pleasant

Agree with Spudulike. If you are confident enough, once you have checked fuel lines start it up, get it warm and put it under load in some wood- if it loses power and dies, take it out the cut and give the H screw a quarter turn anti clockwise (this will richen it up a bit at top end- then re try in the same cut. It will either be the same -in which case do more in depth checks as mentioned above, or it will improve things- in which case a carb clean/new diaphragms may well be in order, or it will cure the issue.

errr... I was actually responding to an earlier post from terrytibbs who said he had been charged £100 from a dealer for a service. It certainly wasn't me who was or would charge that figure for an annual menu service. I am certainly not suggesting everyone should use a main dealer (we are a main dealer for certain brands, but we are happy to service/repair other quality brands that we are not a dealer for- which I suppose could also classify us as an independant as well. In the nearly 13 years I have been running my family owned business we have seen the decline of at least a dozen main/independent and fred in a shed repairers which were my direct competition in my catchment area. If my business has seen other businesses fold that are from all of the repair spectrum, then I must be doing something right to still be here. We are not silly, and neither do we think our customers are. We treat all our customers failry, politely and with integrity. We treat each job on its own merits and should there be a return problem then we are happy to put it right at no further charge. In my time I have only had to politely tell some one not to come back on two occasions- and both due to "pilot error" rather than anything we have done. We get customers coming to us who have had someone else have a go at repairing their machine and we end up putting it right. Sure we charge a bit more than some others but our guarantee is we fix it correctly or you get your money back and there aren't many people who offer than guarantee. Sure there are dealers who are pretty poor (we have had more new customers coming to us this year due to being dissatisfied with their more local main dealer) but there are main dealers that are pretty good. There are independents and the fred in the shed who are poor or good. No different to any aspect of life really.

We use the Stihl EDT7 (earlier version of the current models) and the refresh is very slow IMO.

According to Stihl, the MS260 was offered with a 3/8 (9.32mm) 0.63" chain option (not the 3/8" low profile). Naturally this necessitated a different sprocket and maching bar. It could be possible the previous owner specified 3/8" chain as spares and ended up with three low profile narrow guage chains instead of the large size.

WOT = wide open throttle. Watch the video posted on here- it's an excellent example.

...and they've declined an offer!

Well, the largest chain oil qty Stihl produce is 20 litres which would last you a bit longer. Does it necessarily need to be Stihl. Stihl don't actually product their own oil it is produced for them by a proprietory refiner, so if you are open to suggestion then any good quality chain oil would be fine and you may find that more local to you.

Don't really understand the question TBH. The best in terms of what? The nearest or the one that has some or the cheapest or.....whatever?

what if their kids start eating the seeds and top soil??

Certainly not- but neither was your plug and fuel filter in the same condition as new ones, so I don't see the analogy. Plugs and filters have a service life- generally annually or x amount of hours depends which is sooner. Irrelevant of whether they are working at that point or not. Your fuel filter could plausibly be on the verge of clogging completely or your plug could be on the verge of breaking down. Surely if you've been charged £100 for a service you wouldn't want to bring the machine back after it let you down on a job two weeks later, only to be told it needs a new plug or filter? False economy IMO.

Including service parts as part of an annual preventative maintenance service is not "up-selling" parts, but replacing items that should be replaced at an annual or hourly basis whether they have failed or not. Hence the term preventative maintenance. All my hand-held machinery that is in for a menu preventative service has a new plug and fuel filter fitted irrelevant. Foam filters are only replaced if they are split, excessively contaminated or deteriorating. Paper filters are automatically replaced if contaminated. If someone brings a machine in for an annual service, then it is perceived it is running fine, and they want it serviced for another year to keep it that way. If it has an underlying problem, then initially it is treated as a repair, with the possibility of a full service once the problem has been diagnosed and rectified with the customers' consent. (certainly wouldn't change the carb diaphragms as a matter of course on a service though) I took my car to service last month. It was working fine- the oil, the oil filter, the plugs and the air filter, but they still changed them.

Here you go- part number for oversize bar stud for 039. 1127 664 2410 Just order from your Stihl dealer. Job done.

If the drive sprocket is rotating at running speed, then yes oil should trickle out irrelevant of whether the bar is fitted or not.

From memory Stihl do produce over sized bar studs for exactly this eventuality. Same size as original for the bar nuts, but larger diameter for screwing in to the body. Simple fix if you can get one.

I do understand, I made the observation in response to the irony of, and my annoyance with the OP's comments about dealers in general.

No, got nothing to do with incompetence at all. As the owner of a reasonably large dealership I employ 6 full-time mechanics. All fully skilled and are quite capable of repairing rather than replacing if the options there. However as the person whos name is above the door it is my responsibility to guarantee any repair we do as best as I can. By removing as many variables as possible I can be more confident with my guarantee. Should a repair to a component fail, then potentially it could cost me thousands and the buck stops with me. If a recently fitted new components fails then I can pass that buck further up the tree of supply. Furthermore- depending on your labour rate, then in most cases nowadays the additional labour to repair a component can easily outweigh the lower labour of simply and quickly fitting a new unit. Briggs and Stratton carbs are a prime example. When they cost £60 or £80+ to replace we could afford to spend an hour or two re-building them, now however they retail around the £18-£25 mark and can be changed in 15 minutes. With our labour rate of £38 per hour plus vat it doesn't take much to calculate it just isn't worth re-building them.

....it's not simply done because it's easier. It's done because of liability and a paper trail. If you fit a new components and it fails, the garage has a come back on the manufacturer/supplier whereby a repair or fabrication by the garage if it fails, falls on the shoulders of the garage. If people wen't in the habit of suing all and sundry, then you would see more engineering (or professional bodging)

....you mean the dealers- like the dealers that spend a fortune on sponsoring this website, and (with all due respect) spudulike that doesn't, but touts for business on here with no apparent reciprocal return. ...just a thought.

Naturally that would depend on the model and its intended usage.

Yes, of course they do.

It's still depreciating, still taxed and still will require an mot whether you use it for favours or not.

Low or no oil would indicate all round scoring like that.

Just by an OE one at more money and you wouldn't have had a problem. Pattern ones are cheap for a reason you know.

Unless you were trying to find out if it was pregant, then it doesn't surprise me an ultrasound didn't do anything. ....an ultrasonic clean on the other hand..........

some do, some don't on the 038. All later 038's use a sealed module whereby the lead is part of it and irreplaceable. All replacement 038 modules are also sealed. If it is one that you can replace the lead on its own, then it should unscrew anti-clockwise without using too much force- any more then it's probably a moulded lead.