Chainsaw died;

   / Chainsaw died; #21  
I get the impression that you aren't likely to try to repair it yourself so my advice would be to just replace it. Most likely the new saw will outlast you (I can only hope to make it to your age and still do stuff like cutting stumps). I think you could sell your current saw, I'm sure someone would be willing to take the chance on repairing it. I've seen a number of 2 strokes that aluminum from the piston fuses to the cylinder wall when they overheat. With some effort it can be removed and the cylinder saved. I think you would have a hard time finding a Sthil dealer who would do that though. For them it would just be all new parts and a bill that would be too close to the price of a new saw.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #22  
I just bought my first Stihl last month at the local dealers annual spring sale, a MS261CM!

I have only used it to cut up about 3 trees at a friends to get them off his fences. Cold it starts on the 2nd or 3rd pull. When warm it will start on 1/2 pull. It does feel very light for a 20" saw but the best part is it has instant throttle response and it cut every tree like it was butter. The good/bad thing was it didn't spew saw dust, it was throwing sizeable chunks of wood! Needless to say I was grinning ear to ear after using it that little bit and very pleased with the money spent. Now if it is just trouble free for 20 years like my other saw has been I'll be thrilled.
Nice choice! Yeah you should always be throwing out nice chips of wood. If you're ever making fine dust... just stop and sharpen up the chain.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #23  
i'll join the club. 3 yr and 2 month old shindaiwa 591 20" - blew up. go figure. no reason why it should have done that ....

lucky i bought a backup 591 20" and now awaiting an echo timberwolf 590 20" bar. same bar and chains and sharpeners etc.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #24  
I've been taking the chains for the old Craftsman and Husqvarna to this shop for a few years to sharpen and I tell them I want the "aggressive" or "Yellow" cut which doesn't provide as much kickback protection and they do a great job sharpening them. Those chains will cut through trees like crazy and produce very sizeable "chunks" or Shavings and not fine sawdust.
The new Stihl MS261CM was even more impressive and it had the original "Green", safer less kickback Chain on it.

I did get the Stihl 3 in 1 sharpener when I bought the new Stihl, so hopefully that will help keep it cutting great in the field.
I could always sharpen the other chains about 3 times in the field with a single round file with a guide on it and they would cut better, but then I 'd take them in to the shop to get them perfect again. I was never filing the depth limiters down is what I think I was missing.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #25  
I check my chains' depth limiters every so often but it takes many hand filings before they need to be filed down, and even then it's not by much. I bought a bench grinder a couple years ago. I use it to true up chains that have 15-20 hand filings and for chains where I damage cutters like from hitting unseen metal in a tree. Many shops take a lot off the teeth when they use a grinder since it's faster than taking time to set it up properly. I can spend the time to set the grinder to take just enough off the shortest tooth.

For me safety chain cuts fine, except on plunge cuts. It'll do them but it's slow. Non safety chain is not more aggressive cutting, it just lacks the kickback reducing feature. Most of my chains are non safety chains because that's what that manufacturer offered but some of the better cutting and lasting ones are safety. Filing the depth limiters can be a little more involved on safety chain since you need to reshape them not just file a flat on the top.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #26  
ya my shop is so much worse than what i do. saved so much money and they just grind all chains generically so not really what was intended as such. i do 2 stroked per cutter and it last 3 hrs of intense cutting. theirs - maybe 1/2 hr or 45' max. and what you do re: correct angle has nothing to do what they did to your chain.

quality? what quality? they should read Robert Pirsig and study that volume for some insight and esp for their business insight.

heh heh.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #27  
... Non safety chain is not more aggressive cutting, it just lacks the kickback reducing feature.
You'll have to explain that opinion because the way I understand it, the way they make them less prone to kickback is they take less bite or are less aggressive. And from what I seen between the different chains, that holds exactly true.
 
   / Chainsaw died; #28  
First , it’s not safety chain , it’s low kick back . The hump out in front of the depth gauge makes the depth gauge less aggressive as it passes Round the tip of the guidebar somewhat reducing ,but not eliminating kickback entirely .


 
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   / Chainsaw died; #29  
Could it be a leaking Head Gasket?
 
   / Chainsaw died; #30  
Check the spark plug first, make sure it hasn't started to come out. I’ve attached a pic of a MS250 that had piston damage. As bad as it was, it still had decent compression and ran but idled badly. This looking in the exhaust port.

View attachment 693578

I have had the problem dodge man has taken a picture of. I used fuel that had ethanol and used old fuel mix. I too was cutting a stump that caused the saw to get hot. It sputtered a bit before it died. When I looked in the valve I could see and feel bits of metal. Now I used only !00% gas and synthetic mix.
 
 
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