Husky being frisky with starting.....or not starting

[fried1765]

It's on the list for our cabin in VT. After regular maintenance it seems everything 2-stroke hates me now......my trimmer up there AND this saw are both on strike. So a combo medium duty saw and trimmer combo will be in the future. BUT I am a gas saw guy at heart......

Regarding said saw......I have swapped plugs multiple times, the one in there now is brand new. I tried the trick of holding it against metal but gave up as it is a total PITA. I will try it again.

I also have it filled with the million dollar fuel as well........

Fingers crossed on one hand and middle one raised on the other pointed directly at the saw......

I still have my wonderful 034 Stihl, but I am not cutting firewood, just occasional clean up/trimming use now.
The 40V battery saw starts EVERY time, with just a push of the button!
I am slowly getting rid of corded tools also.

 

[CobyRupert]

Sometimes hard to see spark in the light. I’ve had to go to the dark corner of the garage a few times. ...but maybe my ignition is weak, and new plugs are short time fix.

You get the 1 sec pop with choke open? Don’t need to choke? If you have spark, and fuel (plug gets wet), it may be third component of fire triangle: Air. Not enough. Check filter.
This would be consistent with not needing the choke.

 

[ericm979]

When you put in a new plug, gap it to the engine maker's spec. Plugs often come with a larger gap. Too large a gap for the ignition system means it fouls easily. Older engines called for smaller gaps because their ignitions were weaker than modern ones.

 

[River19]

At the risk of angering the 2-stroke gods as they are finicky........I am going to take this moment to claim victory. So.... VICTORY !!!!!!

Thanks for the suggestions on here, the good news is you all confirmed I was barking up the right tree.

I gapped the new plug, not that is was off a ton......gave her a rip and got 1 full second of running. To which I then pulled the cover....gave another pull and she fired up and would run when I gave her gas but would die at idle.

Before playing with the screws that have literally not been touched since 1989 or so.......and knowing that if the saw ran fine with them where they are, there is no reason to suspect they need to be fiddled with. I pulled the air-filter......while it "looked" clean I decided to try firing it up sans air filter, you know.....for science.......and BOOM she was running fine. So the air-filter and I spent some time with warm water and nice gentle cleaning.......sun dried......put it on, fired up strong. Put the cover on for he final test and the saw is running like the angry kitten it is........

Time to cut some wood.......

Thanks again guys.....

Summary:

New Plug....gapped properly
New fuel filter......
Dumped all old fuel......
Used $1000000/gallon pre-mix ....to eliminate bad gas as an issue
Cleaned the **** air filter......
Was running out of things to replace......lol

 

[oldballs]

It's nice to read a story with a happy ending..........

Cheers,
Mike