Your Strangest Saw Problems??

[Hddnis]

I do this but with forgetting to cut the on switch on. . .

didnt you feel the friction of the piston not having any fuel?

I should have; like I said, I had a head cold and was therefore not really on top of my game. Only reason the tree took past noon was because I had only one ground guy and I was going SLOW. I really should not have been climbing, but I'm stubborn and I needed to get the job done; so we just took all day to do it.

Overall it really isn't that baffling a problem, but it sure had me scratching my head for a couple of minutes.



Mr. HE

 

[RVALUE]

This has turned into a very informative thread. Good Idea!

 

[belgian]

I have a Mac 35 that will only fire if the small points cover is removed. I've tried to use new seals, etc. to no avail. It shorts the points somewhere. I'll spare you the number of hours I spent to find this tricky problem...

 

[djohnson]

Husqvarna 23

Condition - Husqvarna 23 starts good, runs for about 3-5 minutes starts loosing power and dies, acts like fuel issue or air leak.
Diagnosis - compression good, cyl. condition good, saw seems to have low hours, very clean.
First repair - Rebuilt carb. No change
Second repair - Adjusted coil air gap No change
Third repair - Noticed .007-.012 play in crankshaft (side-to-side) not end play. Replaced crank bearings. Has ran great for fellow every since.

 

[caotropheus]

I believe that the cause for most mysterious saw malfunctions is located between the saw it self and the ground!

 

[wanab]

hee,hee, i bought this dern stihl and thought it was going to outcut every saw made.

it dont, is that a problem?

 

[Michael Waters]

I've got to add one thing to this list that I RARELY have problems with. The carby! When people post problems with their saws on this site I often read suggestions that the carby is the problem.

I have revived a few saws (maybe 30 or 40) and they range from near new straight gassed saws, to a box of bits that has sat in grandad's shed for 10 years that turns out to be an 076. The oldest saw I have revived would be an 041 and the newest was an MS660. From memory, only on one occassion have i pulled the carb apart and that was on an 015 which kept flooding. I reset the needle and put it back together using the same 30 year old gasket.

I always give them a wash in turps and a spray with some degreeser so they look clean on the outside but that is it.

Does anyone else find this to be the case??

 

[propliner]

I find brittle diaphragms to be a recurring problem, particularly on saws that see little use.

 

[056kid]

I've got to add one thing to this list that I RARELY have problems with. The carby! When people post problems with their saws on this site I often read suggestions that the carby is the problem.

I have revived a few saws (maybe 30 or 40) and they range from near new straight gassed saws, to a box of bits that has sat in grandad's shed for 10 years that turns out to be an 076. The oldest saw I have revived would be an 041 and the newest was an MS660. From memory, only on one occassion have i pulled the carb apart and that was on an 015 which kept flooding. I reset the needle and put it back together using the same 30 year old gasket.

I always give them a wash in turps and a spray with some degreeser so they look clean on the outside but that is it.

Does anyone else find this to be the case??

i have revived a few saws. never been able to put new gaskets in any of them though..

 

[Nardoo]

Mike, I agree and have never had carby problems unless there are ripped diaphrams or bad needle/seats. Perhaps our Australian fuel does not gum up like fuel from cold countries?

Nardoo

 

[rarefish383]

When I first got my 288 it came as a box of parts. I ordered the parts that were missing and got it all put together. Cleaned the carb up and made sure the spark was good. I tried starting this thing for hours with no luck trying everyway I could think of. It would fire, just wouldn't run. Finally I took the screen out of the muffler, couldn't see through it at all. Put it back together and it fired right up.

Lamar, sorry to get off topic, but I like the charger in your avatar. A friend of mine was the second owner of one of the two Metalic Mauve Hemi cars. He paid $3500 for it in the early 80's and sold it for $5000 4 or 5 years later. I heard the current owner has turned down $800,000 for it. Who knew, Joe.

 

[Cliff R]

My 268XP started loosing power BIG TIME on up-cuts only. It was fine cutting down thru a log, even leaning on it hard with the bucking spikes dug in.

It just had maybe 30 percent power when you tried cutting up thru a log. I ran it like this for about a year, then it developed an intermitent stalling at idle problem.

I replaced the tank vent, fuel line, filter, carb kit, crank seals, intakes gaskets and anti-vibe mounts.

The anti-vibe mounts fixed the loss of power cutting up thru logs, as they were allowing the tank/handle to move far enough away from the carb that the linkage was pulling the carb back to about half throttle.

It still had the intermitent stalling at idle problem, so I kitted the carb again, no improvement. I side-lined the saw for a while, then one day decided to take the carb apart one last time. It showed clear in all passages, but I pulled the welch plug instead, and found a piece of debris floating around under it.....second problem solved......Cliff

 

[JohnL]

I often read the posts on this site regarding problems people have with their saws. Some are pretty basic (scored piston and no compression) but others are quite mysterious.

I think people should post some of their experiences with strange saw problems that took them days/weeks/months to diagnose. It might be a good resource for people looking for fixes for their that wont start on a tuesday, or a stihl saw that wont rev unless you hide the husky.

My strangest problem is a bit lame but it had me stumped for a few days. I didnt tighten the flywheel nut and sheered the key. It stumbled when you pulled the starter but would quite kick over. Seemed like flooding, starving and it had me beat.

Homelite 240. The chain turns over just fine by hand, start and run it it starts to bind, eventually locks up solid. If I adjust it very loose it will keep turning when it is running. I'm running an Oregon rim sprocket that matches the chain, 3/8 low-profile. I noticed that the clutch drum doesn't completely cover the clutch shoes, and if I tighten the clutch nut too far it locks the drum against the clutch. All I can think is that someone put the wrong clutch on this thing, one that fits but is too thick. Bought a new clutch, then lost interest. It's on the to do list.

 

[t613]

What do you think?

Just last week I was running my Stihl 018 in a 10"or so wide log. It was screaming right along, then bogged, hit again, then bogged. Ran like a champ for another 30 seconds, then bogged until it died...

Was just filled with gas 3-4 minutes prior to the issue, from a gallon can with "Tool Fuel" gas mixed 50:1 with Stihl's HP Ultra oil. I had used about half of the gallon already in the saw, so it wasn't an oil mixture issue or out of fuel.

Went to the truck and pulled the plug. Swapped in a new one, ran perfectly again.

Noticed a small "blob" in the gap between the electrodes. It reminded me of a soldering blob from plumbing or electronics soldering, but it was almost black.

I took the cardboard from the spark plug box and ran it through the gap. The blob popped right out. I put the plug back in the saw and it ran like a champ again and has since.

Don't know what it was, but definitely electrically conductive. The plug electrodes looked fine, they hadn't melted or anything.

Glad it was such an easy fix and had an extra plug handy.

Not a biggie, but wanted to share!

Tim

 

[ch woodchuck]

husq 246.Did the carb kit,replaced fuel lines,tank vent/filter.carb adj...ran like a jewel.Put the cap back on,tightened down the screws.saw stalls.Take off cap,saw starts,runs great.Put the cap back on......WTF...:msp_rolleyes:Clean filter.Popped off the side screen..clean.Tried a few more times..nutz!Threw it in the barn.Came out the next day,put it back together....:smile2:Never know about the infernal combustion engine!

 

[ttyR2]

More of an annoyance. I can see why Stihl redesigned the ignition lever on the 026/036 saws. I regularly punch it with my thumb when grabbing for the rear handle, killing the engine.

 

[JustinM]

Pulling and pulling on a saw that won't start and then realize I forgot to put fuel in it.

Did that with my generator the other day.