Pip
ArboristSite Lurker
Okay, if your gauge reads true on the 385- something is toast on the 357 and unfortunately it looks like the cylinder from what I can see in the photos through the port- piston does not look that bad.
Could be the saw was burned up running lean and the previous owner has had a play- maybe never fixing the original problem that cause it to run lean- just slapped a new top end on and it burned out rather quickly again.
With such low compression- do not be surprised if there is a 46mm (357) piston in there and it is a 47mm (359) cylinder! Could be the first replacement kit burned up and the owner ordered a new piston- but got the incorrect size! I only guess at this because it looks to have lots of transfer on the cylinder walls, but the piston does not look that bad.
What you need to do now is get yourself a 4mm long reach T handle hex wrench and pull off the cylinder, get some photos of the inside and see what you find. A set of verniers will be handy to measure the bore and the piston.
At this stage, I would start regretting the 100 quid, would have been better to have scored this for 50- but that is the risk we all take buying online. You still have the basis of a very good saw, but need to start making a list of bits you need to buy.
Easiest fix, order a new top end kit. Cheapest hopeful fix- repair what you have- if it is possible- might get away with a cylinder clean and a new caber ring....... but that might be hopeful dreaming as well.
Either which way, the cylinder needs to come off.
Biggest thing is, don't drop your lip- you might have bought a lemon, time to have some fun and learn along the way as you make lemons into lemonade.
Thanks Bob. I'll get the cylinder off when I get a minute and snap some pictures of it. I want to do a proper job on this so I'm definitely tempted by getting a new meteor kit.Once you get the cylinder off- we might be able to guess at what happened to cause the problem- that needs to be ascertained and repaired before adding a new top end- so it does not happen again.
Cheers