spudulike

Both!!

How about trying some B&Bs? Many ones now are pretty good with ensuite etc. I used to try to use Premier Inn as the rooms were decent and the breakfasts good but that was when they were around £80 a night. Used a few B&Bs and they were often good. Travelodges were cheap but never cheerful. Try Booking.com for prices and reviews.

Put some bubbly water around it and pull the engine over slowly and see if you get bubbles. The decomp can be re-ground in with grinding paste but clean it afterwards. It looks like it may have been leaking or just used a fair bit.

If the saw and carb have been apart then the carb will need to be retuned, especially as it was probably adjusted to accommodate the air leak.

On the L screw...get the saw running with an idle speed that will hold for long enough to adjust the carb but not so the chain spins or the idle seems too fast. Turn the L screw in and the idle should speed up and then the idle will begin to splutter and die, turn the screw back out, past the point when the revs were at their peak and then turn it out to a point the revs are less even and become very slightly uneven. Then adjust the idle speed to go with this. Adjust the H screw to around 1 1/4 and try it again. If the saw continues to cut out and play up....swap the carb out. I have no experience of aftermarket carbs for this particular saw but ADW may be able to help on the Walbro carb to replace the Zama one. Usually if you can't dial in a decent stable idle after a minute or two on a newly rebuilt carb, the thing is scrap.

Yup, the beast awakens

Doubting Thomas....sorry ADW will be happy. Well, I am glad my thoughts were correct and we have another success. Well done, good feeling when it pops and goes.

Just replaced 8 sealed units in my house. Pretty easy job with UPVC windows. Another skill I learnt after fitting my old house with replacement doors and windows including two patio doors, back and front door. All still perfectly sealed 18 years on.

There can be many reasons for this - slight to major flooding, poor compression, spark plug tracking, carb faulty, fuel line split etc etc....lets see what tomorrow gives. ADW may have to change his username!

That crud around the coil has been there a long time and from that, it must have run with it for quite a while so unless it has gone pop or the flywheel has come loose, it should work. Did you pull the flywheel? If not, check the flywheel to coil gap and the condition of the coil laminates that are closest to the flywheel - I have seen the flywheel clout these laminates and stop the coil sparking.

From now I will call you Thomas...Doubting Thomas! Have faith my friend! What can go wrong

We expect clouds of white smoke telling us it is running....or is that a new pope!

Flippin technology, when I was a boy, the abacus was cutting edge!!

From the little I know, holly is a very light, almost white wood in colour. It looks a bit like that way.

Just replace the gasket when possible. If it leaks badly, the exhaust gasses can make the cylinder too hot and it may seize. It fits between the muffler and heat shield. Glad it is back together and I am not talking bollocks like my wife thinks I do most of the time

I used to block the accelerator pump but it is possible to get your sealer pushed in to the check valve and sometimes, you can get strange running. I then worked out how to change the accelerator pump and then did this with a lot of success as many of my customers will vouch for getting a few years service out of the rebuilt carb. £10 repair against £130 for a new carb - whats not to like. Your choice on the sealing method. On the radial play on the bearings. If the bearing is a bit sloppy, the saw will run and probably not sound too bad - it may tap a bit on idle. The thing to check is that there is no pitting on the crank as the bearings run directly on it and any pitting will get worse very quickly. The leakage on a vac/pressure test when the bearing is worn, I mentioned earlier, is caused by the seal getting wear on it due to the sloppy crank. It is an indicator rather than 100% accurate. If you have rebuilt a few of these machines, you get to know the feeling of a worn bearing on the crankshaft. Fitting new bearings is relatively easy BUT - THE BEARINGS GO IN ONE WAY ONLY - PLASTIC RETAINER TO THE OUTSIDE. Is that clear

I think both ADW and I have been done by spell check.....ROYAL family.

Yup, L&S are a very decent supplier for Stihl, holding a good stock level of most parts. The Chinese aftermarket carbs are like water torture, you think they are tuned and 5 mins later, they are not...some machines are OK with aftermarket carbs, these are generally not Ok...unless you get really lucky. I always replaced the accelerator pump on the later carbs. It is a tricky job but gives a decent result. The older, non accelerator pump, carbs can get to a point when they become impossible to tune and have never found a repair for this. End float on the cranks is fine, the "up and down" is really a feeling thing and the type of bearings used, allows for a bit of play. If you are stripping the saw down, check for wear and pitting on the crank. If the saw is running, you can hear a bad bearing tapping on idle. If you are pressure testing, a leak may sometimes accompany a worn bearing. Generally, the worst play will be in the clutch side caused by overtightening the chain. Vac and pressure testing....piece of rubber between the muffler and port, fit the inlet manifold and clamp...stick a large felt tip pen or similar down the manifold. Check the flange on it as they can split. Put pressure and vac on the cases, turn the crank through 360 degrees wobbling the crank up and down on the clutch side as you go. It should lose nothing. MS200s are great machines when you get used to their little ways!

Just to add to ADWs post, I have had a few 350s that are a very similar design, leak from where the alloy crankcase top ( the one the cylinder fits on) leak where it clamps to the engineering plastic cradle that forms the lower crankcase. This is where slight warpage happens in the plastic and leaks on the front and rear of the upper crankcase clam so under the muffler and inlet manifold. The remedy is to clean the old gasket material from both surfaces, degrease and then apply a decent liquid gasket compound and do it enthusiastically between the bolt holes front and rear. It works. I have used a 345 for a few years. Decent saw, a bit like a detuned 346...nice to use, light and perform well.

I think you mean Zama...Zara is one of the total family😉 I have seen 372s with Zama carbs. It should tune and run with it. Just make sure the gauze strainer is clean by removing and inspecting...they often look clean in place. Make sure the plastic pump diaphragm isn't holed around the diaphragm and the flaps are not perforated. Make sure the gasket is closest to the top named cover. Check the metering diaphragm is soft, that the gasket is closest to the carb body, get pressure on the fuel pipe union and make sure it holds around 7psi and gives when you push the metering arm. Check the metering arm is level with the carb body and do a pressure check with the carb assembled again. Simple checks but important. Reassemble and make sure you get the impulse and fuel line on the correct unions. I would try the H&L screw on around 1.5 turns out just to make sure. It will need a retune once running but it should ensure it fires. Don't give it any more than 8 pulls on full choke as it will flood and NO decomp!!

Yup, that is why I asked. I did see there was a 245 brush cutter and thought it may have been that but until we find out, I don't think it is worth commenting on.

Bloody useless. That shower tray probably wasn't put in right. The plaster should have been taken back to brick, the shower tray sealed to the wall with a flexible filler and mounted on at least an inch thick supported base then the tiles put down to the tray top and sealed with silicone filler but what do I know. This is why I rarely get a tradesman out!!

Nope, bog standard and quiet=happy neighbours.

At home I use a Black & Decker mains powered 1980s chainsaw as it is quiet and is unlikely to piss anybody off. It does the job without any issues. If I need to do any cutting elsewhere for others, the ported 346 is generally the favourite for most other work. Not sure my neighbours would put up with hours of using a petrol saw and the noise they make.

With my deerstalker on, I would deduct that the coil has been on the saw for a long while so would reckon it was someone pulling and swapping parts to make one saw work and that crap around the coil means that the saw has been running for a long while like this. You know that that coil case type was used on most 3 series machines with the HT lead length, rev limits and ignition advance ramp up being the only differences with most bring swappable without any perceivable difference in operation. I reckon it is probably OK. If the saw has compression...150+psi and a fat spark, the carb/ fuel system is probably at fault. Get the airleak sorted then check the impulse, fuel line and carb. The fuel line in these machines do split where they push through the fuel tank wall. Easy to check with a mityvac...plug one end and pump it up to check for leakage. AND, don't use the decomp valve on starting...this machine and the 395 used to give me issues on starting after big rebuilds so did without them on the first start.