MS291 off the shelf

[peatff]

3 hours ago, jbanda said:

It's in warranty. Did you read the post, I want to inform myself BEFORE I go back, warranty is irrelevant if it came with the wrong size piston and cylinder. 

 

If something was wrong enough to warrant stripping maybe it should have gone back before you got the tools out, that's all I'm saying. Now you've started the job it's like closing the horse after the stable has bolted don't you think. He could come back with something like "it was alright when it left us" or he might do the decent thing and replace it. I've just looked back and it says brand new saw but no mention of warranty.

Edited October 11, 2023 by peatff

[spudulike]

Blimey, it is all going on here!!

[Stubby]

I think Chris Newport's comment is worth consideration . Some early models did have the smaller pot and piston as standard . Could have been " new old stock "

 perhaps when you bought it ?

Edited October 11, 2023 by Stubby

[Steven P]

Just a general comment on this forum, on the whole a friendly bunch with very little malice, but very easily distracted from the original question - being defensive and argumentative with them isn't going to get your original reply, but they will dig in till you answer what they asked if you do. They arn't there wanting to judge but are curious what the situation was why you opened the saw.

 

To me either the saw was well underpowered, perhaps compared to another brand new saw of the same model so curiously you took a look (but not after a few months), badly tuned doesn't sound right since you'd go to the carb for that and the last option is a repair - you have bought the parts you thought you need and they don't fit. Fair to say I would go with user error, damaged cylinder or piston. Most of us have damaged something or other by mistake.

 

Curious when you said the saw was assembled for you - I haven't bought many new and assumed all you'd ever need to do is put the bar and chain on, nothing suspicious about that, my dealer sells them 'ready assembled' too - something in the back of my mind that the Stihl dealers are required to demonstrate the saw working to you? Something like that.

 

 

[Bob The Dog]

Just had a look on L&S engineers at their exploded diagrams. They show both sizes of piston for the 291, so I don’t think there is any foul play going on here! 

[jbanda]

3 hours ago, ChrisNewport said:

Looking at parts early 291's came with 44.7mm top end, later changed to 47mm when theyd used up old stock. My very first 260 is 44mm top end and one theyd used up old 026 stock they changed to 44.7mm

Thanks a lot for the info. It's the type 2 cylinder. Strange that they can do that and still claim the CC's are the same in the blurb they put out. Thanks again 👍

[jbanda]

2 hours ago, pleasant said:

What was the running issue that it had, that you thought removing the cylinder/piston to inspect it....would give you the answer?

 

I cannot think of a running issue the average consumer would have that necessitates such a major job, and even those that know what they are doing, baulk at taking out pistons on the cheaper stihl clamshell engines as its an awful, time consuming job. 

 

You either know what you are doing and know by removing the piston etc will cure/establish the problem, or if you dont know what youre doing, then attempting that job is foolhardy and all rational people I know whether they know what they are doing mechanically or not, wont do anything to that extent on a machine knowing it is still within the warranty period.

 

If you are saying warranty isnt the issue, then you must have known the issue wasnt covered under warranty and you have attempted to repair it yourself knowing the problem was 'pilot error' and then in doing so you discovered  the 'erroneous' piston...allegedly.

I can rebuild any two or four stroke engine, overnight if necessary for the next day, most farmers I know can do it too.

But when I discover a lesser engine under the hood..... am I to ignore it??

That's the only issue I raised in the OP, if people don't know the answer then what's the point replying. It's not storytime at bedtime.... I asked a genuine question.

However I do have an update, which I will put at the end of the comments. I got the definitive answer to my question. 

 

[jbanda]

24 minutes ago, Bob The Dog said:

Just had a look on L&S engineers at their exploded diagrams. They show both sizes of piston for the 291, so I don’t think there is any foul play going on here! 

They have both Cylinders on their exploded views because for some strange reason people swap the ms271 and ms391 heads, I can understand somebody swapping down to improve the 271 but swapping up just seems like a cheap out for somebody in the sales or repair game.

Thanks for the info. I do have an update to add as a last post on here.... for now!! .

[pleasant]

Would be rather nice for all of us out of pure curiosity if you answered the actual question I posed in the first paragraph, now we have established that you are a brilliant mechanic/farmer/debater

[jbanda]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

Just a general comment on this forum, on the whole a friendly bunch with very little malice, but very easily distracted from the original question - being defensive and argumentative with them isn't going to get your original reply, but they will dig in till you answer what they asked if you do. They arn't there wanting to judge but are curious what the situation was why you opened the saw.

 

To me either the saw was well underpowered, perhaps compared to another brand new saw of the same model so curiously you took a look (but not after a few months), badly tuned doesn't sound right since you'd go to the carb for that and the last option is a repair - you have bought the parts you thought you need and they don't fit. Fair to say I would go with user error, damaged cylinder or piston. Most of us have damaged something or other by mistake.

 

Curious when you said the saw was assembled for you - I haven't bought many new and assumed all you'd ever need to do is put the bar and chain on, nothing suspicious about that, my dealer sells them 'ready assembled' too - something in the back of my mind that the Stihl dealers are required to demonstrate the saw working to you? Something like that.

 

 

"I'll buy that one if ye put it together for me" , that was my deal maker as in get one out of stock, put it together and I'll pick it up on my way home from my day job, which happens to be about 1000metres from the dealer premises. 

I actually regret not buying a 261 instead but that's more a regret after reading more about the Stihl range. We will probably buy one anyway in 2024.

Re my op , I had simply asked a question off the forum, no more no less, I don't understand their need to go into tangents etc when the question was so simply, either yes they had seen something like that before or No they had not, perhaps that made me defensive, they KNOW why the saw was opened , so I was not going into a long story why or who or whataboutery..... I think only two people decided they were the forum police and that's the same on every forum on everything, they have given me a good laugh, a few hundred quid in farming these days won't make or break us (my sibling in Co) , there is a principle at stake, we have a trusty 250 and a husq'y , so I just wondered if anybody had a similar experience or heard of such... cheers