Suburban Plowboy
Veteran Member
More hard-earned wisdom:
Red Sta-bil doesn't work, so don't use it. Use Biobor EB, Red Armor, and ethanol-free gas. This kind of gas can gum up just like ethanol gas, but it takes longer.
Running your saw dry will not necessarily prevent it from clogging during storage. Old guys recommend running pure oil through the carb before storage.
If your saw doesn't work, the #1 move is to replace the gas. This has "fixed" many saws.
When you buy a saw, buy the carb rebuild kit that goes with it. Your carb will go bad eventually. In 15-20 minutes, with simple tools, you can replace the diaphragm and anything else that may be shot. Do this before going to a shop, where they will leave your saw on a shelf for a month while they take care of professional customers, and then they will charge you $150 per hour.
Buy a tachometer ($15) and learn how to tune a saw. It's very simple, and when your saw was new, it was tuned badly. You may need to pop off the plastic limiter caps the company put on the saw to prevent amateurs from burning saws up.
Your saw's exhaust is not to be taken seriously as sold. They are all choked up, and this causes heat to accumulate in the saw, as well as reducing the power. Some saws have parts that, wow, just happen to be easily removed in 5 minutes to make them breathe better. It's almost like...the manufacturers expect you to do it. Others can be fixed with a 3/8" drill bit.
Buy a bar grease gun, because the spur in the tip of the bar needs lube.
Finally, electric saws are superior to gas saws. The only advantage of a gas saw is that it's easier to deal with when you put in a long day. If you're only going to do short jobs, buy cordless. It will always start, and you won't need ear protection.
People should be paying me for this.
Red Sta-bil doesn't work, so don't use it. Use Biobor EB, Red Armor, and ethanol-free gas. This kind of gas can gum up just like ethanol gas, but it takes longer.
Running your saw dry will not necessarily prevent it from clogging during storage. Old guys recommend running pure oil through the carb before storage.
If your saw doesn't work, the #1 move is to replace the gas. This has "fixed" many saws.
When you buy a saw, buy the carb rebuild kit that goes with it. Your carb will go bad eventually. In 15-20 minutes, with simple tools, you can replace the diaphragm and anything else that may be shot. Do this before going to a shop, where they will leave your saw on a shelf for a month while they take care of professional customers, and then they will charge you $150 per hour.
Buy a tachometer ($15) and learn how to tune a saw. It's very simple, and when your saw was new, it was tuned badly. You may need to pop off the plastic limiter caps the company put on the saw to prevent amateurs from burning saws up.
Your saw's exhaust is not to be taken seriously as sold. They are all choked up, and this causes heat to accumulate in the saw, as well as reducing the power. Some saws have parts that, wow, just happen to be easily removed in 5 minutes to make them breathe better. It's almost like...the manufacturers expect you to do it. Others can be fixed with a 3/8" drill bit.
Buy a bar grease gun, because the spur in the tip of the bar needs lube.
Finally, electric saws are superior to gas saws. The only advantage of a gas saw is that it's easier to deal with when you put in a long day. If you're only going to do short jobs, buy cordless. It will always start, and you won't need ear protection.
People should be paying me for this.
