Need a little help trouble shooting Stihl 025

pharmvet · Feb 20, 2012

I bought a used Stihl 025 ($100) because I have 3 guys working for me doing some cleaning and did not want to let them use my personal saws. After a little tweaking the mechanic at our local hardware store (Stihl dealer) The saw was running pretty good. I used it personally yesterday to see how it performed and got the following results.

I used the saw to cut up a dead pine that had fallen into my pasture. The saw worked fine. It cranked, idled, and performed well until I had used it for about 10 minutes. At this point, it would die whenever I wasn't giving it gas. It would still cut fine, but when I took my finger off the trigger to move to another cut location, it would die. It would crank back immediately and work well as long as I had my finger on the throttle.

I put it up and went to the house. This afternoon I cranked it and it idled just fine.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Any suggestions are welcomed. If Im not careful, a $100 saw is going to turn into a $200 saw pretty quickly. thanks in advance.

LD1 · Feb 21, 2012

When it dies after the 10 minutes of use....try turning the idle up a bit JUST so it will stay running.

But then let the saw cool several hours or next day and start it up and make SURE it isnt idling too fast causing the chain to spin when idling.

arrow · Feb 21, 2012

Check muffler screen. If saw runs fine w/o muffler, that's your culprit. Among possible other things, this can be a typical symptom of a partially dirty screen.

Taxidermist · Feb 21, 2012

when it acts up open the fuel tank and then close it again. If it runs good again your tank vent is plugged.

Rob

s219 · Feb 21, 2012

I'd say the carb needs to be tuned after the saw has warmed up.

Normally, a cold saw will be a bit sluggish since it runs slightly lean. When it warms up, the carb will naturally richen. That's when you want to adjust the carb.

pharmvet · Feb 23, 2012

Repairman at my dealer said it was in fact in need of a carb adjustment when hot. He thinks he has it fixed. thanks for all your advice. Ill let you know for sure when I get a chance to use it this weekend. thanks again.

arrow · Feb 24, 2012

pharmvet said:
Repairman at my dealer said it was in fact in need of a carb adjustment when hot. He thinks he has it fixed. thanks for all your advice. Ill let you know for sure when I get a chance to use it this weekend. thanks again.

Well, I for one gave you a bit of misinformation. Somehow (and I know how) I missed the part of the "saw ran fine as long as I had finger on the gas" Mostly I read "the saw dies as I am using it" If that happens, check the muffler screen. The advice on carb adjustment is the preferred answer for your situation