spudulike

You probably have a limited coil, you need to know what the maximum revs are for the engine and then bring up the revs from 2k below just to the point when they go wobbly - that is so the carb and the coil are limiting at the same point. It is the coil having this effect -caught me out first time, Husqvarna coils have the max revs engraved on the coil!

You are missing the plasic insert I gave you the number for - put "254xp IPL" in to google and download the PDF - you will see the missing part!

I have tried a steam cleaner and it was hopless - I have a can of solvent from my printing days that works - the only boiling water I have in my workshop is in my tea:lol: I don't like water on saws - tend to set in rust in bearings and the clutch but may be OK on dismantled plastic parts, I may experiment one day:thumbup:

From your aearlier answer about there being lots of play in the crankshaft, it sounds like the bearing has worn and this has allowed the flywheel to contact the coil doing further damage. Fitting new bearings is ok if you have some engineering experience, splitting the crankcase is the first difficult part, a selection of pullers, a big G clamp and bench vice are useful - if you need to clump the end of the crankshaft, use a mallet and NOT a hammer. Pushing the old bearings out - do this with a suitable sized socket located on the outer race and use a big bench vice or G clamp. Inserting the new bearings - some heat the casing and freeze the bearing to gt an easier fit - I usually just clean the seats and use a socket on the OUTER part of the bearing and use a big G clamp to squeeze them in - make sure they go in the correct way if they are not symetrical and get them going in straight. Never push the bearing in from the inner race! Good luck - it will make a man of you:thumbup:

When they wrote that song, one went to mow a meadow, it was Barrie mowing that meadow - he da man on mowers:thumbup:

With the plug cap REMOVED, the timing will make no difference, if you had this when starting, it is a sign of advanced timing i.e. the spark is happening too early - I get a bit of this on saws I have changed the timing advance on and it can hurt. You must have somethng else coming in to play - perhaps the coil is rubbing on th eflywheel or the clutch is catching:confused1:

Used engine oil is carcinogeniic but new engine oil is clean and OK, some bio and veggi oils dry up in time making saw maintenence a right PITA as you can't remove this dried up gunge for love nor money - believe me. The Stihl chain oil is good from my maintenence point of view!

If you hold the flywheel centre and wobble it up and down then side to side, you should feel if there is wear in the crak bearings. 60psi is non existant - have you pulled it over 5-6 times hard or is hat just one pull and do you usually get 150 -170psi on a fit engine? If your compression reading is right, you may have a lump of your piston ring missing, damage or cracked piston crown or a small end/big end failure - even with a badly seized engine I would expect 80-100 psi:confused1: It is worth checking the ends, I usually rock the crank back and forth with the engine assembled and feel for excesive play before the piston moves up and down - there should be little play. If the engine is in bits, hold the piston on TDC and lift and drop it up and down and feel for play, it should be close to zero! I have seen excessive play in the gudgeon pin piston seat before! It is also possible you have a bent con rod - the impact with the coil may have done some bad damage! If the engine isn't a clam engine - loosen the cylinder bolts and with the plug out, rotate the engine slow whilst very lightly pushing on the top of the cylinder - any rocking from side to side and the rod is bent. You will also see heavy scuffing on the piston sides and cylinder wall. Have you checked the crank isnt bent:thumbdown:

No worries, glad the advice was of help:thumbup:

If seized, the saw will feel notch but not really at TDC, pull the muffler off and look at the piston, if seized, it will have scores on the skirt and may have the rings welded in to the grooves. It sounds more likely that the change in ignition timing may have done something to the piston crown through pre ignition - probably worth taking off the cylinder to see what is occuring inside the cylinder. If the saw turns over without the plug and without resistance but is harder with the plug in, it sounds like just decent compression as that is the only difference. You can get puddled fuel in the lower crankcase that can cause this issue - worth turning the engine upside down with the plug out and turn it over to see what comes out. The last saw I had you type of problem with was a 390XP and it didn't turn over when I removed the plug - it has so much carbon in the head, taking the plug out dislodged a big bit that caught the squish band and stopped the saw at TDC. Are you sure the coil is free and there is no play in the crank bearings?

Take the plug out, turn the saw so the hole is facing downwards and pull hard with the ignition off. If a lot of fuel and vapour comes out, warm the plug on a gas stove of blow lamp and repalce fast and try to start holding the throttle open without choke and pulling with your left hand. This will usually work and once the fuel has cleared, it should be OK or the above may have done it in:thumbdown:

I am not going to say as they have been 100% in the past and I have an open case and if they find the parcel and deliver it, they will have done their job. The trouble with Ireland is no post codes, not saying it is an excuse but one issue is a named house on a non named road must be a nightmare without a post code so am giving them a little slack. They are responding and investigating it - fortunately I had up to £1000 insurance on the kit so they may get a flumping great claim if thy can't find it!

Alec is pretty much spot on and have been using that logic for around 40 years now. If the saw was running before then it should work again. Most non startes are fuel related issues tbh, that or two stroke seizes on the saws I work on. If the machine is reluctant to fire but has spark, compression and fuel, heating the park plug up on a gas hob (if the other half isn't around) or with a plumbers torch helps reluctant engines, especially low compression or flooded ones - it helps vapourise the fuel:thumbup: An old timers trick but it has worked hundreds of times!

Bonnie Tyler was "Lost in France", I have a parcel lost in Ireland, the courer has delivered it to a completely different person I was sending it to and am now trying to find out where the heck it has got to:thumbdown: Someone has a 357XP ported and nice running and a 365 fully serviced sitting in their front room:001_rolleyes: TBH, I am bloody annoyed about it as the 365 was a bitch to get sorted:001_rolleyes:

When you import from the US, you ae subject to pay tax in this country as well as the US - thats VAT plus a possible handling fee from the courier/post. The EU is fine - you pay tax in the country you purchase from - thats the positive side of Europe:thumbup: Some companies such as Amazon sort all this out and give you a UK landed price so they take the US tax off and add the UK tax on :thumbup:which is nice! You can get the parcel marked up as a gift and may get away with it and items under circa £10 are not elligible to VAT on importation. - I sound like a bloody VAT expert:001_rolleyes:

This is a nice problem, forget cutting a new slot, you need to lock the crank in place with whatever method you like, a screw in piston stop is best, mark the crank and flywheel with where the slot is. You now have a few methods to use - you can smear epoxy, bearing lock or grindingpaste on the crank and then slide the flywheel on, knock it down with a mallet and do up the nut as hard as you can and some more - I have done this and it does work. Fortunately, the ignition timing isn't too critical on hedge trimmers, if you have atiming wheel, you can use it to ensure crank to flywheel allignment is 100% but you should be able to get away with the above - get creative:thumbup:

From memory, I believe it has 180* of adjustment and has firm stops. May be worth pulling it off and looking at it! The screw should NOT spin round and round!

That doesn't sound good, hope it heals fast........still waiting for the seal but will be a quick re-assembly once in

Use Loctite 270 on them - but don't use too much as you may never get them out again!

I think it is part 501 87 68-03, not got one spare:thumbdown:

I'm not saying anything but I think I have got all the woodchip and oil out of my hair now:001_rolleyes:

Possibly the L screw is a tad rich, try turning it in 1/8th turn - if it makes it worse, turn it back to where it was and richen it by 1/8th turn out - both have similar symptoms!

I have just had that on a seized 357XP, it distorted the impulse connector on the inlet manifold causing an airleak. The plastic clip was replaced with the metal one that can be a bit of a pig to fit and this area can be a real issue with air leaks - I have learnt a few tricks:thumbup:

Idle too low L srew too lean/too rich Split fuel line Blocked tank breather Leaking inlet manifold Leaking decomp Crap in the carb gauze strainer Too large coil to flywheel gap Dodgy spark plug or cap Blocked fuel filter Clutch catching/binding on the drum Needle bearingon clutch buggered The most likely are carb issues followed by the inlet manifold and blocked tank breather

You beat me to it Matty - that is a high stress point, I put a metal plate over it and used JB weld, pins and countersunk bolts and it still didn't hold - we fitted new cases in the end:thumbup: