spudulike

Been round a while myself, no spring chicken that's for sure:blushing:

Sorry Andy:blushing:

I couldn't possibly say...although he did ask if I did senior citizen concessions when I did his 390XP:lol: Sorry Andy:blushing:

Sounds like it is running lean and may have a bad air leak. Check the impulse line and the inlet manifold - one may be split. Other than that - crank seals. Be aware that trying to run a saw like this may well seize it - if it hasn't already - take the muffler off and check the piston through the exhaust port.

Sorry Rich, got too much on here as well:001_rolleyes: 353XP on the bench, very boggy, no high revs. Traced it back to a fuel pipe tear where it enters the fuel tank - repalced it along with a missing breather pipe and all good!

This sounds like the one I rebuilt with MattyF, his cylinder bolts loosened up causing the oil tank gasket to be sucked inwards causing a massive leak. Worth checking this out - I had to helicoil all the crankcase bolt holes in the end!

Thats about right Wes - Stubbys one shook my fillings out:lol: and had a complaint from a fella down the road:001_rolleyes:

Now that story is as good as mine about a fellow villager asking me to sharpen his chain - I looked at it and said "what should I sharpen, there are no cutters left on it" he just looked a little hurt:001_rolleyes: I love the general public:lol:

Nope - both bottom ends are different meaning exhausts and carbs/manifolds/covers won't fit even if you managed to machine the cylinder to get it to fit your saw If this is your big idea - time to sell the saw and purchase a MS460!

The stroke of the 036 is 34mm and the 044/046 is 36mm, the bottom end is completely different. From what I have seen but not investigated, the 038 shares the same stroke - if the bottom end is the same, you may be in luck but you would need to do a bit more work before buying something that is impossible to fit!

Put it in a box and send it back to China:lol: I would be looking at the metering arm and raising it a little - other than that, holed fuel line, blocked fuel filter, crap in the gauze filter in the carb are all usual culprits!

Try pulling the saw over up to ten times with the choke on, see if the plug is still dry, if it is then it is probably a blockage in the carb, the gauze filter is possibly full of wood chip or the metering arm may be a little low.

Best done outside eh Barrie:blushing:

Not being funny, two things - is the choke flap closing fully when you engage the choke - you can see this by removing the air filter. Sometimes the linkage jumps off the choke. Second - is the "fast idle" locking in position - sometimes the throttle mech gets broken stopping the throttle locking in the fast idle position - many just hold the throttle open on starting when this happens.

This weekend I have been porting a 346XPG, they respond well to the work and in the pics below, you can see a widenend exhaust port, blended in to the muffler. The inlet port has been widenend and smoothed, the transfers shaped to the back of the cylinder and you can see the original slightly....modified:001_rolleyes:hole and my much widened outlet. There really isn't any need to make a much louder front outlet as this allows the saw to breath and have a not too loud exhaust note. The saw now picks up real quick, very noticeable and cuts with a real urgency. COmpression is up from 155psi to 175psi.

If compression is down, you will lack torque in the cut and it will get progressively worse as the saw gets hot with it being near impossible to start when hot. Leaking crank seals will make the max revs soar out of control and it will hold on to revs when the throttle is snapped shut - there may also be some bogging in the mid range.

When you pull the choke on, two things happen, the choke flap is closed and also the throttle valve is kicked open a little to give fast idle. If the mechanism isnt holding the throttle open when the choke is pushed in then this can make a saw a bitch to start. Generally the mechanism clicks when it comes off when opening the throttle. The needle valve stops the contents of the fuel tank flowing in to the carb. If it is leaking, you get flooding of the saw even when not trying to start it - you generally find fuel flowing out of the carb and in to the inlet manifild and engine. An exhaust full of fuel makes me thing you have severly flooded the engine - probably from pulling it over too much on choke - clear the puddled fuel as I have described and try it again - if it won't pop after 5-8 pulls with the choke on then any more will flood the engine as has happened with your previous attempts:thumbdown:

It may be dirt on the contact breaker - would give the ignition a good looking at before spending out on a coil!

Possibly the same people, reasonably close together - think someone needs to level the playing field on this one - too much going on a the moment and not too many arrests. I saw outboards were being targeted along the Suffolk coast - why can't these low lifes sod off and go earn a living......legally!

Right, assuming you checked the piston by taking off the exhaust, You need to clear all that puddled fuel - Take the plug out, turn the saw upside down and pull it over hard a few times with the ignition turned off! Heat the spark plug so it is good and hot - a plumbers lamp or gas hob is good for this. Stick it back in the saw and pull the choke out and push it back in so the fast idle is on and give it a damn good pull with the decomp out, it will generally fire or try to. If it doesnt work, try putting the choke on and then pushing it off and see if the fast idle makes a light click when coming off when you open the throttle - it should. If you have that much fuel in the exhaust, the metering arm isn't at fault - it may possibly be the needle valve leaking though!

I have seen a few carbs where the diaphragm spacer hasn't been fitted between the carb body and the diaphragm. I have also seen the pumping diaphragm and the spacer gasket being back to front but less likely with the polyester type ones. If the saw won't start whan cold then it may be lack of fuel, bad carb adjustment or the fast idle setting not working correctly. Put the carb back on H&L screws one turn out (assuming the H screw isn't capped) and then start it. If it pops on choke and then wont start in three pulls on "fast idle" then hold the throttle fully open and pull over the saw with your left hand. Once started, set the idle and see if it revs out or idles correctly. Let us know what the symptoms are - I need a bit more info on what is happening when it is running - it may be a lightly seized engine causing low compression and starting issues - measuring the compression would be good, inspecting the piston is difficult on these machines!

In very basic terms, a working engine needs Compression, spark and fuel - if the piston isn't scored and the saw isn't that old then make sure the plug is wet after a few pulls on full choke, it is possible the metering arm isn't high enough causing fuelling issues!

Gunsmiths use Walnut for rifle stocks - comes up beautifully with the right oil!

The vast majority of issues on this saw is fuel related. Some goodd suggestions on here, the one I will add is it may be lack of compression, enough to get the saw running but once hot, the compression lowers to a point where it won't start. If you use it for nearly ten minutes, does it start to get a little boggy in the cut and noticeably lack power? It is worth checking the flywheel to coil gap using a business card between the coil and the flywheel magnet - had a MS460 with very similar symptoms as this. Other than that - look at the above. Just fixed an MS200 for the Cornwall trust:thumbup:

Check the spark is good - pull the plug out, put it back in the plug cap, earth it on the cylinder AWAY FROM THE PLUG HOLE and pull the saw over fast and look for a spark, if there is one, do it again but this time, bend the plug electrode out at 45 degree angle to make the gap real big and see if it still sparks. You will need to do this in subdued lighting. If you get a poor or no spark, regap the coil to flywheel and try again. If you have a spark, it is likely you have flooded the engine, pull the plug, turn the saw ignition off, turn it upside down and pull the saw over fast a few times and see how much fuel splatters/runs out of the plug hole. If no fuel comes out, the carb isn't loading the engine with fuel correctly - possibly a badly adjusted needle valve or lack of compression. Heat the plug up with a plumbers lamp and put it back in the saw and try to start on the "fast idle, no choke" setting with no decomp and see if it goes. If this doesn't work, try putting the choke on, push the choke back off and then open the throttle, the carb should click lightly as the "fast idle" comes off, if it doesn't work, the dfast idle latch on the carb needs looking at. It sounds like you have looked at the piston through the exhaust port but if you havent, do it. Compression should be 145-155psi, any less and it isn't good! Measure it with a Gunson Hi gauge if possible - it will give correct readings, some car gauges will not! It is usual to check spark, compression and fuel in instances like this. Diagnosis isn't always that easy but these are the basic steps.