spudulike

Getting these axes back up to scratch and using them is a decent and interesting pastime and you always wonder of their past life and hopefully are giving them another 50-100 years if you do a decent job on them. I still use the Fiskars for splitting the big stuff but now have a decent collection of smaller axes for larger kindling. Here is the latest project, another Brades...............

No one does a vac/pressure check by sealing the back end of the carb. The engine is always tested by sealing the exhaust port, impulse, plug hole, decomp and the inlet with the manifold fitted, not the carb unless using it to clamp a sealing plate/rubber. You need to input the pressure/vac via a fitment to one of these orifices. The leak around the mechanism will always happen and should only stop an engine idling if there is excessive wear. If you needed to half choke the saw and it has been tested as sealed then your carb isn't providing enough fuel so perhaps the gauze strainer, diaphragms, fuel filter, holed fuel line, tank breather or the carb adjustment has just been too lean.

Well...the theory is that if the throttle valve is fully closed and the saw is still over revving, albeit at no load, then the motor must be getting its air from a leak. So...in layman's terms, take the carb off and make sure the throttle valve plate is closing completely....adjust the idle screw to make sure you get very little gap around the brass plate. Ensure the spring is holding the throttle shut firmly and then refit the carb, ensuring that the throttle mechanism isn't somehow being held open. Start the unit and if the revs are still flat out then you have a serious air leak in the engine as if the carb is shut tight....the saw shouldn't even run.

Yes but stoves are an easy target, a few old farts and country types getting agitated to the point where we are all forced to use government controlled mainstream fuel sources...gas, oil and electricity...preferably electricity and heat pumps although electricity is 4 times more expensive than gas, big incentive!!! whereas banning lorries....how would we shift the cheap crap imports from our ports to our distribution network and beyond that would piss off too many people. Nothing like going for the easy targets that give nothing rather than the large ones that would be far more difficult to achieve....air travel is one. Perhaps government should tax log burners....now there is a thought.

Was the replacement cylinder kit OEM or aftermarket?

in short, no, all you can do is to check that the HT cap to coil conducts (it will be high resistance) and then try disconnecting the kill wire from the coil, ensure the coil to flywheel gap is as low as it can be without the coil hitting it and see if it sparks with a new plug. If not, you need a new coil. Always check for spark in subdued light as it isn't always that visible in daylight and give the starter a bit of gusto.

Look at the top cover, if it has three holes in the side, it is a normal carb, if it has no holes for the tuning of a carb, it is Mtronic. I did take a look and if it is the one I saw, it was Mtronic - the yellow and red wires going to the carb solenoid showed this.

I believe that your saws max revs are 14,000rpm. If you have an ear for tuning carbs on chainsaws, you can tune it by ear. Probably the simplest thing to do is to turn the H screw counter clock wise by 1/4 turn and then check the plug colour is light-dark tan in colour after a couple of hours use. If you know someone or have a Tach then just tune the saw to around 13500rpm and that should do it.

Blimey...and that was the good news. Keep on with the updates as many get complacent with safety and hope the next stage in your repair goes well. All the best.

As Stubby said, it may just be that the engine is lacking compression. It is worth doing a compression check...anything over 150psi cold is OK and over 145psi warm is sort of OK. 175psi cold would be much nicer. If low, fit a new piston if you can get a new OEM part or decent aftermarket one.

If it is an Mtronic then you should be OK. The 261 came out in 2010, at 2015, it could be either model. If the crank bearing has failed in the past then it can take out the hardened surface of the crankshaft and was very common on the non Mtronic saw.

But Aldi is German...so Germany then

I wonder where it is manufactured.

Flywheel puller...Oh my.......just loosen the retaining nut, screw it on so it is around 4/5ths on the end of the crank, lift the saw by gripping the flywheel and whack the nut with a copper mallet hard. The flywheel will come off in 1-3 whacks, you just need strong fingers. The lip on the crank...there is a way but if I told you, the hit squad would be round in seconds

Dirty boy....I can't say that I have ever been aroused by a MS460, A 346XP is a different matter

Good job, at least it is right now. Makes me wonder about the other outfit though. Glad it all worked out.

No worries, hope it helped.

30 years is a pretty good saw life on a relatively cheap saw like this. 145psi just shows the saw has seen a bit of life. As ADW said, pop up some pics of the piston through the exhaust port so we can see the state of it. You may try fitting a new piston but up to you.

Good, thanks for letting us know that all is sorted.

If you are using the correct starting practice and lets face it, the Mtronic 261 is really pretty fool proof as you either are full choke to start on cold and just the run setting to start when hot, then it should be back to the dealer as it sounds like it has an issue. 2-3 pulls is pretty typical on this machine. You can try not using the decomp and see if it helps.

Glad you got it sorted, I think the £6.08 was worth it and gets us all on to the next issue thrown at us from the great big world out there. I hope the owner bestows many thanks on you and makes a nice big donation to the fix it organization you give time to or another worthy cause.

The Mtronic version seems to run stronger than the carb model. Your repair very much depends on if the cylinder can be reworked and the route cause found and if you can find someone to do it economically or not.

How the thing works...just in case you haven't twigged it yet....the end of the gear is cut at an angle and the adjuster has a nobble on it that allows the nobble to be positioned either slightly off the centre or much further off centre on the end of that gear. If the pump is set to "max", the nobble will be close to the outer edge of the end of that gear making it reciprocate much more than if it is closer to the centre. The pic below is of what looks to be a 346 Husqvarna type pump but it shows the above.

The lack of idle could be a number of things. When an engine warms up, typically the compression falls, this may be what is stopping the engine running correctly, especially with what you have done to it. I have done a fair number of BR600s and KM95/100/130 which are all 4 stroke and most have needed the tappets adjusted as most don't seem to do them. Generally, the engine feels much harder to pull over if they need adjusting and may sort your issues. Other heat issues - if the coil to flywheel gap is too large, when the coil gets warm, it can stop sparking so worth checking this. The carb may just need a bit of adjustment or the idle speeding up so it is less likely to stall. Lastly, the issue may just be a bit of dirt in the carb gauze strainer or a perforated pump diaphragm...I know most of this will probably be outside of your skill set but it is what it is and if your machine was in front of me...I would be checking these things before pulling the cylinder off to check the internals if the above fails.

No sign of the pics being pinched off another site which tends to be pretty common. The fact it includes a new bar and spare chain is a bit weird if it is nicked.