spudulike

No problem, glad he got in touch.

I will text him and see what gives. He has retired and I don't think it is really him🙄...bored to feck or something similar.

Yup, it will either be petrol or oil. The colour of the plug after a bit of running may give you further info....black is rich, white or oily....oil.

I always used Vcoil from Volkel helicoil taps, good value but decent quality. Those Chinese cheap ones are....cheap but not cheerful in my experience. You would need what is referred to as a "tapered tap" as the tapered part screws in to the remains of the tap and leads the main larger tap to ream and tap the hole to the larger size to take the new helicoil. You get one chance to get it right and the taper gives you a decent chance of getting the new thread pretty square with the old one. It is a bit of a skilled job, may be one for the local old fella engineer type that just gets on with it rather than tweeting about how great he is👍

That was a while ago, saw him playing with Squeeze at "The Stables" Wavendon a few years back and he...they were fantastic.

The multimeter was more to test the new start switch block compared to the old one before fitting rather than diagnosing the damage done by "slapping a new one on" and crossing ones fingers😉 Just look at what electrical kit resides around where the smoke was coming from...coils, starter, wiring and then check it out or swap it out. You could look at what the new switch energised that it shouldn't have, doesn't sound that nice...good luck.

Get the other half to get you a decent multimeter for Christmas, I have had them since I was 12 years old...saved me a small fortune.

The "warehouse" has some pretty impressive architecture👍

Some very hard wood is best mixed with softwood or split a bit smaller, oak and laurel come to mind. As others have said, to test the wood correctly, take a big lump, split it and measure the centre. Looking at your picture again, it looks like a piece of some sort of palm...a bit weird.

I was going to say I haven't had one of these completely stripped down but pullers are generally your friend pulling any bits apart but the ball joint splitters look good.

No idea but most OEMs use standard bearing sizes for most applications so Simply Bearings or Bearing Boys often do the same part but much cheaper.

Sounds like a decent option and worth giving L&S a call and see if they can do anything on the price especially if you have a bit of a shopping list.

Well, it is wet outside and the grass isn't growing much...crack on👍

Try to get a secondhand one off eBay as the new part is always disproportionately more expensive when compared to a new complete machine.

Yup on the tablet unless you like the finished wine slightly fizzy or petillant as us buffs call it😂

I can't say mine is too standard, I find it almost impossible to pull over....with the decomp in....pop up piston and the base of the cylinder taken down, ported and muffler mod. It is a bit mad and prefer the 346 TBH but it is FAST..

Looking good, keep racking it off in to a new demijohn to get rid of any sludge in the bottom that may taint the flavour. It should stop fermenting at some stage where you can kill the yeast and add a little sugar if needed to taste. 👍

Only the surface of the log will be wet if the thing has been fully seasoned in the past and the only way the log will get completely wet again is to leave it in a bucket of water. Rain will just cause the surface to get wet and a week or two inside will dry it again. Best get a moisture meter, even a cheap one will give you useful information. 20% and under is ready to burn.

Keep it coming, fingers crossed all will be sorted soon.

357xp, 346xp and 181SE (ex army spec), none of them standard and I will be buried with them👍

Ah, sounds like the head gasket on the right side has cracked and letting in oil. Bummer 😞

Have you looked at the plugs after the machine stops? Wet or oily plug on one cylinder may lead to a fault one cylinder. Blue smoke is usually oil and white is excessive fuel. It could be one cylinder not firing after a minutes running so dodgy coil....does it have two coils, is the coil to magneto gap nice and close as a large gap may make the coil only work when stone cold....seen this before on chainsaws.

If you don't know too much about saws and the things some less scrupulous sellers may do to sell them then purchase new. The sort of things I am talking about is using cheap non OEM parts such as carbs, coils and cylinders so they can turn a profit. If you are purchasing from a known contact you trust, perhaps a larger arb company that replace kit every two years then you may get yourself a decent deal. Assuming you are after a single ground saw that can cut the mustard then the 550xp MK2 or MS261 mtronic are both decent saws and have both been around a long time.

Now, bearing in mind the only Vanguard I know are the US investment specialist....was this engine playing up before you made any adjustments to anything? Assuming not....white smoke...what does it smell of, burning oil smells like burning oil😬, It could be diesel in your fuel....that smells like paraffin as combustion leaves.... paraffin to exit the exhaust, water in the fuel can give all sorts of issues with running so drain off a bit from the carb float bowl in to a glass and look for the water at the bottom of the fluid...it is pretty obvious. It could be a stuck choke, as I said, I don't know the engine but if the choke is stuck shut, white smoke and stalling is the symptom you get 100%. Compare both cylinders for compression, leak down and plug colour. If the head gasket has gone in one, there will be a significant difference. When you stripped the carb, did you pull the main jet AND the emulsion tube...those little holes can get blocked up. I can't say I know that much about mowers😉 Good luck

From the description, it sounds like the saw is running very rich so... Blocked air filter Choke stuck partially on Check valve stuck open Assuming the H adjustment is set correctly!