. Are you running high test gas? My old 044 ran fine on regular gas, but when I got the MS 441 higher octane was recommended. I think it is because the tried to make it more emissions friendly by leaning out the mixture. As a result, low octane gas will ruin it. Most of the feedback I have heard on the 362 has been good, including from some tree company guys my brother knows that use them almost exclusively. I have one with M-Tonic on order and should have it by mid week.

Good Luck to you,
MustangMike

 

[SawTroll]

Carbon buildup like that isn't normal at all - if the gas mix is OK, I wonder about your carb settings.........

 

[sunfish]

( I only use Stihl in the orange bottle)

Switch to Still Ultra, silver bottle. That'll help with the carbon.

 

[STIHLTHEDEERE]

According to some folks here Stihl saws never break down?

yeh and acording to to some here "my 562xp is flawless" that's all you ever post here and elsewhere. we continue to read about reliability/runability problems on the 550/562 platforms? would you really care to compare the reliability of a 362/261 to any husky? to the o/p, if you are killing any pro saw in 6 months, you may want to take a serious look at your maint. and operating practices?

 

[bluchz]

Warranty? I am understanding Stihl warranty on saws as 3days no questions asked if you are not satisfied, 3 months otherwise. When i started logging my boss said 6months for Stihl 440 was good after that it could blow up at any time. The longest that a saw has run for our company is 18months, that was a Stihl 460. The Dolmar i bought today will be the first non-Stihl in 15 years.

STILHTHEDEERE, you have a good point. as far as maintenance goes. the saws are blown off with an air compressor once, maybe twice a week. the air filters are tapped out daily. Anything else is fixed as noticed. Other than that i cant say we do much else to them.

 

[z71mike]

Sounds like a heavy oil mix to me, with too rich of a high needle. Since it's multiple saws, probably a mix issue. What ratio are you running?

 

[STIHLTHEDEERE]

if i were running any brand of saw that hard, i would definately be running stihl ultra oil, or some high grade synthetic. if you are using your saws for logging, i would not be shocked if the dealer uses that for an excuse to not warrant the repair. good luck with the dolmar, hope it holds up for you.

 

[SawTroll]

Sounds like a heavy oil mix to me, with too rich of a high needle. Since it's multiple saws, probably a mix issue. What ratio are you running?

I agree this "smells" operator error a long way, too much oil and/or a too rich carb setting....

 

[bluchz]

I am not there when the gas is mixed, my "asuumtion" would be that it is mixed close to 50:1 but when the gas tank wont hold an even 2.5 or 5 gal that it is mixed heavier on the oil. We typically run 2 saws and keep 1 spare on the truck and a MS250 pole saw for trimming trucks. I would think that a gas problem would show up in all the saws near the same time but that dosent seem to be the case.

I keep the the carb adjustments as they are from the factory and do not adjust them. if there is a problem i let the dealer adjust them.
The dealer agrees with the operator error.

 

[066blaster]

He never said what killed the 460. I think it's just a lot of use with a corked muffler on the 362 they don't last forever.