Stihl 038 not starting mystery

[Peter 1955]

18 minutes ago, spudulike said:

Looks like he has renamed his trading name but that is the fella alright. Usually takes around a week to come in the post.

One point - the 038 came in several variants with different size pistons - not a problem if you are purchasing a complete top end kit though.

A point which the fella makes, to give him credit. He says it wouldn't fit my AV for that very reason. 

[Trailoftears]

On 23/03/2024 at 19:57, spudulike said:

All I can say is..."I did say" .....the times I have heard....It has compression

It did look like the top ring location pin had come out in one of your pics but the damage is obviously from the circlip tang. Make sure the part isn't in your main bearings.

You will need a new cylinder and piston. My first choice is OEM if you can get hold of one, followed by Meteor, followed by Hyway (use OEM circlips) and then you get down to VEC/GOLF and then no brand. Use Stihl circlips on all but the Meteor kit.

When you reassemble the bottom end, make sure you "de-stress" the bearings. Don't sent them on a spa weekend but do bash the crank on both ends with a copper mallet a couple of times. You will notice the crank will rotate much more smoothly after doing this. Failure to do it will damage the bearings.

The bloke in Greece is a good seller...something like "Danicrop" but called Leo I believe.

 

'Dont send them on a spa weekend',I like that-a lot 👏

[Olddevonstihls]

Mine is an 038 super.  50mm.  Not many of those around.  More 52mm for the Magnum to choose from. Greek guy has a 50mm branded Episan but no cylinder to match.  L&S has a kit with cylinder at around £100 inc vat but no brand indicated. Saegenspezi in Germany has a kit for a bit less, also unbranded, inc all gaskets.  What to do?

 

There are various forum threads around suggesting its possible with a bit of fettling to make the 52mm magnum fit the 50mm super which will give increased power but I just want my super back.

[Dan Maynard]

1 hour ago, Olddevonstihls said:

L&S has a kit with cylinder at around £100 inc vat but no brand indicated.

Ring up and ask them

[Olddevonstihls]

the L&S one is Wartec.  How do they rate?

[Olddevonstihls]

And that was a phone call worth making.  After some discussion about the cause of the problem they are sending me a new piston and cylinder foc.  Excellent service.  Highly recommended.  But they’ve always been good: many years ago I had an ancient Winget dumper that went wrong and parts were obscure, and service methods more so.  After a short discussion, a director of the company came on the line and said he used to work on them in the 70s, and this is what I needed and this was the way to do it.

[Peter 1955]

1 hour ago, Olddevonstihls said:

And that was a phone call worth making.  After some discussion about the cause of the problem they are sending me a new piston and cylinder foc.  Excellent service.  Highly recommended.  

Blimey, that's a result! I'll hang fire on parcelling up my old 038 then. 😄

[Muddy42]

just catching up on this thread - the damage is remarkably similar to what happened to my 460 (posted here recently).  I too struggled to find the problem - it had fuel, strong spark, no problem with the flywheel and timing, the piston didn't look scored and the rings were free.  I too made the mistake of confusing friction (caused by gouging in the cylinder) with compression.  The only way to find out was to disassemble the cylinder.  I'm waiting to crack the case with a friend.  The crankshaft feels OK and the circlips were intact, but we'll see.   

[Trailoftears]

9 hours ago, Olddevonstihls said:

And that was a phone call worth making.  After some discussion about the cause of the problem they are sending me a new piston and cylinder foc.  Excellent service.  Highly recommended.  But they’ve always been good: many years ago I had an ancient Winget dumper that went wrong and parts were obscure, and service methods more so.  After a short discussion, a director of the company came on the line and said he used to work on them in the 70s, and this is what I needed and this was the way to do it.

Was that L&S re: no charge?

[spudulike]

L&S are a decent outfit. I have never had any issues with them over the 12 years of using them.

On bit of advice is to fit OEM circlips and make sure they are 100% in their grooves and the gap in the clips is to the top.

L&S and Garden Hire Spares are now in business together....Wartec were a GHS brand.