Dan Forsh

Ah! chain brake...:blushing:my mistake. Apologies for not reading your post properly. I only have anecdotal to offer you on that. I once had one I couldn't for the life of me get back in, so decided to take one off another saw I had to see what I was doing wrong and managed to end up in the same situation with that one too. Can't remember how I ended up fixing them, long time ago. Watch the video Gardenkit suggests.

Dunno on that exact saw, but usually start from the outside and work it back in with a small block of wood, plastic lighter has worked for me in the past. People make the mistake of trying to coil it back up by hand and then fitting it into the housing; there only lies the way of sore fingers and frustration.

Manufacturer's if I have one to hand (i.e. cheap black Stihl), pull cord if I haven't. I have one of those ally, screw in the plug hole, type too, but I would only use it in a cylinder where the plug hole is in line with the cylinder bore, not angled to it.

Torque, what's that then:001_smile:? They all get tightened by hand. If it wasn't in the body by now, I think I've missed an important step out:001_huh: Calling it a night now as the urge has left me. Cheers Spud!

It's on an MS230, so clam shell. Shouldn't make any difference though should it?

How long do you let Dirko sealant go off for before you pressure and vac on a rebuild? 2nd time I've done this one due to a dodgy crank seal so I want to crack on with it.

If you are asking because it's a right bastard to pull over, check that the starter rope spool hasn't split. They can do and it allows the rope to bind on itself making you think the saw has megga compression.

Can I go for the booby prize?

Thanks for all the info and alternative views. Much appreciated.

Oh yeah, start with easiest first; just because the plug is two weeks old doesn't mean it cannot be the cause of your problem.

Without the benefit of clever electrical knowledge, you can get spark testers like Stihl do something called ZAT??? which I think just plugs in line from the ht lead to the plug. There are two versions I think. An expensive one and the older version that costs about £12. I think all these do is give you a visual means of checking for spark production rather than trying to hold the connected spark plug against the cylinder whilst pulling the saw over. Maybe something similar/cheaper from a cars spares place? Maybe try changing the HT lead. These can break down over time. If it's the unit itself, I don't know of anything other than replacing, this is what most of the manuals say anyway.

Hi, Looking for any tips/advice on this. I seem to have unwittingly become the grounds keeper for my wife's church; probably knowing that I own a lot of petrol powered tools put me in the frame for this. The fact that I fix them rather than use them doesn't seem to come in to it. I'm not any form of gardener or arborculturist, so I'm looking at about half a dozen mature trees around the church grounds that are quite heavily covered with ivy. Looking at the couple that don't seem to be effected, these seem to have had the ivy's growth cut back in previous years. It looks to me like the ivy has been cut off about a metre from the ground and stripped back to the base. I assume that from the dead remains I can see above, that this kills it off? Is this the normal way of dealing with it, or is there more to it that I'm missing? Thanks in advance. Dan

I've put it back together and fired it up. Bit boggy first couple tries, but I'll put that down to the carb having been off. Seems to be running spot on again now. Tried a couple cuts in the one bit of rotten old wood I have in the garden and no problems. The only thing I would add was that I fuelled it first as the tank was quite low and I noticed the fuel filter wasn't quite sitting on the bottom of the tank. The fuel pipe was sort of bent back on itself a bit and the filter was sitting on a bit of a sort of ledge in the tank so I flicked it down with a screwdriver. Could a combination of low fuel and the filter being in this higher position make it load up like I described? I've heard people talk of saws leaning out when low on fuel, but I've never seen it myself. Seems fixed, but I'd rather know what I've fixed before I hand it back. I'll be off the the wife's church yard tomorrow and find something decent to try it out on.

Any ideas on this one fellas as I'm puzzled. Recently overhauled a, little used, MS211. Total strip down including piston out, cleaned up all put back together and seemed to be running A1, but wasn't able to try it in the cut as I just didn't have anything around at the time. Asked the guy who is buying it to try it out and report back. After intial trial he was happy enough and paid me for it, but when he came to use it the next day it initially ran fine and then after restarting is started loading up on the revs and had to be shut down. When it came back to me initially I tried to start it a couple times and it bogged and died as I took it off the throttle lock. Then it fired, seemed to rev cleanly but then loaded up as he described. Didn't seem to respond to the throttle control at this point other than to undulate the revs a little, but it seems to be at full throttle. Shut it down fearing a massive air leak and have just vac and pressure tested it, but it's passing both of these fine. Piston looks fine through the exhaust port too. I don't think it is anything as simple as throttle sticking as I was taking care to see how this felt when it was running and the action felt okay, nothing seemed to be sticking. Anyone know of anything that might cause this? Beyond an air leak I can't think why it would load up like this. I'm not overly familiar with these strato carbs, so could it be something in there? Cheers, Dan

Are you sure it was push on? They are usually a self-tapping type screw in there so it should be twisted on.

I was reassembling an MS211 the other day that I'd taken apart a while back, so had the service manual to hand to help me remember where things went. By chance I noticed the section in the manual covering the same procedure that Ray has advised on above. The only slight difference is that the manual says drill out the rear hole (on the left in the above pic) to 4.5mm and the front hole to 5.5mm. Fit a D 5x16 screw into the front hole and a P 4x16 screw into the rear one. If the pegs have snapped off in the casing, just push them through into the casing, no need to try to extract them. Just to add, this is the procedure for the MS171, 181 and 211, might be not exactly the same on the 180.

I think I also changed that not too long ago, but it's an easy one to try, so I'll replace the filter. Wouldn't a blocked filter cause running issued too though? Cheers

Hi, Anyone got a clue why? my trusty old 026 has been shelved for a while, but was needed this weekend so I got it out added fresh fuel but it didn't want to pop on choke. I put a little mix over the back of the air filter and it fired straight up and ran fine thereafter. However, from cold it still won't prime from choke and I have to do the fuel on the filter trick again. I know these can be a problem sometimes with the choke flap not seating properly, but I checked the position by marking the little lever with a pencil line and it shows it is fully closed when the control lever is set to choke, so I'm wondering what else it might be? I put a new impulse hose on this not too long ago, so doubt it would be a lack of pumping by the carb, unless it's the carb diaphragm needs changing maybe? Saw runs and idles fine, just this cold starting that's a pain. Cheers Dan

Mmmm..., Eddy was falling over his words on this; basically you have a small 'let me at it, I'll eat it till is dies' saw (like the scrappy doo of saws) and two 'Let me at it, I'll eat it forever' (like the Rocky of saws) saws. Yes, you made a great deal and could probably make your money five times over if these saws are A1 running, but you could also learn on two great saws of their times and then sell them without any depreciation later. Just sayin:001_smile:

Peatff was playing poker; Eddy wasn't :-)

Fairbanks morse type starter?

Looks like I missed out by not being on Ebay for the last two months. For a first timer (I'm assuming) you didn't do bad there did you! 2 x 056 and a 242 screamer. For £200, running?!? There is a certain American site, we all know, were you would be awarded a 'you suck' award on that basis alone. I would always recommend having two saws even if it's just to cut out the one saw that you got stuck in a cut. 056 would be better in big stuff if you have any to cut, but the 242 is definitely a keeper if you are going to use it. A good 056 (put on the biggest bar you've got one it) sold on ebay will easily make you back the £200 outlay. Reasonable distance from Chester would be Duttons Stihl dealers at Daresbury for me.

Bit clunky but you can view one here Diagrams

If it's like the ones I've used in my Dremel, it's a rotary stone rather than a file. I have to wonder how many accurate uses you can get from them as the stone's diameter reduces with use.

Only if you've just had your nails done