Stihl scratchin' my head

[jinman]

Problem solved! A simple carb kit and I'm back in business. Less than $50 including labor. The saw now starts on the first or second pull and runs great. Tomorrow, I'll make some chips fly.

Thanks for all the great help and suggestions. There's been solid advice here from everyone. I do many/most of those things suggested except use non-ethanol fuel. If I have to replace the carb kit every few years, that's okay. It's still a beautiful little saw that performs well above my expectations.

 

[20 20]

glad to here ya got it fixed

 

[Egon]

[The saw now starts on the first or second pull /QUOTE]

Jinman; you are going to have to invest in one of those saws that start cutting on the first pull and don't need carburetor overhauls or special fuel!

Original cost is also much better!

 

[jinman]

Jinman; you are going to have to invest in one of those saws that start cutting on the first pull and don't need carburetor overhauls or special fuel!

Original cost is also much better!

Yeah Egon, I need one of those saws that you pull once and it cuts, splits, stacks, and hauls wood up my fireplace when the weather turns cold and icy outside. I'm willin' to pay extra for the optional cold-beer-delivered-to-me-on-the-couch feature.

 

[Egon]

cold-beer-delivered-to-me-on-the-couch feature.

That is one of the benefits of "Cut on first pull" saws. Frequent breaks! Rest Breaks that is!

 

[jayste]

I knew it was a carb kit!......Ok! for those of you who thought, "Ya right!", you're right! Glad you got 'er goin' Jim! Now get off the computer and get some wood cut!

 

[Bird]

All small engines now come with a warning not use ethanol fuels. It will degrade most rubberized parts. But who reads the instructions?

Who reads the instructions? ME, for one. But "All" small engines? Since what date or time?

Of course I don't know for sure just how old my "slightly used, fully refurbished" Mantis tiller was before I got it, but I've had it 19 months and the manual specifies 89 octane unleaded fresh gasoline and up to 10% ethanol.

My Toro lawnmower, Briggs & Stratton powered, is 33 months old, and the manuals specify minimum 85 octane, no methanol, but then say "excessive amounts of alcohol" may be a problem and to change to a lower percentage of alcohol if you have "undesirable operating symptoms". Your guess is as good as mine as what all that means.

And my Stihl FS55RC string trimmer is 58 months old and the manual specifies "nationally recognized high quality 89 octane" and says that "some additives may be detrimental" to seals, fuel lines, and gaskets without identifying any additives, so I reckon they're probably talking about alcohol.

And like jinman, I have no idea where I could find gasoline without ethanol.

 

[Bird]

Now in spite of reading the instructions, I don't ALWAYS follow them. Everything I see or read says to use "fresh" gasoline. The last gasoline I bought for my lawn equipment was on July 29, 2009, so the gas in everything was nearly 6 months old, although it did all have Stabil in it.

68 degrees yesterday, so I finally quit procrastinating and "winterized" my lawn equipment, as I usually do a couple of months earlier.

I ran the Toro to heat up the oil, changed the oil, then let it run until it ran out of gas.

I ran the Stihl string trimmer until it ran out of gas and died, then cleaned the air filter, and added grease to the gear box.

And I ran the Mantis tiller until it ran out of gas and died.

I still had nearly a gallon of 2-cycle gas mixed with the oil and Stabil, so I dumped that in the Ranger pickup, then topped off its gas tank on my way to Northern Tool to buy some 30 weight synthetic air-compressor oil, so I could change oil in the air-compressor. There was a little "sticker shock" when I saw the price of a quart of Ingersoll-Rand synthetic, all season, compressor oil ($13.99 plus tax or $15.11 total). But a quart will do me for 2 years at least.

I've read the horror stories about the ethanol in our gasoline dissolving fuel lines and gaskets, which then gum up carburetors and require repairs, but I guess I've just been lucky so far, All my machines started easily and ran well yesterday on that old gas with ethanol.

 

[Dozernut]

"68 degrees yesterday, so I finally quit procrastinating and "winterized" my lawn equipment, as I usually do a couple of months earlier."

Whoeee, if it was that warm up here we would be shucking clothing and be thinking about going swimming .
There was a post, I believe on another forum, that the poster was having trouble with his saw and he switched to 89 octane gas and eliminated the problem. He said this (using 89 octane gas) was in his owners manual. I cannot confirm or deny the validity of the "cure", just forwarding the information.

 

[Bird]

"68 degrees yesterday, so I finally quit procrastinating and "winterized" my lawn equipment, as I usually do a couple of months earlier."

Whoeee, if it was that warm up here we would be shucking clothing and be thinking about going swimming .
There was a post, I believe on another forum, that the poster was having trouble with his saw and he switched to 89 octane gas and eliminated the problem. He said this (using 89 octane gas) was in his owners manual. I cannot confirm or deny the validity of the "cure", just forwarding the information.

Yep, it was warm enough that I was sure ready to hit the shower when I finished, and it really was very little work.

I did use 87 octane gas in the Stihl for the first year or so and it seemed to run just fine. But the manual says the lower octane fuel may make the engine run hotter, so I do run the 89 octane in all 3 machines now.