spudulike

Whats the compression like? Sounds like it has gone pop. These machines seem to knock their pistons out pretty early on. Take the muffler off and take a look up the exhaust port and bring the piston up so you can see the ring and skirt - it may have some scoring on it. These machines also don't show a lot of fuel on the plug, a seizure can cause a dry plug as can a BIG air leak but am not going to go in to the technicalities as to why!

Well that fellas not going to play bar chords in the future!

Hylomar was the approved liquid gasket for Honda horizontally split fours in my day. I use Carplan Red Instant Gasket as it has a decent temp range but many products will do the job in the same way.

Well.....I thought I would read the instructions to my replacement security light.....typically, after fitting it. I am glad I fitted it as described!!!! The rest of the instructions were equally useful!!!

Yup, that's the reason!

Looks like a Felco clone but Bahco do make some decent kit for a bit less £££

Good, slow idles are usually cured by changing the valve - fine wood-chip gets sucked in and cocks them up!

The location of the installation of light bulbs must be large enough to withstand the ability to withstand 10 times the drive weight. Really?

Most likely, time may tell as long as the OP doesn't disappear as they often do!!

I was thinking just the same, pop the muffler off and look at the state of the piston. If you have a compression gauge, it should read 150-170psi. Not sure on the flywheel, it is possible the key has sheared but the first thing I check on pretty much all non running engines is firstly the compression, the spark then the fuel. If it isn't any of those, you just check the spark and fuel systems in more depth!

Nice......life after retirement and taking the pension!!

Just had a similar experience on a "Highly Valued Cherry Tree". Love the way that some have a strange perception that their tree is somehow worth a load of ££££ and can't see that it is spending hours cutting, splitting and seasoning that gives it the value.....or milling and drying etc!

It should be the BPMR7A plug. The standard carb settings should be 1 turn out on the L&H screws but take care the saw isn't screaming at WOT on these settings as I have seen many on 1.5 - 2 turns out and you may need another 1/4 turn on the L screw but start with 1&1. The air filter being covered in fuel may be the dodgy carb settings, leaking needle valve or wear on the inlet side of the piston/cylinder causing blow-by.

The throttle linkage is fine, they even colour the throttle linkages in a bronze colour. 2 part linkages only work on saws with a direct to choke control like the MS150! The MS200T is pretty easy to strip and reassemble! The earlier "High Jet" comments are about the "Check Valve" which is a one way high speed valve. If they go bad, they can be driven out and replaced but it isn't that simple for the uninitiated. They can fail by going open and the saw will be very rich, smokey and boggy if this happens with no idle. I would try a known good carb or just bite the bullet and fit a new one, probably a better option than waiting for a dealer to pull his finger out and fix it and chances he will be lazy and fit a new carb as most won't take my approach in fixing carbs! Not being funny but, you have checked the impulse line is connected to the union on the bottom of the air box? It is a rubber hose (Like a fuel line) that comes out of the top cover just under the air box - like in the pic. If it is loose like below then it shouldn't be!

I ask some of my customers for a bit of firewood once in a while. I am lucky that I am in a position to barter - a saw service for wood etc but in your case you will need to give your friendly arb type a good drink. I never ask for and would never expect although some have offered processed, seasoned wood/logs but do accept rings or lengths of green wood straight after cutting and many will find it useful to get rid of a load or two especially soft wood - it all burns!! Expect to have a chainsaw to cut it and an axe to split it - hope you have this and a strong back! Probably best to look around for local guys working in your area and have a friendly chat or look at businesses close to where you want the wood dropped off. Most round here just tip it off for biomass at £5 per tonne unless they have there own barn and land to process it in to logs! Just be prepared to give them a bit of cash for a load and also to put some work in processing the timber!

I must have had around 1000 customers over the years and have only ever seen one 372XP copy, all others have used Stihl, Husqvarna, Makita, Dolmar, Echo etc. If saws come in with unidentified Chinese top ends, in the past I have tried to get more out of them but have now given up on this and either replace them or don't touch the saw. There are only three AM top end manufacturers I would use on a Pro saw, one is actually Chinese but produce better quality kit......and it costs a bit more!!! I have used Farmtec top ends and even ported them. The plating is that soft it doesn't even hinder a carbide burr, this means that the top end won't keep good compression for anywhere close to the OEM parts. Back to that 372XP.....the starter spring was stupidly stiff, the pipes were soft and cheap, the crankcases had cracks in them where the main bearings were pushed in and that is what I remember. It put me right off. It looked like a 372 and sort of felt like one but it just wasn't right!

He means the welch plug on the choke back side of the carb covering the accelerator channels not the one over the low speed fuel injector holes in the metering section part of the carb!

Ah, but nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Now where are the soft cushions!!!!

WOT = Wide Open Throttle ie flat out! How do you know the saw is original - have you owned it from new? Post a pic of the plug hole if you haven't, I may be able to tell! You may have forced resin straight in to the check valve, one of the problems with this repair and not an easy one to sort! The time you have to run the saw to produce the problem leads to piston/cylinder wear rather than anything else but difficult to tell. Does it run fine when cold to 15mins?

You can obviously get some decent quality products out of China but many like CHEAP, it is like a virus, CHEAP is good.....well it can be GOOD but generally CHEAP is CRAP and you get what you pay for! You just have to work out how much you are paying for the brand and how much for the product and if there are any other better options!

Depends on what you want. A genuine 660 will take a 42" bar and cut fine with that, every time you need it for 10-20 years. The Farmtec on will do that but is likely to detonate prematurely! If you look at the parts, they are just not made the same, the bore plating is like cheese. A carbide burr will need forcing through the Nikasil plating on Stihl/Husqvarna cylinders. On AM Chinese cylinders it is like the plating isn't really there. I had a 660 in once, the crank end had been damaged....don't ask. I got through two Chinese cranks, one split in two and the big end detonated on the other! Never seen a 660 OEM crank fail through anything than fuel error or the PTO shaft breaking through abuse! The manufacturers spend millions obtaining CE, BS, TUV etc accreditation, the Chinese just copy the parts so they look similar but in engineering specs, they just aren't right! Guys get excited about getting something that looks like a 660 for £250 but if you are in to running a business, having reliable & SAFE equipment then those clones are not really up to much. Then there is the residual and resale price........

Nothing wrong with 200s, it is just people have high expectations of 10-15 year old saws and feel a £20 new top end will sort out any issues. My approach is to get them in bits, replace anything worn with OEM parts, rebuild, set up and then test.....pretty simple and have done more than I can remember- must be a thousand or so by now! I find them remarkably simple to work on but guess others don't judging some of the disasters that I have seen!

No Stubby, you are not dreaming, you had the earlier 020 carb but the issue with these carbs is that old ones with a bit of wear become very unstable and are the bane of my life! Almost as much as those crap Chinese AM carbs that are downright weird to tune and are usually as unreliable! Disabling the accelerator pump can cause a lag in the throttle response, hey, that is why they fitted the thing in the first place and is the reason that my customers always have a new pump fitted rather than plugging the pump mechanism. BMP asked how it was plugged and guess he knows what I know may be the issue although if the saw was bogging in the first place and isn't improved, it may not be an issue with the plugging. The lag may be a multitude of things but the state of the top end has to be the first thing to look at. I am finding a lot of cheap Chinese top ends being fitted to these saws and TBH, most are fit for the bin rather than being used on a primary saw but there you go, you save £60 and live with the consequences!!! OP - what is the condition of the top end - compression figs hot and cold after 1 pull and 6 pulls?

We are burning a bit of Hornbeam at the moment, it is indeed as hard as f£$k, needs a bit of softwood mix but is long lasting and burns well. Not much help I know?

Silver Birch drop copious amounts of tiny brown seeds this time of year. These get in the house, in every orifice of the car and are a pain in the arse. Unfortunately we have hundreds in our village along with willow and poplar all not good trees in my book!