spudulike

Ah, but nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Now where are the soft cushions!!!!

WOT = Wide Open Throttle ie flat out! How do you know the saw is original - have you owned it from new? Post a pic of the plug hole if you haven't, I may be able to tell! You may have forced resin straight in to the check valve, one of the problems with this repair and not an easy one to sort! The time you have to run the saw to produce the problem leads to piston/cylinder wear rather than anything else but difficult to tell. Does it run fine when cold to 15mins?

You can obviously get some decent quality products out of China but many like CHEAP, it is like a virus, CHEAP is good.....well it can be GOOD but generally CHEAP is CRAP and you get what you pay for! You just have to work out how much you are paying for the brand and how much for the product and if there are any other better options!

Depends on what you want. A genuine 660 will take a 42" bar and cut fine with that, every time you need it for 10-20 years. The Farmtec on will do that but is likely to detonate prematurely! If you look at the parts, they are just not made the same, the bore plating is like cheese. A carbide burr will need forcing through the Nikasil plating on Stihl/Husqvarna cylinders. On AM Chinese cylinders it is like the plating isn't really there. I had a 660 in once, the crank end had been damaged....don't ask. I got through two Chinese cranks, one split in two and the big end detonated on the other! Never seen a 660 OEM crank fail through anything than fuel error or the PTO shaft breaking through abuse! The manufacturers spend millions obtaining CE, BS, TUV etc accreditation, the Chinese just copy the parts so they look similar but in engineering specs, they just aren't right! Guys get excited about getting something that looks like a 660 for £250 but if you are in to running a business, having reliable & SAFE equipment then those clones are not really up to much. Then there is the residual and resale price........

Nothing wrong with 200s, it is just people have high expectations of 10-15 year old saws and feel a £20 new top end will sort out any issues. My approach is to get them in bits, replace anything worn with OEM parts, rebuild, set up and then test.....pretty simple and have done more than I can remember- must be a thousand or so by now! I find them remarkably simple to work on but guess others don't judging some of the disasters that I have seen!

No Stubby, you are not dreaming, you had the earlier 020 carb but the issue with these carbs is that old ones with a bit of wear become very unstable and are the bane of my life! Almost as much as those crap Chinese AM carbs that are downright weird to tune and are usually as unreliable! Disabling the accelerator pump can cause a lag in the throttle response, hey, that is why they fitted the thing in the first place and is the reason that my customers always have a new pump fitted rather than plugging the pump mechanism. BMP asked how it was plugged and guess he knows what I know may be the issue although if the saw was bogging in the first place and isn't improved, it may not be an issue with the plugging. The lag may be a multitude of things but the state of the top end has to be the first thing to look at. I am finding a lot of cheap Chinese top ends being fitted to these saws and TBH, most are fit for the bin rather than being used on a primary saw but there you go, you save £60 and live with the consequences!!! OP - what is the condition of the top end - compression figs hot and cold after 1 pull and 6 pulls?

We are burning a bit of Hornbeam at the moment, it is indeed as hard as f£$k, needs a bit of softwood mix but is long lasting and burns well. Not much help I know?

Silver Birch drop copious amounts of tiny brown seeds this time of year. These get in the house, in every orifice of the car and are a pain in the arse. Unfortunately we have hundreds in our village along with willow and poplar all not good trees in my book!

Probably more to do with the manufacturers having to maintain certain levels of noise and emissions although some major running issues have been caused by engine or muffler design.

Just depends on the sort of work you are doing. Most customers like ported saws as it gives them a far better chance of making a clean safe cut and forestry customers like the higher productivity as per Matts comments plus the benefits of using a lighter saw to do heavier work. I have done hundreds of 150s as the owners can leave the 201/200s in the truck and let the tiddler saw do the work. It just depends on what you need, some pick up a tool and think how fast can this tool go, others think I hope it will last, seems OK, hope it lasts!

I think it was the way you clattered the crank when all the case retaining screws weren't out and only a day before I finished making my now well used crank splitter! Dont think Brownies were much use either!!!! Lucky I had a spare crank...happy days!

Yes

But to be fair, I wouldn't class your use as being "careful" or your kit as being "well looked after"!!! Your hedge trimmer would concur - I don't think being lobbed out of the top of the hedge when it was playing up did it any favours? No offence....we still reminisce down here and the vast majority of it is good?

And.....yes, if you want a second opinion!

I think a lot of people would be shocked if they learnt the true running time of their saws. The AT readout does list the running hours total as well as the time at different rev ranges. It sounds like he has estimated the time and it hasn't come from an AT download so it is probably a bit suspect. 500 sounds more realistic than 2000 with my experience of 560/550s.

Not sure this rare earth magnet mine looks very "environmental".

Available from Q1 2019 as far as I can see so under 2 years use, just seems excessive to me on what I have seen unless it was pre production test machine as it was launched in August 2017 and then delayed. I guess if he is processing timber or in forestry on a pre launch saw....must be a reason!

Are you sure about that? Assuming he runs the saw for 4hrs a day (which is very unlikely) and works a 5 day week, he would be up to nearly two years use and it has only been out for around that time. The most I have seen on many 560/550s has been circa 275-350 Hrs and some of those have been down on their uppers! I would like to see the AT readout as I don't see it stacking up!

Seems topical at the moment........

The 1/4 inch is much smoother with no grab. Used a 2511 recently on 3/8, first time for quite a while and it was very grabby with lots of vibration!

But Castrol R smells glorious though. Should bottle it and sell it to manly men!!!

You are probably getting diesel on the spark plug. Take the plug out, turn the saw upside down, pull it over hard a few times to clear any flooding. Prime the carb, assuming it is the NE silverside version. Heat the plug up hot with a plumbers lamp, fit it, hold the saws throttle open and pull the saw over fast with no decomp, it should fire after a few pulls. Obviously this is a bit dangerous but it is often the only way of sparking up a machine that has had this happen. Expect clouds of kerosene flavoured white smoke once it gets going! Hold the rear handle very firmly whilst doing this!!

Solid in construction, a bridge between the MS460 and the AT MS 462, a good solid choice and will last!

As Wyk days, you can tell pretty much what the compression and piston/ cylinder are like by slowly pulling the engine over. Some saws have a slightly larger or smaller recoil pulley that can mislead you but generally you can tell. I find with my tester that s brisk first pull will give a reading of 1/2 your final reading after 5-6 pulls. I stuck a presta valve in my Gunson gauge as it kept destroying Schrader valves on modified saws.

You can fit a larger self tapper. I think the one from the very top of the recoil cover from a BG85 is shorter and fatter and fits nicely. It is the one nearest the middle of the top handle.