pleasant

I repeat, from my earlier comment. The OP has stated the saw gets overly hot WITHOUT the bar and chain fitted. Read his original post. This is the confusing thing...if it were just the one issue with the bar, then looking at the bar wear/blueing in the cutting area- combined with the bar getting hot, then I would suggest a dull chain with the operator having to 'lean' on it to get it through the cut- this can effectively squeeze out the oil between the bar and chain in that area, so it gets hot and doesn't lubricate that isolated area..or it's inferior quality chain oil being used or not even chain oil in the reservoir? Correct, decent chain oil not only lubricates but also cools. However, as the issue with with the oil reservoir getting excessively hot without the bar and chain fitted is either another issue or the op is mistaken?

'I have contacted the dealer who like I said was rubbish hence why I’m here asking for some help' As a dealer, I feel I must ask some qualifying questions as to your conclusion they were 'rubbish' A. Is the saw within 12 months of a pro user warranty or 24 months for a homeowner user warranty...ie, are you a pro user of the saw? B. If the saw is within the Stihl warranty period....are you the original purchaser, as warranty is not transferable C. Was the saw purchased from an authorised Stihl agent......or could it have been purchased new, from an auction site such as ebay from someone who is not authorised to sell new Stihl products, and therefore cannot register your purchase for warranty on the Stihl dealer registration site (only authorised dealers have access to this, and registration MUST be done by the selling dealer upon sale..not the customer despite what some dodgy ebay seller might tell you. D. Is the dealer who was 'rubbish' the same dealer you purchased it from? If so, did you state you have done your own investigation/repair work on the saw already? This could invalidate any warranty. E. If it is not the dealer you purchased it from, did you originally ask this dealer to quote for the sale, and then purchase it elsewhere and are now asking for help from this original dealer from which you didn't accept their quote, and therefore decided not to purchase from? We get this a lot whereby we try to be as competitive as possible, and we will fully assemble and fuel/oil machines prior to hand over and demo the machine to the new customer- this costs money, so we cannot beat online prices, but get as close as we can- with the re-assurance that if there is an issue, we are more than happy to look after 'our' customer. However when a customer who we have initially spent time with and offer advice and a quote to, goes elsewhere just to save ten or twenty quid on our price, and then brings in this 'third party' machine with a warranty issue- don't be surprised if we aren't all smiley and happy about dealing with you. F. For what reasons do you suggest this dealer is 'rubbish' any of the above??

So they guy has run it with no bar and chain fitted and the oil tank is still getting hot, so asking if oil holes line up, oil getting to bar or any suggestion relating to bar/chain isn't going to solve that issue if they aren't fitted. I am scratching my head on this one, as the only thing that can influence the heat of the chain oil if no bar fitted can only be heat from the engine, exhaust, clutch or oil pump??

We have had one of these back with exactly this issue. Checked battery and connections all fine. Put battery in and squeeze trigger to start and all you get is a very faint high pitch squeal for a millisecond and the sprocket moves slightly by a few millimeters. Take battery out and sprocket will not move manually. We took it apart and was a failed motor bearing. This was under warranty, so they must have an issue, although this is the first and only one we have sold of this model, so I many be wrong and it's a one off issue- for us anyway.

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.