**WARNING this is unnecessarily lengthy. Skip to the 3 portions labeled “Questions” if you don’t care to read all the background info**
The 345 Husqvarna
About five years ago I picked up a 345 and it has been a trustworthy loyal friend. I used it to cut a modest amount of pinion pine every year (2-3 cords) for firewood.
Two years ago we had some pretty big wind storms that took out some residential trees. One of my cousins had what I think was an Ash tree get downed (12-18inch trunk). My little 345 really struggled cutting up the Ash, that coupled with property in Oregon I recently purchased (I still live in Northern Nevada) that has some mature trees I would eventually like to harvest, led me to purchase a big saw (Husqvarna 385XP). This is where things go south.
I way overpaid for the big saw because I bought it from a saw "builder" who assured me the saw had been gone through (more on this under the 385 section). Needless say the 345 got relegated to backup/limbing duties until the big saw was BROKE and went back to the builder.
At some point before the big saw got broke I may have made some poor decisions cutting up some limbs with the 345 and broke the rear handle where it connects to the anti-vibe spring at the front of the saw. More poor choices were made and I continued to cut with my 345 despite it potentially being a safety hazard. I cut a bit more wood and my 345 started acting up. It would run fine until I ran about a tank to a tank and a half of gas through it. Then when I finished a cut it would die, but start right back up after a pull or two and idle fine. It started doing this when I was almost finished for the year so I finished what I needed to cut and decided to re-attack the issue at a later date. I dumped the fuel out of the saw and ran it dry to store it until I had time to look into its issues.
Fast forward a few months to present time and I have purchased a new handle and installed it. Unfortunately I purchased the wrong new handle because it does not have a nipple for the return line from the primer bulb (aka air purge bulb?). When I was swapping out the busted handle for the new one I noticed the air filter was pretty dirty and the so was the fuel filter. I chalked up the issues I was having to one of these two things, so the 345 got a new air filter, new fuel line, and new fuel filter.
I'm not really sure how crucial the return line from the primer bulb to the fuel tank is. I know older saws don’t have a primer bulb at all so I went ahead and tested out the saw with the return line just dangling (not connected to anything). My understanding is the primer bulb draws fuel from the tank via the fuel line into the carb and any excess fuel drawn gets sent back to the tank via the return line? I'm no small engine mechanic so please chime in if that is not correct.
Anyways, I started the saw up and it idled fine. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and had no issues. To further test the saw I made a few cuts on some limbs around my property that needed to be cut. After only about 5 limbs the saw started acting up again. This time after about the 4th limb I cut the saw idled high, so high in fact the chain started spinning as if I was depressing the throttle (I wasn't) I blipped the throttle and it quit idling high. I made the last cut and it did it again only this time after a few seconds of idling high the saw died. I decided not to make any more cuts but was curious if the saw would start back up and idle. It didn’t really want to start but after 7-8 pulls it started and idled fine for about 30-40 seconds before I flipped the kill switch.
Questions about 345
How important is the return line that connects the primer bulb back to the fuel tank? Would leaving it disconnected cause the saw to run the way I described?
Is there a way to "delete" the primer bulb so I don't have to buy yet another new/used handle (they aren't cheap)? Maybe buying a new carb that doesn’t have the bulb would be cheaper? Would an older model carb work with my saw?
I haven't messed with tuning the carb because it has run fine for years but I did change my fuel mixture from 50:1 to 40:1 on the recommendation of the saw "builder" I purchased my 385 from. Could fuel mixture change be causing the issue?
I will probably try tuning the carb to see if there is improvement, but with no improvement maybe I need to pull out the carb, tear it apart and see if something is blocking it up? Afterall, the air filter and fuel filter were pretty dirty (I might not be really good about cleaning the saw after each use).
I had been using fuel with ethanol before and I know it can wreak havoc on small engine carbs so I’m thinking I will probably tear the carb apart and see if its gummed up if tuning doesn’t do anything.
The 345 Husqvarna
About five years ago I picked up a 345 and it has been a trustworthy loyal friend. I used it to cut a modest amount of pinion pine every year (2-3 cords) for firewood.
Two years ago we had some pretty big wind storms that took out some residential trees. One of my cousins had what I think was an Ash tree get downed (12-18inch trunk). My little 345 really struggled cutting up the Ash, that coupled with property in Oregon I recently purchased (I still live in Northern Nevada) that has some mature trees I would eventually like to harvest, led me to purchase a big saw (Husqvarna 385XP). This is where things go south.
I way overpaid for the big saw because I bought it from a saw "builder" who assured me the saw had been gone through (more on this under the 385 section). Needless say the 345 got relegated to backup/limbing duties until the big saw was BROKE and went back to the builder.
At some point before the big saw got broke I may have made some poor decisions cutting up some limbs with the 345 and broke the rear handle where it connects to the anti-vibe spring at the front of the saw. More poor choices were made and I continued to cut with my 345 despite it potentially being a safety hazard. I cut a bit more wood and my 345 started acting up. It would run fine until I ran about a tank to a tank and a half of gas through it. Then when I finished a cut it would die, but start right back up after a pull or two and idle fine. It started doing this when I was almost finished for the year so I finished what I needed to cut and decided to re-attack the issue at a later date. I dumped the fuel out of the saw and ran it dry to store it until I had time to look into its issues.
Fast forward a few months to present time and I have purchased a new handle and installed it. Unfortunately I purchased the wrong new handle because it does not have a nipple for the return line from the primer bulb (aka air purge bulb?). When I was swapping out the busted handle for the new one I noticed the air filter was pretty dirty and the so was the fuel filter. I chalked up the issues I was having to one of these two things, so the 345 got a new air filter, new fuel line, and new fuel filter.
I'm not really sure how crucial the return line from the primer bulb to the fuel tank is. I know older saws don’t have a primer bulb at all so I went ahead and tested out the saw with the return line just dangling (not connected to anything). My understanding is the primer bulb draws fuel from the tank via the fuel line into the carb and any excess fuel drawn gets sent back to the tank via the return line? I'm no small engine mechanic so please chime in if that is not correct.
Anyways, I started the saw up and it idled fine. I let it idle for about 5 minutes and had no issues. To further test the saw I made a few cuts on some limbs around my property that needed to be cut. After only about 5 limbs the saw started acting up again. This time after about the 4th limb I cut the saw idled high, so high in fact the chain started spinning as if I was depressing the throttle (I wasn't) I blipped the throttle and it quit idling high. I made the last cut and it did it again only this time after a few seconds of idling high the saw died. I decided not to make any more cuts but was curious if the saw would start back up and idle. It didn’t really want to start but after 7-8 pulls it started and idled fine for about 30-40 seconds before I flipped the kill switch.
Questions about 345
How important is the return line that connects the primer bulb back to the fuel tank? Would leaving it disconnected cause the saw to run the way I described?
Is there a way to "delete" the primer bulb so I don't have to buy yet another new/used handle (they aren't cheap)? Maybe buying a new carb that doesn’t have the bulb would be cheaper? Would an older model carb work with my saw?
I haven't messed with tuning the carb because it has run fine for years but I did change my fuel mixture from 50:1 to 40:1 on the recommendation of the saw "builder" I purchased my 385 from. Could fuel mixture change be causing the issue?
I will probably try tuning the carb to see if there is improvement, but with no improvement maybe I need to pull out the carb, tear it apart and see if something is blocking it up? Afterall, the air filter and fuel filter were pretty dirty (I might not be really good about cleaning the saw after each use).
I had been using fuel with ethanol before and I know it can wreak havoc on small engine carbs so I’m thinking I will probably tear the carb apart and see if its gummed up if tuning doesn’t do anything.