Husky 357 xp with scored piston

[bobh]

Thanks for that Guess you have the benefit of being able to have the saw back easily if things aren't right, some of my customers are up to 300 miles away and it isn't easy for me to put an hour plus, on the machine - there is a limit to the amount of firewood I can burn:lol:

 

Its a lot more than 300 miles!

 

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[Eddy_t]

LOL bet you see an awful lot of unloved kit.

 

 

Unfortunately, drives me damn wild too, as I know that once it gets clogged up I'll be handed the saw! Last time I had a saw back, all that needed doing was winding the idle screw in!

 

 

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[csservices]

Hi Joe, your inbox is full and could'nt work out how to attach the pics in a pm so have put them here, cheers Ed

Edited May 18, 2014 by csservices
pictures didn't attach

[Joe Newton]

Cheers Ed, I'll make some room in it and pm you after work

 

 

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[GardenKit]

Only just read this thread, its certainly interesting.

 

To the OP, beware of just whacking on a piston and pot as has been suggested. Unless you find the cause of the failure beyond any doubt then you risk a repeat of the problem.

 

Can pistons and pots be changed in 15 minutes? Anything is possible I suppose but do not take this as the norm. I have certainly never got anywhere near that time, and all machines are different.

Stihl, for example publish their repair times for all tasks. A P&P, inc pressure test, on am MS181 takes 120minutes, on 200T 60 minutes is allowed, whilst a 361 is given only 45 minutes.

But these times are set by the factory on brand new saws. The diagnosis and cleaning prior to the work will take at least another hour on a saw in 'used' condition.

 

And, is it worth trying to save a piston? In my opinion NO. But thats because, at dealer rates of around £50 per hour it will cost £300 in labour given Spuds realistic 6hr time scale. Add the parts cost to this and it easy to see why saws are so easily written off at a dealer. Far better IMO to fit a new (OE P&P)

 

Fair enough for this written off saw to then be resurrected by someone of Spuds skills and labour rates.

 

But as Spud says, the job does not stop with the P&P. A good technician is inevitable going to spot other issues that need fixing, or at the least they need to be pointed out to the customer. We would of course, prefer to fix all faults before returning the machine to avoid it being returned shortly.

 

Also, as others have said, keep clear of aftermarket pots and pistons in general. If you are fitting it yourself and not costing your labour, or if you have a Billy Whiz doing it for 15 minutes pay, then it may be worth the risk, as you wont have much to lose.

 

Hire shops fit aftermarket pots as they know that there is a reasonable chance that the machine will be incorrectly fuelled, so why trash another OE unit?

 

Just trying to show the whole thing from another perspective.

[Ray1]

Talking of Hire Shops, i was talking to a guy the other day who worked in one of the big nationwide hire places and he said that one day management came in and said "instead of keeping stihl spares on stock were going to order them in as and when needed so throw out all the spares we have" They filled a skip full of Stihl spares.

[spudulike]

Talking of Hire Shops, i was talking to a guy the other day who worked in one of the big nationwide hire places and he said that one day management came in and said "instead of keeping stihl spares on stock were going to order them in as and when needed so throw out all the spares we have" They filled a skip full of Stihl spares.

 

I think I would have been loading them in to the back of the wagon to be sold on ebay:thumbup:

[spudulike]

Only just read this thread, its certainly interesting.

 

To the OP, beware of just whacking on a piston and pot as has been suggested. Unless you find the cause of the failure beyond any doubt then you risk a repeat of the problem.

 

Can pistons and pots be changed in 15 minutes? Anything is possible I suppose but do not take this as the norm. I have certainly never got anywhere near that time, and all machines are different.

Stihl, for example publish their repair times for all tasks. A P&P, inc pressure test, on am MS181 takes 120minutes, on 200T 60 minutes is allowed, whilst a 361 is given only 45 minutes.

But these times are set by the factory on brand new saws. The diagnosis and cleaning prior to the work will take at least another hour on a saw in 'used' condition.

 

And, is it worth trying to save a piston? In my opinion NO. But thats because, at dealer rates of around £50 per hour it will cost £300 in labour given Spuds realistic 6hr time scale. Add the parts cost to this and it easy to see why saws are so easily written off at a dealer. Far better IMO to fit a new (OE P&P)

 

Fair enough for this written off saw to then be resurrected by someone of Spuds skills and labour rates.

 

But as Spud says, the job does not stop with the P&P. A good technician is inevitable going to spot other issues that need fixing, or at the least they need to be pointed out to the customer. We would of course, prefer to fix all faults before returning the machine to avoid it being returned shortly.

 

Also, as others have said, keep clear of aftermarket pots and pistons in general. If you are fitting it yourself and not costing your labour, or if you have a Billy Whiz doing it for 15 minutes pay, then it may be worth the risk, as you wont have much to lose.

 

Hire shops fit aftermarket pots as they know that there is a reasonable chance that the machine will be incorrectly fuelled, so why trash another OE unit?

 

Just trying to show the whole thing from another perspective.

 

Better get that 357XP you had in down to Eddie - I take it took more than 15 mins to get going:lol: What was it in the end - I was tempted to start on it!

 

I am guessing that 60 min MS200 pressure check was leaving the fuel tank in place? I usually do it when reassembling the saw again - perhaps we should have another timbersport challenge on saw maintenance!

[GardenKit]

Better get that 357XP you had in down to Eddie - I take it took more than 15 mins to get going:lol: What was it in the end - I was tempted to start on it!

 

I am guessing that 60 min MS200 pressure check was leaving the fuel tank in place? I usually do it when reassembling the saw again - perhaps we should have another timbersport challenge on saw maintenance!

Haha, we never finished the chat on that 357XP, Steve.

The thing would start and run seemingly OK for about 5 minutes then go all to pot. The compression was 130 to start and dropped to around 110 when hot.

It had a brand new P&P (aftermarket) fitted by person or persons unknown before going into the auction where my guy bought it on a whim for £120.

 

The trouble is with this sort of thing, that you really have to start all over and investigate every aspect, which, as you know, takes time (and time is money)

 

When the guy realised he could face quite a bill, he decided to take it back and collected it today to put on 'the bay' in order to recoup whatever he can.

 

I don't know about the MS200 ( In just quoted some random times, all in excess of 15 minutes), but as the time is for pot replacement and subsequent test, I guess it is tank off.

[spudulike]

Haha, we never finished the chat on that 357XP, Steve.

The thing would start and run seemingly OK for about 5 minutes then go all to pot. The compression was 130 to start and dropped to around 110 when hot.

It had a brand new P&P (aftermarket) fitted by person or persons unknown before going into the auction where my guy bought it on a whim for £120.

 

The trouble is with this sort of thing, that you really have to start all over and investigate every aspect, which, as you know, takes time (and time is money)

 

When the guy realised he could face quite a bill, he decided to take it back and collected it today to put on 'the bay' in order to recoup whatever he can.

 

I don't know about the MS200 ( In just quoted some random times, all in excess of 15 minutes), but as the time is for pot replacement and subsequent test, I guess it is tank off.

 

 

Thats the issue with aftermarket, if the piston to bore fit isn't good to start with, it will cause these sort of issues.

 

I just rebuilt an MS200 which had an aftermarket kit on it, good compression when here but has gone wobbly now a couple of weeks later even with the work I did to it - back to the drawing board:001_rolleyes: