my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)

"bill yohler" wrote in message
grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)

Check your fuel lines for cracks. It may be that you have everything else
correct, but you're sucking more air than fuel, despite your adjustments.
That would fit with the "had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't
idle, even after being warmed up and making some cuts".

It happened to me (& I couldn't figger it out either g).

Joe F.

On 22 Jan 2004 09:11:49 -0800, (bill yohler) wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)
One thing you can check is the amount of spark. Is it visible in
sunlight? Or can you hold the plug a little away from the engine and
see a spark jumping from the electrode to the engine? And if just the
plug wire is held close to the engine is the spark better than the one
that jumps from the plug? I have had brand new plugs that were bad.
And magnetos have more spark when spinning faster so maybe that's why
the engine runs better fast. I have also had magnetos give weak spark
because there was moisture inside. The fix was to let them soak in a
250 degree oven for an hour or so and then turning off the oven and
letting the mag cool in the oven. If I grab the plug wire and turn the
engine over slowly and don't get a pretty good jolt I suspect the
points, mag, condenser, or any combination of those. I dunno how old
your saw is so it may or may not have points.
Good Luck.

Be SURE the choke is closing properly.

Mixture screws out 1 1/4 turns is a good place to start

Even brand new plugs can be bad, if you have another on hand try it.
Even if the one you have sparks in air. It's a different story under
compression.

Check fuel lines for cracks or airleaks.

Check the pulse source for the diaphragm for a blockage or
disconnection. This is the connection between the carb and the crankcase
pressure that make the fuel 'pump' in the carb work. Sometimes it looks
like a fuel line, sometimes it's a orifice on the engine side of the
carb, matching a similar hole in the carb manifold. Not sure about the 021.

Make sure the diaphragm is in good shape. (pliable, no holes, not
completely stretched out)

Clean the carb again. Get a carb kit. Disassemble it COMPLETELY, clean
it with real solvent, blow out all orfices with compressed air.
Reasssemble according to a parts diagram. Lots of carbs get reassembled
wrong.


--
__
Pete Snell
Royal Military College
Kingston Ontario


The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw

Peter Snell wrote:

Clean the carb again. Get a carb kit. Disassemble it COMPLETELY,
clean it with real solvent, blow out all orfices with compressed air.
Reasssemble according to a parts diagram. Lots of carbs get reassembled
wrong.

And make sure that you don't/didn't use RTV
as a sealant on that carb.

I once drove a Datsun for 40 miles at 20mph
because I made that mistake.

bill yohler wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)
ONE TURN SETTING??? are you talking about the idle needle?? if so on
just about every small engine i saw it say you tighten it to bottom it
out (no hard, just about hand tight with a screwdriver) and then open it
one and one half turns out and then when running you adjust it finely by
a small amount.. maybe this is why it is not starting???? and you say
the carb. is rebuilt?? who did that You?? if you know what you doing
rebuilding carbs what are you asking questions here for??? not to be
funny or in bad taste, but the carb might not be rebuilt correctly and
that is why it is not starting.....

If its fitted with a foam air cleaner that may need to be oiled
properly. Seems a common problem on some lawn mowers that can make them
difficult to start as they run too lean.

bill yohler wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)

bill yohler wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)



Since it will run, it is not the spark or muffler . If it will not idle
and is hard
to start (also low rpm) then there is either an air leak or the idle
circuit is plugged in
the carb. I would check the gasket surface where the carb bolts on and
the bolts
are torqued properly. Disassemble the carb and blow out all internal
passages and
jets with compressed air. Wear safety glasses!!!

ff

Is the check valve in the gas tank installed and working properly and there
are no cracks in the hose? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but a defective
filter/check valve won't hold the fuel in the line making getting the thing
started a real chore.

I also agree with the poster who questioned the possibility that the carb
may not be rebuilt to factory specs.

Jimbo

"ff" wrote in message
...
bill yohler wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)



Since it will run, it is not the spark or muffler . If it will not idle
and is hard
to start (also low rpm) then there is either an air leak or the idle
circuit is plugged in
the carb. I would check the gasket surface where the carb bolts on and
the bolts
are torqued properly. Disassemble the carb and blow out all internal
passages and
jets with compressed air. Wear safety glasses!!!

ff

In article
,
"rb608" wrote:

"bill yohler" wrote in message
grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)

Check your fuel lines for cracks. It may be that you have everything else
correct, but you're sucking more air than fuel, despite your adjustments.
That would fit with the "had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't
idle, even after being warmed up and making some cuts".

It happened to me (& I couldn't figger it out either g).

I have a weed wacker with a similiar problem, so I tried squirting some
mix directly into the carb intake to verify it was a fuel problem. It
started immediately and ran fine. Being lazy and not overly competent
in rebuilding small engine carbs I just squirt a bit of mix in when I
want to start it cold. Once warm it restarts easy. If it sits for an
hour It needs another small squirt. Crude, but effective.

--
free men own guns - slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

Several things come to mind. Might be air leak going into the crankcase some
where. Might also be the wrong air gap from the coil to the flywheel. Might
also be a points model saw with old points. Might be carb setting (though,
I doubt this, after all this cranking, and trying ether).

Your clue was the "tiny blue sparks". If memory serves, the point gap sets
the timing.


Sure sounds more and more like trouble with points (My Homelite is set .015
point gap). Or more likely an excessive gap from the flywheel to the coil.
Iusually set the flywheel gap by tearing the end off aspark plug box, put it
between the coil and the flywheel and tighten it up as bes tI can. And then
rotate the flywheel to get the cardboard out of there.

--

Christopher A. Young
Jesus: The Reason for the Season
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"bill yohler" wrote in message
om...
my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)

Should have bought a Poulan!


Visit my website: http://www.frugalmachinist.com
Opinions expressed are those of my wifes,
I had no input whatsoever.
Remove "nospam" from email addy.

Lol, Poulan for pulling?


Roy wrote:
Should have bought a Poulan!


Visit my website: http://www.frugalmachinist.com
Opinions expressed are those of my wifes,
I had no input whatsoever.
Remove "nospam" from email addy.

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)
Since you stated that the carb was rebuilt - my question is if you
took the carb off and gave it to someone or did you hand them the
entire saw.... the gasket on a lot of smaller carbs (between the
carb and the cylinder) has a very small hole for vacuum to operate the
fuel pump in the carb. If the gasket is not positioned perfectly, the
hole gets "covered up", and also can "swell almost shut" so I would
check the tiny hole first - check fuel lines for cracks,
deterioration, etc. Muffler screen clean? The carb may have been
assembled wrong, especially when it comes to the fuel pump diaphragm
as they are usually assembled with a separate gasket, some have the
diaphragm on TOP of the gasket, some UNDER, and this makes a
difference on how far open the needle valve gets moved. The points -
if you have them - on a lot of Stihl saws are opened and closed by a
cam mounted on the underside of the flywheel - I don't recommend you
pull the flywheel unless you HAVE the special setting cam ring (Stihl)
for setting the point gap. I have worked on enough Stihls that I now
REFUSE to accept them for repairs - I talked to Stihl once about a
saw and their quote was "We don't support anything over 10 years
old... no parts, no literature, no pictures, no part numbers, no
technical support. If it's over 10 years old, throw it away."
That's when I quit working on Stihls.
Ken.

(Ken Sterling) wrote in message ws.com...
my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...

saw has excellent compression. also has _brand new bosch spark plug,
correct plug # correctly gapped, & plug is "known to be firing"
(removed plug, ran ground wire to muffler, watched and pulled), carb
is freshly rebuilt, fuel pickup clean as a whistle, fuel is one day
old, of the correct octane and oil-mix, using 2 stroke good oil. saw
gets gas, as proven by 'gas smell' and look at plug removed during my
numerous "pull-fests". saw won't even fire a LICK usually, meaning
99.99999 percent of the time, even if I use ether. not even a quick,
weak 'pop pop'....

in desperation, I even built a crude 'pre-heat' chamber for the saw
out of old plywood, ran a small electric room heater into one end for
a half hour - "heat-soaked" the entire saw up to a hundred degrees,
which didn't even help. air cleaner clean as a whistle. the 'one turn'
carb adjusting screw IS correctly at its 'one turn' setting, and the
other one, is at, well, wherever it was? (moving it seems to change
the saw from 'super-hard starting' to 'super-hard starting' and back
;-)

the stihl owners manual is 'very foggy' on how to set the carb
adjusting screws, especially in relation to each other (but his seems
to matter). when I _did_ finally get it running yesterday, after its'
traditional sixteen million arm-wrenching pulls, it ran kinda lousy -
had to keep 'revving it' between cuts...wouldn't idle, even after
being warmed up and making some cuts...

what to do next? anybody care to suggest an 'initial setting' the 'low
speed' screw should be at? and why does moving THAT screw seem to make
adjusting the other one imperative? near as I can determine, it's only
a "throttle stop" of sorts (it keeps the throttle plate from closing
'dead shut' completely).

ps-the blade stays in motion, but 'weakly', between cuts (I couldn't
care LESS about that at this point, though). when I 'rest the blade'
on a log, when it's 'near idle', the blade stops...so, big deal! I
just wanna be able to make CUTS-I don't care if the blades in motion
between cuts or NOT, at this point...

um, what controls the timing on these saws? I'm guessing it's 'fixed'
(or is it?). the sparks the plug made during it's 'removed visual'
test were tiny, blue, or blue-white...

grateful for any troubleshooting tips & ideas/thanks :-)
Since you stated that the carb was rebuilt - my question is if you
took the carb off and gave it to someone or did you hand them the
entire saw.... the gasket on a lot of smaller carbs (between the
carb and the cylinder) has a very small hole for vacuum to operate the
fuel pump in the carb. If the gasket is not positioned perfectly, the
hole gets "covered up", and also can "swell almost shut" so I would
check the tiny hole first - check fuel lines for cracks,
deterioration, etc. Muffler screen clean? The carb may have been
assembled wrong, especially when it comes to the fuel pump diaphragm
as they are usually assembled with a separate gasket, some have the
diaphragm on TOP of the gasket, some UNDER, and this makes a
difference on how far open the needle valve gets moved. The points -
if you have them - on a lot of Stihl saws are opened and closed by a
cam mounted on the underside of the flywheel - I don't recommend you
pull the flywheel unless you HAVE the special setting cam ring (Stihl)
for setting the point gap. I have worked on enough Stihls that I now
REFUSE to accept them for repairs - I talked to Stihl once about a
saw and their quote was "We don't support anything over 10 years
old... no parts, no literature, no pictures, no part numbers, no
technical support. If it's over 10 years old, throw it away."
That's when I quit working on Stihls.
Ken.

What does the plug look like?? Wet??? what color? This will tell
you what is wrong....

"Roy" wrote in message
...
Should have bought a Poulan!

Yep, I agree. Then you could get your exercise jerking on that sucker
instead of the one you now own. I have a Poulan and that's where I get my
workouts. g

Harold

Well Stormin, your memory isnt doing to good, the points gap has
nothing to do with timing, points gap is Dwel.

On 22 Jan 2004 09:11:49 -0800, (bill yohler) wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...


I've owned a Stihl for over 20 years and it has been very reliable and
easy to start. However, the other day I tried starting it and it
refused to even fire once. I must've pulled that starter rope a
hundred times.

But, it had been over two years since I had last used it. I figured
something had gotten gummed up and/or stuck during the layup. But, I
wasn't about to take it apart with all the dirt and crud on it.

The first thing to do, then, was to blow out all the accumulated crap,
especially all the gunk on the air filter.

After the air treatment, I gave the rope a pull and it started right
away.

I figure that blowing it out really good must've unstuck whatever was
causing the problem. After that, the engine was as reliable a starter
as it always has been.

Orrin

Didn't you see the label inside the saw "inflate to 28 PSI when cold"?

Sometimes I use ether spray to clean the air filter. Rinse out the dirt, and
any oil and crud. Dry it a bit before putting it back on the saw. That seems
to help.

Glad you got it going.

--

Christopher A. Young
Jesus: The Reason for the Season
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Orrin Iseminger" wrote in message
...
On 22 Jan 2004 09:11:49 -0800, (bill yohler) wrote:

my chainsaw is _exceedingly_ hard to start, I'm near pulling my arms
right out of their dern sockets...


I've owned a Stihl for over 20 years and it has been very reliable and
easy to start. However, the other day I tried starting it and it
refused to even fire once. I must've pulled that starter rope a
hundred times.

But, it had been over two years since I had last used it. I figured
something had gotten gummed up and/or stuck during the layup. But, I
wasn't about to take it apart with all the dirt and crud on it.

The first thing to do, then, was to blow out all the accumulated crap,
especially all the gunk on the air filter.

After the air treatment, I gave the rope a pull and it started right
away.

I figure that blowing it out really good must've unstuck whatever was
causing the problem. After that, the engine was as reliable a starter
as it always has been.

Orrin

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 13:24:52 -0800, "Harold & Susan Vordos"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

I said it before and I say it again

"You have to poulan poulan pull...."

Funny thing is, the one I had went for 10 years,. It was a little 14"
job, maybe 30cc? I put a tungsten tipped chain on it, and cut dry
jarrah (hard brown stuff) logs up to 20" + for years, and the thing,
once it started, just kept going. I never looked after it, because it
was always a pest to start and get to idle, from the get go, and I
wanted it to die die die! But it did not

In the end I threw it away (yes, literally...at least twice) and went
and bought a Husky....which is not as powerful, but does start on the
third pull at the end of every summer.


"Roy" wrote in message
.. .
Should have bought a Poulan!

Yep, I agree. Then you could get your exercise jerking on that sucker
instead of the one you now own. I have a Poulan and that's where I get my
workouts. g

Harold


************************************************** ** sorry
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

In article ,
says...

In the end I threw it away (yes, literally...at least twice) and went
and bought a Husky....which is not as powerful, but does start on the
third pull at the end of every summer.


Hi Nick,

I use Poulan saws for trimming branches after I drop one. I use
Husqvarna's for felling, and I use a Stihl for bucking. Different chain
profiles on every saw. I do this for a living. Of course, these saws and
their chain profiles are personal preferences. I only cut in the winter
when the trees are light, so I use a gas stabiliser during the off
season.