Husqvarna 560: part seized?

[richvdh]

I have a Husqvarna 560 which I bought brand new a few months ago. I've only used it a handful of times, and on the last couple it's started up fine but then stalled after a few minutes of work.

 

I took it back to the dealer, who tells me it's been misfuelled, it is part seized, and will need a new piston and cylinder, for very nearly the price of the new saw, none of which will be covered under warranty.

 

I am, frankly, livid. It's never been run on anything other than properly-mixed fuel using Stihl HP oil.

 

Any advice on how I should proceed?

Edited January 4, 2023 by richvdh
correct model number

[pleasant]

It's a brand new saw, and you are the only operator? Sustained low/zero compression due to piston/cylinder scoring and ring compression? Then the evidence speaks for itself I'm afraid. 2-strokes generally don't 'seize' They will still pull over but with little or no compression.

 

The dealer has nothing to gain by stating it's been under oiled....in fact he will lose more by informing of this, as you probably won't have the repair done. Whereas, if it was deemed a genuine manufacturing fault under the warranty then they would get paid by the manufacturer to do the work anyway. Only time they won't get paid, if it's as a result of 'pilot error' and you don't want it repaired. They must be absolutely 100% certain the damage is NOT a result of a manufacturing defect in this case to inform you as such.

 

From my experience none of my customers have EVER misfuelled a machine within it's warranty when there's been a major failure like yours...it's always been the machines fault! 😄

[jfc]

Sorry to hear about you saw.

I was told by my Husky dealer that I had to run the saw with Husk XP oil to comply with the warranty. Not sure if that is true but that is what I put in all my saws, as I didn't want to invalidate the warranty.

 

 

[richvdh]

@pleasant: thanks for the reply. I can totally see this from the dealer's point of view, and yes I'm sure "it's not been misfuelled" is a story they've heard a hundred times before.

 

But the thing is, I really am 100% sure that I've never misfuelled it, and if I did get it rebuilt, I don't know what I would do differently to stop it happening again.

 

> in fact he will lose more by informing of this, as you probably won't have the repair done

 

Well... he might not be that wild about taking up the argument with Husqvarna; it's not exactly going to be a money-spinner for him. But still, I take your point, he's not saying this without good reason.

 

Is there anything else that could cause similar symptoms to under-oiling? A fault in the electronic mixture control leading to a lean air/fuel mix, maybe? In short, anything specific I should ask him to check?

 

Even knowing if it's something I've done wrong in the mix prep would at least put my mind at rest. I've always just got a 5L can of unleaded, dumped in 100ml of Stihl HP using the measure on the bottle, and then given it a good shake before pouring it into the saw. Maybe 1:50 is a bit of a lean mix, though it's what the manual says to use.

 

I guess it's possible the mixed fuel had been sitting in the can/saw for a couple of months, could that have caused the problem?

 

[richvdh]

8 minutes ago, jfc said:

Sorry to hear about you saw.

I was told by my Husky dealer that I had to run the saw with Husk XP oil to comply with the warranty. Not sure if that is true but that is what I put in all my saws, as I didn't want to invalidate the warranty.

Hmph. If it needs Husqvarna XP to stop it blowing up, that needs making clear in big red letters. I didn't get any advice from the dealer when I bought mine, but the manual says "For best results and performance use Husqvarna two-stroke oil. If Husqvarna two-stroke oil is not available, use a two-stroke oil of good quality for air-cooled engines".  That's a long way from "it must be XP".

[lurch_917]

may be a fault with the auto tune side but without the knowledge about tec i couldn't say . maybee take the saw back and ask him to plug it in and do a print out as the auto tune holds a lot of data on how the saw has been run.

[pleasant]

There are a load of issues than can cause a weak oil/fuel mix, but not generally on a new saw. The dealer should be able to check for other mitigating factors and exclude those if no fault found. The positioning of the scoring within the cylinder and piston can also indicate what caused the issue. It is certainly possible the quality of the fuel would have deteriorated over a couple of months unless you are using a fuel such as Aspen or a fuel stabiliser (HP Super & Ultra does have this, but not the RED HP). Time flies, and when someone says to me 'a couple of months' it normally turns out to be considerably longer.

 

The dealer won't follow this up with Husqvarna, as they rely on their dealers to make an informed decision on their behalf, however there is nothing to stop you getting in touch with Husqvarna UK technical support if you are adamant and have a chat- they may offer a second opinion for you by inspecting it, but beware if they agree with the original diagnosis you may well be charged for this service...OR they may offer a gesture of goodwill to maybe meet part cost of they consider it to be a Grey area. You will run the risk of harming your relationship with your supplying dealer, if Husqvarna just to 'keep you quiet' decide to maybe send the parts FOC if you cover labour even if they agree with the dealers original diagnosis. Manufacturers do have a habit of doing this and it harms the creditbility of the dealership, and really p's them off. I've had it happen to me, and you lose face- even if you have been correct in diagnosis and have adhered to the dealer policy the manufacturer tells YOU to adhere to.

 

Had a guy with a nearly new Husky hedge cutter. One of his blokes went blind into a hedge and hit some fairly thick steel security wire on the other side. Broke both push rods in the gearbox. Bloke brings it in, basically tells us what he's done. We inform him it's 'pilot error' not warranty. He rings boss, who rings Husky. They get fed up with him shouting at them as they just want a quiet life, so ring me to say they will send parts FOC and we are to fit them if he pays. Owner comes back in with hedge cutter smiling away smugly in my face, about how wrong we were and how he got his own way and we are to do as we are told by Husky. At that point I threw the parts in his general direction and told him to find another dealer to fit them if that's his attitude.

Edited January 5, 2023 by pleasant

[jfc]

11 minutes ago, richvdh said:

Hmph. If it needs Husqvarna XP to stop it blowing up, that needs making clear in big red letters. I didn't get any advice from the dealer when I bought mine, but the manual says "For best results and performance use Husqvarna two-stroke oil. If Husqvarna two-stroke oil is not available, use a two-stroke oil of good quality for air-cooled engines".  That's a long way from "it must be XP".

Sorry mate but... you should use Husk 2 stroke, if not available you can use other oil (but XP is widely available). Therefore, you should be using XP oil(unless you run out one day and put a few tanks through before ordering XP oil). I'm not sure where that puts you in relation to your warranty, especially if that wasn't explained on handover.

 

Perhaps when you go back in you might clarify that you used stihl oil when XP wasn't available but you were using it regularly otherwise!

 

j.

 

 

[ChrisNewport]

2 month old fuel, id say thats your problem.

[Dan Maynard]

Is that Stihl HP as in the red stuff? Or HP Super which is green?

 

And what unleaded? Normal from Tesco or super from Esso - determines what ethanol content is likely.

 

1:50 isn't the problem, separated out petrol with red Stihl oil could be. There's another current thread about an MS880 which suddenly stopped and seems to be fuel related.