spudulike

Why not phone Barrie (Gardenkit), he runs a business down near Exeter and is one guy I do trust to give you good advice. Not sure he spends much time on here now! A PM may do it.

Great for a bit of detailing under the car bonnet if you like running a clean motor.

The 460 is a solid machine so no underlying issues in its build. I guess if I had one on the bench and had tried different bar, chain and sprocket combinations...USING OEM PARTS, I would get the verniers out and measure the distance from the sprocket to a fixed datum such as the first bar stud and rotate the rim taking measurements to see if there were any changes. You could then rotate the crank and see if you get any movement.....this is extremely rare but have seen twisted cranks on two machines - it looks pretty weird as the crank centre sort of wobbles as the crank is rotated. Is the crank genuine OEM Stihl? Do you know the machines history? I take it your sprocket, bearing and rim are OEM? I have seen all sorts and some aftermarket stuff is pretty poor TBH!

Great workshop tool, you can power an airline for cleaning, rattle gun/impact driver, tyre pump, staple gun, nail gun etc. Anyone in arb should own one to clean their tools. I started with a no tank compressor so it was pumping against the airline and you had to pulse the trigger, the next one had a 15L tank but the brushes went, the last one cost £45, had a brushless motor and 24L tank and has been perfect...noisy but perfect. They are great tools and have converted many, bored many others about how good they are.

It looks genuine to me but be aware that it is the 45cc version and not the 50cc second edition Silverside one. When buying secondhand from an unknown source, make sure the top end is original as cheap Chinese won't cut the mustard!! BTW - the grey clips were on the 50cc version as standard, orange on the 45cc.

Glad it worked out for you. I have been through this process many times and it works fine if you make sure you also do the full inspection, tests and carb refurb/setup afterwards.

What saw is it? The early MS261s and MS362s didn't have the best cranks and knocked the bearings and sprockets out regularly. Strange it wasn't the chain, most times I see this symptom, it is the chain.

most of the time it is just uneven wear in the chain that causes the symptoms you have.

That's the orchestral pianist career over

Shame they can't spell!!!

Thanks for letting us know. Glad it is sorted.

Have you cleaned the air filter and both sides? I had a customer complaining about his 2511 not revving out well and told him to use a bit of oil based fluid on the air filter and blow it out with an air line......it sorted it. These Echos do go out of tune and the uninitiated can make them worse, especially if they don't try them out in wood. I normally put the saw back to factory settings, tweak it from there if not stable and then cut some wood with it, just to make sure.

Did you ever check the fuel line as it could be opening up a split in certain positions. It is where it pushes through the tank wall? You can check the kill wire from the kill switch through to the coil, it may be earthing on the metal saw body but would need a chaffed wire and bare metal to do this.

Of course, nothing else sounds or feels quite like it!

Not over Mr Stubby....the 346XP is the best saw I have used and sounds soooooo good! Finding a good one though is like searching for the Holy Grail.

Yup, that inlet manifold is a bit of a sod when doing a pressure/vac test.

Why didn't you use the Mityvac for both pressure and vacuum? That is the reason most use them

My pressure and vac check is pump to....15 InHg, wobble the crank to and fro and check for leakage - if the reading stays solid and doesn't stop dropping, release the vacuum, pump up to 10 psi, wobble the crank to and fro and see if it drops. If you get a leak, you then investigate. I personally don't create a vacuum or pressure and then hold it for 5 minutes and mostly found if there was an issue, it would show up pretty quickly. On what you should check to stop it going pop again...most saws that passed through my workshop for rebuild/port/ full service etc were checked in regards to stopping it seizing : - 1) Compression 2) Vaccum and Pessure leaks. If the decomp leaks, I reground the seating and sealed with a little grease. Make sure you are also testing the inlet manifold and impulse line when doing the test! 3) Fuel filter....almost definitely worth replacing 4) Carb - strip, check diaphragms and metering arm height, check gauze strainer, clean and rebuild. MS460s tend to build up wood chip behind the metering diaphragm. 5) Tach tune to around 12,500-13,000rpm - make sure the engine is stable when flat out and not fluctuating. If you do this, it is pretty certain that your saw will last. The pressure/vac check is the solid foundation and the tach tune sets the saws maximum revs so the machine shouldn't fail again. The 460 is a pretty solid machine - I did find that I often had to pull the limit cap off the H carb screw as this model often over revs once they are loosened up. Others may have their opinion but this is what I did and it was a pretty reliable method for me.

Good to see it running again. I guess it was a new piston that did the trick and time will tell how reliable the repair was but hopefully it will last for a decent time. I would guess the workshops wouldn't touch it due to you not wanting the cylinder replaced and understand that if they are main dealers for Stihl, their business is to return a saw back to standard condition. Unfortunately, this often writes off a saw as a non economical repair and as I said, I have salvaged hundreds of saws back to good working condition that will last for many years. Yours looked fairly bad but it should last with a little luck and you have learn't a fair bit in the process.

It is alright, I will still be your friend

It won't need programming, why would it? Take it off, replace it correctly and it will work just as it used to. I guess you have stripped it down to some degree and cocked it up somehow and now it won't run. The full story of what you have done will help. If it isn't the carb that came from the machine, it WILL need programming!

Sod off, I once had one of these in and after pissing around with it, getting it running and it flooding etc etc, I realised someone had cocked around with the fuel pipes and had to work out what they were doing and what they should be doing. It transpired that the owner had swapped them all around when he tried to "fix" it!!!! All you have to do is connect the pipe connected to the fuel filter, to the PUMP part of the carb and the other one needs to go to the bulb and then return to the tank. Basically, the bulb draws the fuel from the tank through the carb and then returns it to the tank if my memory serves me right. Next time...take a photo before stripping it!!

As above, empty the tank, flush it, clean the area thoroughly with brake cleaner as it is a superb de-greaser. I would recommend two products: - 1) JB weld, an American two part epoxy with fine ground metal in the resin. Dries very hard and sticks well. 2) One I have managed to fix fuel tanks with....Milliput epoxy. This stuff is damn weird - it comes in two sticks, cut off equal lengths and roll together with your thumb and finger. The weird bit is you can smooth/shape it with water and once dry, it resists pretty much anything. We repaired a casserole dish with the stuff and the repair hardened like porcelain and went through the dishwasher a multitude of times with out it falling off - it repaired a thin handle so didn't have a large area to grip to so was impressed. I rolled a ball of it and it ended up like a marble in hardness. The oil tank isn't under any pressure so it should hold pretty well unless it gets a direct hit on the same area. You could bond a thin metal plate to the repair to protect it.

Yeah, bloody customers, would be great without them wouldn't it I think everyone in a repair/service job that is customer facing gets frustrated with their little foibles!

My wife's car mechanic was like that, watching her glaze over when he showed her a buggered CV joint was amusing to say the least. I do the same as you in explaining to the customer why the part was swapped out and showing them the part. It often causes the glazed eyes, the comment "why would I want the old parts just lob them in the bin", or just the retort......"I trust you mate, no need to explain the repair". I refer to it as "old school" or just good old fashion manners.