Stihl cutter problem??

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I've got a 2.5year old HS86R Stihl hedge cutter that really hasn't seen much use compared to my other two.

Last week it locked up and my Stihl dealer told me that it had "picked up a piece of metal from the bottom of the cylinder and this has damaged the piston and cylinder. The repair cost is almost equal to the replacement cost and we've had quite a few of these".

 

It's the "we've had quite a few of these" that has got me thinking that there is a common design or production fault here.

I don't consider this to be due to wear and tear and am very disappointed in the catastrophic breakdown of my third Stihl tool in the last three years!

Before anyone asks, yes I do take very good care of my tools, especially the things like fuel and air filters.

 

I think I'll be calling the dealer again tomorrow and wearing very big boots.

 

Anyone else had this problem?

[Gareth Dalzell]

I've got a 2.5year old HS86R Stihl hedge cutter that really hasn't seen much use compared to my other two.

Last week it locked up and my Stihl dealer told me that it had "picked up a piece of metal from the bottom of the cylinder and this has damaged the piston and cylinder. The repair cost is almost equal to the replacement cost and we've had quite a few of these".

 

It's the "we've had quite a few of these" that has got me thinking that there is a common design or production fault here.

I don't consider this to be due to wear and tear and am very disappointed in the catastrophic breakdown of my third Stihl tool in the last three years!

Before anyone asks, yes I do take very good care of my tools, especially the things like fuel and air filters.

 

I think I'll be calling the dealer again tomorrow and wearing very big boots.

 

Anyone else had this problem?

 

We had a pair of HS86R with a gear box failure after a year and half. Amazing as we have about a dozen of the older design single sided ones still going strong after up to 10 years. The drive rods and crane rods had gone egg shaped. Got them repaired and are going great again although it's hard to keep grease in the gear box. No problem with the engine so far and we have bought another pair of the HS86T a few weeks ago but at the same time bought a pair of the equivalent Echo ones and we're doing a comparison on them.

We have had problem with the BR550 blower engine - had 3 give bother (beyond economic repair) although we've now been told we need to use a particular grade of stihl own brand oil.