Mellish

Sent it to Spudulike and he fixed it - less than the dealers quote and a better job. New piston and barrel, cleaned the carb. Started immediately. Three tanks of work and still blasting through the wood. If you have serious problems with your saw, I can recommend you look him up on this forum.

Interestingly - for me anyway ;-) - I looked at the Echo 400. The reviews are mixed. Either 5-stars or 1-star in Amazon, with people complaining of exactly the same thing for this Echo - the piston or cylinder is scored from too-lean a mixture and Echo won't honour the warranty. Then I came across this gem - you have to mod the Echo carb mix so that it no longer complies with the US EPA laws and so does not run lean and cause the problems others had had. Which I wonder whether is an issue with these 550 XP saws, although I imagine the settings can't be modded with the Husq. Here's the text: "5.0 out of 5 starsGood saw after a few mods. ByLaura Allensworthon September 3, 2012 Step one: Go to the Arborists Site Forums and read up on the CS400, and the mods those guys are doing. Pretty much everyone on that site is a pro user or saw addict. You will find that this is a highly respected saw even amoung pros. They all know that Echo's warranty is garbage but many don't care. Step two: Do the mixture screw stop removal mod before you even start it. Step three: Start the saw and tune it properly. Arborists Site can help you with this too if you are a complete rookie. (The EPA has clamped down on 2 cycle emmissions; so many engines come with stops on the mixture screws to keep the user from tuning "too rich" and melting the polar ice caps. My saw was very lean even in warm weather tuned with both needles to the stops. Left alone it would have surely burnt up like so many in these Amazon reviews. I removed the stops and tuned the saw. Viola, she runs perfect.) Step four: Run the saw and love it. Step five: After several tanks of fuel consider doing the fabled muffler mod, or "MM" as the guys on the site call it. The CS400 responds very favorbaly to a MM and the new found power will have you looking for saw races with your little sleeper."

Here's another thread on the same issue - early scored piston. His happened at 18 months so it was under warranty. Damn. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/chainsaws/64858-husqvarna-550xp.html

Youtube video of taking off the head off a 55 Rancher. Looks easy enough.

£80 sounds better. I bet there's Youtube video of how to take the cylinder off. Otherwise, I think I can get an Echo for just a little more than the repair price...

I didn't try that It seems a 550 xp piston and cylinder set is hard to get - after a search. But my search did reveal this thread - which is pretty telling imho: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/550xp-scoring.239769/

Five years? Then that's fine then.

The problem there - at least so I was told after I took it in and it was repaired - was the hot start fix. I bought some Aspen 2 as well then, but I didn't really think fuel was the core issue. At the time it was new fuel and I shake it well. That said, who knows when the compression issue started: the dealer, when it left their shop said all was fine. I worked it for about half and hour on Aspen and then it wouldn't start. I don't think it was the Aspen - unless it is old Aspen, for does not Aspen also age? So does not Aspen need a big use-by-date on the front? Or does it not age? Anyway, the dealer, when they said it was probably a fuel or air issue was referring to typical causes. As they not specify exactly which, it was clearly not an exact diagnosis. So 'm none the wiser.

Went and picked it up. The exhaust manifold is off and I can see scratching on the piston - see photo. The repair shop think either incorrect fuel or "an air leak" which somehow causes lack of compression and rubbing. If fuel is such a big issue - and it does indeed seem to be - should not Aspen have a very large use-by-date on the front? I bought the Aspen about six months ago, used it in Oct-Nov, and tried again when I got the machine back in Feb.

I tried the support line, to see if they'd cut me some slack, but they told me on the phone and by email that their warranty people only deal with suppliers. I don't think I'd get another Husq - I had a 350 before it and it was major piece of physical exercise to get it started (20 pulls) and the 550 is a little better, but that hot start issue just over-developed the one side of my body. I want a machine that starts in one or three pulls - not ten. Plus the 350 was always getting fixed. Everyone I know uses Stihl and say they have no problems. Size of machine: I have to do a bit of everything - firewood, big trunks, limbing - just not a whole lot. So something like low-end commercial machine is about right. Looking at some other posts here, I'm contemplating trying to fix it myself, but I guess that's just going to be even more pain (and I still end up with a Husq...). But where do you get parts?

Looking for advice on what to try next... Wife bought me a new 550xp two years ago via an online shop in the north. Took it to a local dealer because it wasn't starting in Nov 2015 - dealer put in the hot start fix. Left it alone over the winter. Late Feb started it - a bit weak but thought it might be the chain was blunt. Used it for 20 mins on Aspen and then it wouldn't start. Took it back and they said there was problem with the piston in the barrel. The warranty was one week out of date - so quoting £350 to repair. Total work on the chip is 10 hours. Is the advice just buy Stihl??

New fuel didn't make any difference - wouldn't start cold. Looked at the spark plug - dry. I'll have to bite the bullet and drive to the repair people.

Going to try some Aspen... just in case.

Any technical help much appreciated. Starts cold, but when I try to rev, it cuts out. When it warms, I can operate with lots of revs, but when I release, rather than idle it cuts out. Difficult to start hot. Cleaned and reset spark plug - lots of spark. Air filter looks clean. I've had the fuel for a while, but it was well shaken and worked well in a Husq strimmer a couple of weeks back. One thing - I took out the spark plug when it was hot and it looked dry. That was after lots of attempts to restart. So I'm thinking fuel supply. Can anyone tell me the steps to take to fix? (I'm a technical newb, so stripping the carb is probably out...) I saw another comment about 550s that the user had to adjust the "meter lever" - anyone know what that is, how it's fixed? Thanks