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chainsaw trouble
mlincoln
Member Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭
I have a Stihl 180C, the "Mini-Boss" (yes, laugh all you want). It's the little homeowner saw.
It has given me nothing but trouble. It's been to the repair shop twice for carb and throttle issues. It has run a grand total of three hours. Today I fired it up, first time after second repair, and got to cutting down a couple limbs. For 5 or 6 minutes we were cooking right along, cutting away. Then the saw started to sort of slow down. It started to slow down some more, and even with me squeezing the trigger the chain finally just stopped moving. Then the engine sputtered a time or two more and died.
I waited ten minutes and tried to start it again. It started and immediately started slowing down and slowing down and then died.
I only use Stihl's moto-mix 50:1. I was cutting 6 inch to 1 inch limbs, nothing crazy.
Honestly, as each repair runs me about $100, I'm at the point, if I take this thing in again, where I will have spent more on repairs than on the original purchase price of the saw ($250). Right now it's working out to something like $200 an hour to run this saw.
I do only use the saw about once a year for maybe 30 minutes to an hour each time. I simply don't have more need of it than that.
Does anybody have any ideas on what could possibly be wrong with the saw?
It has given me nothing but trouble. It's been to the repair shop twice for carb and throttle issues. It has run a grand total of three hours. Today I fired it up, first time after second repair, and got to cutting down a couple limbs. For 5 or 6 minutes we were cooking right along, cutting away. Then the saw started to sort of slow down. It started to slow down some more, and even with me squeezing the trigger the chain finally just stopped moving. Then the engine sputtered a time or two more and died.
I waited ten minutes and tried to start it again. It started and immediately started slowing down and slowing down and then died.
I only use Stihl's moto-mix 50:1. I was cutting 6 inch to 1 inch limbs, nothing crazy.
Honestly, as each repair runs me about $100, I'm at the point, if I take this thing in again, where I will have spent more on repairs than on the original purchase price of the saw ($250). Right now it's working out to something like $200 an hour to run this saw.
I do only use the saw about once a year for maybe 30 minutes to an hour each time. I simply don't have more need of it than that.
Does anybody have any ideas on what could possibly be wrong with the saw?
Comments
Check that the muffler is not clogged.
One of the many problems I've had.
Also, check the filter inside the tank.
Stihl's moto-mix is pre-mixed ethanol free high-octane gas. When I am done with the saw I let it sit and run until it runs out of the stuff. The saw has NEVER had ethanol in it.
I checked the spark arrester screen. It's clear. I will check the muffler tomorrow. Any other ideas are very much appreciated.
Yes, $100 is a lot of money. What can I do? They're the only authorized Stihl repair shop in town.
turn H "high speed" needle see toif it improves 1/4 turn CCW With saw running and chain off you can adjust screw with it running. I sell stihl at work, not work on them But have been working on small engines at home for over 60 years.
Plugged up muffler is a common problem. Check it and clean it.
Be the first thing I would check. Remove the muffler and check to see if the exhaust port is gobbed off.
$200... You could have bought a new Echo CS310 for less than that and have a saw that is well worth the money for a small saw.
it is worth trying anyway, and it won't cost you anything to try it.
Wood chips in fuel tank, after awhile they get sucked against the in-tank filter. Saw quits.
After a few minutes, with some swishing around, the chips are washed away from the filter, and it fires right up.
I may try one of those rebuild kits on Amazon. If that doesn't work, it looks like I need a new saw.
The Zama carb that's used on your saw and the smaller trimmers and handheld blowers have been very problematic in the past. A carb cleaning and diaphragm kit usually results in no improvement. It's easier for the dealers to just replace the carb right away. The last couple of carbs I bought for a handheld blower from the Stihl dealer were around $13 their cost.
Lots of those carbs and the coils available on the other big auction site. Just match the numbers on the carb to be sure, C1Q something something. Zama is made in China and Stihl owns the company so no choice on where the carb comes from.
There also might be two styles of coils used on your saw but I may be thinking of a different model. They are not interchangeable.
Lots of folks have problems with chainsaws. I know stuff happens but sometimes it happens for a reason.
I buy specific models of saws that I'm familiar with for parts or repair.
No reference to the current post but over the last 4 years, I've bought "non-running" or "runs but won't cut" saws with the following problems:
1:chain on backwards(love that one)
2:no plug boot on coil wire
3:broken switch(took 15 minutes and a $2 parts saw part to turn a $165 junk saw into a $400 looks like new runner)
4:run with chain brake locked until it melted the chain cover
5:Intermittent spark--I'm guessing this one has the kill wire pinched between the starter housing and the flywheel.
At this point, I've used mostly salvage parts from a single saw to resurrect 4 other saws. I'm selling 2-3 of them to pay for the other 2 and I'll have $750 worth of excellent utility saws free.
Mine is 20 years old and never let me down.
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
What can I do? They're the only authorized Stihl repair shop in town.sell it and buy a Husqvarna
Warn you one time and one time only... Stay away from the 240 chainsaw..
The fuel system on the 240's cannot deliver enough fuel to run the saw. The small fuel lines have a clear plastic liner in them that is about the size of a stick pin that carries fuel. You can not adjust the carb needles rich enough supply the engine enough fuel to run properly. If you are lucky enough to get one to run for ten minutes or so. They run so hot that the fuel actually boils in the tank. Not air bubbles, A rolling boil from hot fuel..
Replace the fuel lines with new ones without the liner. The engine will run wide open without even touching the throttle or become so flooded in less than 10 seconds that it can not run. It will do one or the other no matter how the Hi-Lo fuel/air mixture screws are set.
I have worked on 8 or 9 of the things this Summer and every one of them does the same thing. All of them had less than a gallon of fuel ran through them before they started messing up. It is not a box store thing either. The ones I have worked on came from both places like Lowes and from Husqvarna dealers.
Husqvarna small engines (Saws and Trimmers) have gone to the sewer in the last three or four years. So much so that I have gone to Echo and Tanaka.
quote:Originally posted by buschmaster
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
What can I do? They're the only authorized Stihl repair shop in town.sell it and buy a Husqvarna
Warn you one time and one time only... Stay away from the 240 chainsaw..
The fuel system on the 240's cannot deliver enough fuel to run the saw. The small fuel lines have a clear plastic liner in them that is about the size of a stick pin that carries fuel. You can not adjust the carb needles rich enough supply the engine enough fuel to run properly. If you are lucky enough to get one to run for ten minutes or so. They run so hot that the fuel actually boils in the tank. Not air bubbles, A rolling boil from hot fuel..
Replace the fuel lines with new ones without the liner. The engine will run wide open without even touching the throttle or become so flooded in less than 10 seconds that it can not run. It will do one or the other no matter how the Hi-Lo fuel/air mixture screws are set.
I have worked on 8 or 9 of the things this Summer and every one of them does the same thing. All of them had less than a gallon of fuel ran through them before they started messing up. It is not a box store thing either. The ones I have worked on came from both places like Lowes and from Husqvarna dealers.
Husqvarna small engines (Saws and Trimmers) have gone to the sewer in the last three or four years. So much so that I have gone to Echo and Tanaka.
I bought a Husqvarna weed eater and no matter what I did it had very little power. THe mufflers are sealed, but I drilled the holes out as bigh as I could under the screen and turned the high side up bout a 1/4 of a turn and it is a weed eating machine now.
Mine is 20 years old and never let me down."
That's my current refurb line-20 year old Echo mid-size CS 4600 & CS 5000.
quote:Originally posted by JimmyJack
Plugged up muffler is a common problem. Check it and clean it.
Be the first thing I would check. Remove the muffler and check to see if the exhaust port is gobbed off.
$200... You could have bought a new Echo CS310 for less than that and have a saw that is well worth the money for a small saw.
..What he said...[^]