pleasant

What was the running issue that it had, that you thought removing the cylinder/piston to inspect it....would give you the answer? I cannot think of a running issue the average consumer would have that necessitates such a major job, and even those that know what they are doing, baulk at taking out pistons on the cheaper stihl clamshell engines as its an awful, time consuming job. You either know what you are doing and know by removing the piston etc will cure/establish the problem, or if you dont know what youre doing, then attempting that job is foolhardy and all rational people I know whether they know what they are doing mechanically or not, wont do anything to that extent on a machine knowing it is still within the warranty period. If you are saying warranty isnt the issue, then you must have known the issue wasnt covered under warranty and you have attempted to repair it yourself knowing the problem was 'pilot error' and then in doing so you discovered the 'erroneous' piston...allegedly.

I appreciate that. It was in answer to someone else who mentioned warranty....wasnt you

Agree...it's a bit sniffy

Any warranty would be null and void anyway if the end user has tampered with it to that extent

I'm more of a glass half full kind of guy.

The pump is primed so the hose is full before it is tested and sealed as being accurate. From then on it dispenses the right amount of fuel to the car through the hose and nozzle. Once the trigger is released it stops the delivery at the nozzle (but not the pump, you still hear it running), so no one previous has paid for the fuel in the hose and nozzle (nor have you) Its just a primed part of the delivery system. What passes through the meter just triggers the display on the pump, the right amount comes from the hose. The feed hose could be twenty miles long, but guess what, if you put an additional gallon of fuel into the pipe, only a gallon comes out, not twenty miles worth! Any left in the pipe is not yours, or the previous customers, it belongs to the system! you only pay (and get) for what comes out, apart from a few drips!

If you can find another, buy it and make one good one out the two and use the remainder for spares for the future

Worth a call and have a friendly...but forceful chat. Dont go in with all guns blazing as that will just put the shutters up. The issue you do have though is burden of proof. If the dealership have been devious and dont want to admit it to you, then they will simply say it was factory when it was purchased and you have played with it since its left them. No proof either way is there? Furthermore....the price differential between the 271 and 291 piston and cylinder kits if purchased by a main dealer direct from stihl is negligible compared to the chance they may get 'found out' somewhere down the line, which wouldn't make sense. If you know someone that works for another stihl dealership, then a suggestion might be you ask them to check your serial number against the stihl secure registration portal...this will tell you whether it has been sold before, registered to the original purchaser, then re-registered to you when you purchased it. stihl won't tell you this information directly due to data protection, but someone with access to the dealer portal can

Be careful chopping and changing your fuelling between pump fuel and aspen...a lot dont realise a machines carb bits get 'used' to running on either/or and a machine that has been run on aspen then pump fuel can have carb diaphragm issues and vice versa. If youve always run a machine on one type of fuel then you would be wise for it to stay that way.....unless you want to change your diaphragms everytime you change to different fuels

Stick them on the bay. Early 80s mccullochs are doing ok....certainly better than sticking it in a hole in the ground....or the oppo at the tip will stick it on the bay for himself anyway

Reminds me of a customer who purchased a pole pruner online and brought it in to us apparently for a fault under warranty. Said he had assembled it correctly but stihl must have put the drive gears in the wrong way round, so the chain was going backwards. As soon as he walked through the door with it and we saw the oil filler cap was located facing the ground we knew what he had done. Its amazing how many people dont expect to pay us for sorting 'pilot errors' out like that. Not even and offer.......to make my point i used to start making an invoice out if the bloke was particularly officious. They would often say 'whats that for? I would point out the time, experience and skill over the years we have trained to know you have put the head on upside down, so heres the bill. I dont ask my solicitor questions and dont expect a bill. , but when its us.....

If anyone needs a genuine stihl ms461 piston and cylinder then i have a set available. They have been 'dry fitted' to a customers saw who refused to pay his bill, so we took all the new stuff off it and put it back to how it was when he brought it in. Had to swallow all the labour so wasnt going to swallow the parts as well! It is 'as new' just been fitted but not run. Will need one piston ring and gudgeon pin clip as they flew across the workshop floor when we removed it. They cost a fortune from stihl..happy to discuss to get some of my money back at least

Yup...461 for me as well.

My customers tend to be very 'proud' of saying things like that. And they tend to be the ones that come in all of a panic as they have an urgent job on and the machines let them down. Preventative maintenance if the cheapest maintenance of all IMO.......anything else is just waiting for your machine to fail- one day when you need it.

Oxidisation of the copper core element of the plug. Here: Erosion, Corrosion and Oxidation The material of the electrodes has oxidized, and when the oxidation is heavy, it will be green on the surface. The surface of the electrodes is also fretted and rough. How do I "read" a spark plug? - NGK Spark Plugs NGKSPARKPLUGS.COM Learn how to analyze your engine's overall operating condition just by looking at your spark plugs. Find this and other DIY...

Karcher are shite. They are the black and decker of the pressure washer world. Unless you go for a 'proper karcher which is made for pro use and you are into the high 100's and thousands. Been selling shoddy stuff in the sheds for years off the back of their name in the pro sector

Clutch drum bearing disintegrating or collapsing? Or worse case scenario crank bearings failing or crank bent. Remove bar and cover and see if your clutch drum is running elliptically . Watch the gap between the drum and the body of the saw

' look and watch son, i will show you how its done'

Blimey...that sort of money up there will buy a house and retirement surely? 🤪

Sometimes the correct, recommended way to advise someone can be 'mindlessly presciptive' particularly if you have already formed your own opinion. You misread what I said as well, which is, Stihl produce a particularly lighter chain oil specifically for their hand held mini pruner, which is significantly different to their regular offering and different to the Makita one you have compared it to. Multioil Bio | STIHL WWW.STIHL.CO.UK Multioil Bio: For the GTA 26 garden pruner

You can also use a funnel with a fine gauze filter specifically for fuel filtering use even before the fuel has entered the tank....however, dont try and use the same funnel to add engine oil to your 4 stroke.....you will be waiting all afternoon for it to filter through. 😄

I am surprised a new mini saw doesnt come with a small bottle of their recommended chain oil to get you started. The cordless mini stihl saw comes with one, which is available to purchase either in the small size bottle supplied with the saw or a larger one. The stihl saw hasnt got an auto oiler, so when applied you are likely to use slightly more than if it were oiling itself. It is a thinner grade than the regular chain oil, but still retains the correct amount of 'stickiness' to prevent it simply being thrown off the chain the minute you start it. Use the correct stuff. Will save on premature wear on chains, bars, sprockets etc. Oil is cheap, components arent. As someone has said.....certainly dont use used engine oil...lost count how many chewed up oil pump drives ive had to replace! Remember, the correct grade is also designed to not only lubricate but also cool moving components. We had a guy bring a saw into us with a melted oil tank housing and seized sprocket tip on the bar and wanted it sorted under warranty (it was a plastic bodied saw) we couldnt work out how all this happened until we drained out what was left in the oil tank to inspect it, and the oil that came out was bright red. Turns chap though oil was oil, and used his 2 stroke oil as chain oil. Didnt cool enough, overheated the bar and chain....heat transmitted to chainsaw body and melted it.

Oregon chains are sold to dealers on 100ft rolls (generally, as it's cheaper to buy a roll, than pre-cut lengths) and are cut to length on site for pre-packed sale or made up to order. When a customer blames a chain for blunting quicker than expected, and is therefore 'faulty', I usually point out that their 3ft length of chain we used to make up their loop, came from a random section of 100ft roll. If the chain was 'faulty' then the remaining 97ft of chain either side of where their chain was cut from would also be 'faulty' unless of course, by sheer coincidence and really bad luck, that 3ft of chain was the ONLY bit that we happened to make their chain out of was the ONLY faulty bit of that 100ft of chain. Normally puts things into perspective and absolves the chain

I agree repairers try and push warranty claims through for carbs, although unless it is for a manufacturing fault within the carb, then these claims are never paid by the manufacturer. As you know a carb only becomes 'faulty' due to outside influences....fuel, ingress etc etc. All of which are not manufacturing faults. If it has been diagnosed it is a carb that is required then we always fit new...purely for economical reasons for the customer. To remove a carb, strip it, ultrasonically clean it, rebuild it with new diaphragms and gaskets is more expensive in terms of labour...and the cost of the carb kit than it would be to simply fit a new carb and its guaranteed to work with no fettling and the guarantee of a new part to the customer. Its fine rebuilding carbs if your time is free on your own machine or its your hobby, but commercially with hourly rates as they are rebuilding carbs costs more than new

I would say the same. Just stick a carb on