spudulike

Saw The Cure at Wembley Arena, bloke next to us shouted "Fat Bastard" at Robert Smith all night.....fortunately the band were pretty loud. Just like Heaven....one of my faves, lovely riff through it.

No experience of the 462 and 500....yet but the MS461...for the record has a conventional piston and cylinder with a few strange quirks like a strange raised yoke that goes inside the piston at the bottom of the stroke and is some sort of strato system. The lower transfers are at the front of the saw so benefit from the rotation of the crank and a slimmer cylinder. The saw follows much from the design of the 460 and if looked after, will last 10 years + and has the benefit of a conventional carb and normal adjusters. It also shares the crank from the 460! The saw is also pokey and relatively easy to work on. I have repaired a few and ported another few - seemed well received. It just depends what sort of person you are, some of my customers still covet their 044 and 046s. Try to borrow a 462 for the day and see if it lives up to expectations!

I don't know the engine but typical faults causing oil burning are piston/ring/bore wear that cause blue smoke all the time, lack of power and excessive oil consumption. Oil leaking from a gallery/oil feed cavity due to a gasket failure can cause oil to enter in to the combustion chamber. Oil leaking down the valve guides usually gives a good old puff on start up and will clear but get bad if an engine is left running slowly for a period then revved again. A crack in the top end casting can cause issues with oil. If it is mostly on start up and the engine isn't using oil excessively, suspect worn guides or valves. Learnt from Japanese rice burner bikes in my teens

Oh...and good luck with that diving, get on a plane to Gozo, believe it is supposed to be good.

Don't get me wrong, I am not down, got a few non business issues but am at the tipping point and looking good again. As you say, difficult to keep a good fella down for long!

Watching The Cure now....on the TV, lovely....a band I actually recognize....and like.....give me some more Flange!

I have a few family issues and am busy, it is hot plus I don't get enough me time so yup, some comments are just worth a bit of harsh sarcasm and I know.....it is the lowest form of humour but can fresh fuel fix low compression, dodgy sparkplug, rattly bottom end, blocked gauze strainer, split fuel line etc........ Another guy said he would always strip and inspect rather than just returning a bit of kit with fresh fuel and running after it was handed over not running.....spot on in my book! Who wants a field failure and your customer looking a right twat in front of their customer. The loose bar, sure I am glad the guy fixed it but the route cause was surely the bar stud flange stopping the cover clamping the bar due to the spacer bar plate being missing and the bar being slightly thinner. The fella that measured everything was spot on the owner said the flange was well below the thickness of the bar....really....can't have been can it.......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr There are quite a few guys on here I do respect who really know their stuff in regards to repair and a few that ....think they do. I am still learning, just happens less and less the more you do! Male Menopause ......quite possibly! Normal service will resume!

Still under warranty, take it back and get them to see what the saw is up to. The software should tell the tech what the fuel is doing and that may help diagnosing the issues. Sorry, I forgot, just run it on Motormix, it sorts out all poor running machines apparently

I would say most running issues revolve around carbs followed by compression issues. You do get the more exotic ones where the big end has grenaded, rings broken, customer damage removing the clutch etc Personally, if a machine wasn't running and I put new fuel in it and it worked, I wouldn't send it back without looking at the carb, fuel lines etc! I just know it would be back again in a short while and that is never good.

Damn, the secrets out, just put Motomix in a non running saw and it works, that's my business bolloxed!

Yup, ADWs advice is pretty much it, just need a brass pipe union, drill a suitable hole and push it in with a little epoxy or bearing lock to hold it in. Running without an impulse - easy if you mount the fuel tank on the top of the saw!!!

Got the MS200t in bits and damn right it is unwanted, a raft of things bad with it and much of the paint missing from bio oil degradation. Not sure it is worth saving tbh!

It sounds like you are priming the carb, the saw is starting to run on that prime and then no further fuel is getting to the carb. Two things I would check, the carb gauze strainer and also the needle metering arm height - sometimes I have had to raise metering arms a bit higher than standard to get the carb to work especially on Stihl blowers but don't go too mad - 0.5mm more than normal will do it. You could prime the carb, start the saw and then strip the carb and this will tell you which section of the carb has run dry on fuel. If there I plenty top (Pump) and bottom (Metering), it is unlikely to be the carb.

Not getting any better is it! Seems all the local village churches down here are being stripped of their lead roofs now....perhaps they should weaken the joists.....wouldn't be far to bury the body!

Generally I use a decent scwrench done up with a good amount of force or a 1' socket and bar for some larger saws I am returning to customers with a bar attached. I have no idea of your experience and knowledge hence trying to help but think I will dive out of it from here on!

This could run and run. Not sure using a screwdriver and box spanner is good enough and he sure doesn't look that beefy. I would have thought if you cranked a plastic cover down hard, it would just bend if it was catching on the outer edges. I would also estimate that if this saw was on my bench, I would get to the bottom of it in minutes, perhaps seconds as would probably many others!

The bar clamping action is soooooooo basic, not much can go wrong! The flange of the stud may catch on the inner cover around the stud hole but this has been investigated. The studs may not have enough thread on them to clamp but this is fine. Other fittings may catch the cover - been discussed. The cover may be too proud on its other features but if it was, cranking down the bar nuts would have an obvious effect but this has been discussed so.....how are you tightening the nuts? If they are really done up tight - 1' socket wrench and a bit of welly - how loose is the bar? Very, slightly??

As I said, if it has fuel and spark, it most likely will be compression. Sounds like it has seized at some stage!

It can't be that difficult......can it??? If the bar is 0.5mm thinner, are the stud threads long enough to tighten the cover down fully as both look a bit worn?

The leaks and fuel line hardening usually happen after a few months to a year. A saw may run on it immediately but have seen a number of saws with annoying leaks when held vertical or on their sides. It will happen but is just the lack of petrol hardening the rubber - it won't happen on new rubber parts and only happens if the saw has been run on petrol for some time.

Probably just needs a check over, OEM coils tend to be pretty reliable and usually either fail completely, have some weird sort of running pattern all the time such as not revving out or fail after a short running time and only work again after cooling. Try bending the END metal electrode away from the middle centre electrode and if it will spark across around 5mm, the coil is probably OK. A bit cheaper than a new coil and AM ones are a bit hit and miss in the main! Most issues are down to the carb so personally, I would get a new FULL kit in it and set it up/test it so I knew this was OK. Aspen is no silver bullet, I have had a few customers ask if running on Aspen will sort out a running issue. If it runs crap on Petrol - it will run crap on Aspen. Aspen will clear out carbon on an old engine but is likely to cause carb issues and leaks down to the lack of petrol swelling the rubber but will be fine after an initial "changeover period" and replacement of rubber parts.

I can't believe it, got a text asking how the saws are doing. He got a response I would normally save for Joe Newton? At least I now have a mobile number for the bloke!

Try compression being the only major left!

Bit worrying the recoil rope being out like that but £100....either nicked or a bargain!

Damn....those lapels, surprised he didn't take off!