Echo

Was this saw always like this, do you know its history. Are you sure the barrel and piston are ok, the right plug, is it gapped right, can you swap out the coil, is the coil gapped right. How about the carb, is it old, may be needs a kit, a clean, or swapped out for a known good one. Did you do a compression test, or even hang it by the pull cord and see if the saw turns over because of low compression. How is the muffler, clean screen, no screen, nothing blocking it like bent closed deflectors. I suppose start checking the things above which don't cost first. Have you ever tried a different bar on it, just in case it is a deformed one, gripping on the chain or the likes, is the chain good, was it ever thrown and is kinked where it sits into the bar, that could put pressure on a saw and the longer it runs the worse it would get if heat is building up. Is the sprocket on the bar turning freely. Just some ideas, either way I hope you sorted

Husqvarna and Stihl, multi million if not billion earning companies, and in over 40 years, what did they do, manage to shed a bit of weight that a back yard engineer could have done, and add a few springs and rubbers to dampen vibration, now thats innovation all right, am sorry but just about anyone with a mechanical aptitude could do as well, and I think this is crystal clear regarding their struggle to make an engine management system for their saws, I do not need their trouble so can easily wait until they finally get it right, and how can they release new saws with all the issues sorted when they have warehouses full of their hit and miss saws to sell first, thats no joke, what are they going to do with them all, I would rather have a more dependable system available, I can also wait until some more customer orientated manufacturer makes an alternative to AT and MT, that works, and gives us the tools to work on that system ourselves. I think Husqvarna and Stihl, will get an abrupt awakening at that point. Most people won't stick with a troublesome eco system when a better product comes along, and it will.

Good to hear all went to plan, especially if you improved starting by advancing. Some engines definitely have room for improvement, read about people modding the Makita 6100, timing was advanced and those engines did not like it at all, they were put back to where they were coming from the factory, I guess they got the timing right. Thats sneaky building the key into the flywheel, I have little love left for Stihl.

What width was the key, and if you had to measure, how many mm or thou did you take off, if you could convert what you took off into degrees it could help understand what your timing is now at. What was the reason you altered the timing, did you loose out on revs or gain.

The faster the engine turns, the shorter the available window in time becomes in which to get fuel mixture in, ignite it, burn it and go on to repeat the process, so, light it too early, and you will be forcing the piston back down before it even reaches the top, this robs the engine of useful power, and if taken too far, will wreck it too late with the spark, and other forces take over, the temperature rises in the engine due to more unburnt fuel being even more compressed, heat builds to dangerous levels, and pre ignition occurs, if this cycle is repeated, you will have an aluminum nugget. As said already, it takes a certain amount of time to ignite the fuel mixture, and for the fuel to burn, the end product of the burning is that the released gases expand and push the piston down, its called phase shifting, when the fuel goes from a liquid to as gas as it is compressed and burned. The process of phase shifting also removes the heat that was present under compression thus reducing that momentarily very high temperature that existed as the fuel became compressed. So the advancing of the spark is to get the fuel ignited and burned in time so the engine can move on to the next rotation, and it depends on the fuel being used, the compression ratio is also a big part, for if it is so high the fuel can ignite under the pressure and resulting heat, this is bad, if the engine is so abnormally hot this too causes pre ignition, in both cases we now loose control of when we light the mixture, and we really need to be in control of when to spark things off, sparking things off at the right time also helps reduce stress on the engine, the spark at the right time allows the fuel mixture to burn in a timely manner, any other method of ignition such as too much heat or pressure or both that lead to pre ignition causes very abrupt burn, which puts the engine under much more stress, it can even shatter the spark plug insulator amongst other sorts of damage, bearings get an awful wallop, so do rings, and piston. There is a lot to it, I am just scraping the surface.

No surprise there, these companies need to sell products, no better way to sell products than use global warming as a means to continually move the goal posts, keep people buying. Then take into account that these new saws simply do not last, and you have a recipe for laughing all the way to the bank. We have two Stihl 041 av saws, over 40 year old, that is terrible news for Stihl, because they still run, so no need for a new one. I think they are 16 lb with bar and chain, cast iron piston if I remember, magnesium case, and dependable, it got every kind of oil in the mix and it still runs, so what on earth other than a pound or so n weight have we achieved, it will take ten of the new saws to last as long, does anyone count the amount of pollution that will entail, and how about all the polluting we generate driving to the computer / saw shop to try and fix the modern saw, its a joke, we are being used as vehicles to make money, thats all. If we want to save resources, make proper products the first time around, that will do the environment much more good, oh I forgot, Stihl and Husqvarna would make so little money then, after banning 2 stroke in other sectors and countries that had fuel injection technology, so others, not mentioning names could swamp the market with their versions that are still not reliable, but who cares, it sells. The EU decided to even ban 2 stroke vehicles from using the road from Jan 2017, the great brainy people they are, said that it would not take long for the spare parts to dry up so anyone who owned such a 2 stroke vehicle could drive it till it could no longer be repaired. BIG U TURN, surprise surprise, now the EU has decided this is not good enough as it will take too long, such users have been identified as an ingenious bunch, that could make parts to keep their vehicles on the road. So now the BS**** ER's in the EU are looking for legislation to stop this. And our chainsaws will not go a miss either. if wealthy people used saws, they would probably be giving a grant to buy them. But there is not much hope of the movers and shakers ever having to work for a living, so lets penalize those that do, the ordinary man who has to make a living, lets make him pay up for shares in the global warming scam.

Husqvarna are still selling the child's version of their saw, that's just downright discriminating, plastic is plastic.

Thanks for the offer re the Dolmar. I was sick, then I met an old friend, who had an Echo for sale, just got to see it today, and made an offer, and got it. So for now am sorted. Thanks to all for posing

The filter on the 501SX is a perfectly good filter. I had Two of them, just met a man I never seen for Eighteen months, and recently acquired another one. Dust does get in the carb box, if you find a way of blocking the hole where the idle is adjusted through, you will have way less dust. The other thing I noticed, one of mine came with the filter not seated, there is a rubber ring on the collar of the inlet where the filter sits over, I put vaseline on this, now when the filter is sat down, it slips over the rubber ring and seals, before this, the plastic of the filter would GRIP on the dry ring, and not go down, this resulted in the top cover pushing the filter down and pressing it little out of shape, this out of shape can open the joint between the two halves of the filter, then dust gets in, and when you loosen the top cover the filter springs into shape again, so no gap to be seen. Get a piece of filter foam and cut it so it cant slide back forth up or down and lay it inside the airbox, you can soak it in oil first and squeeze it out before fitting, these filter are no problem at all. @Saw Troll The Echo will outlast the 550xp. To me they are saw for different purposes. If I was working in the wood, or getting paid for commercial work, I would take the 550xp, its nimbler, revs quicker and higher, thus I would get more done and get paid more. For me that cuts firewood mostly, the Echo is a better saw, I do not get paid for cutting my own firewood, so the slight edge in cutting speed most due to the rev boost is not important, whether you think so or not, high revs like that are not good for an engine, heat and shorter life are usually the result, ok if your paid as you can move on to another saw, but the fire wood cutter cant afford that, for he is not getting paid and it would make his wood a great deal more expensive, same if he has to take the AT controlled saw in for repair, it costs him, where he can probably sort a non AT or MT saw on his own time. Standing in the one spot sawing log after log for hours at a time really works a saw, the Echo in my opinion will hold up better, look on other forums that mod saws, the Echo cylinder and the rest of the saw get mentioned for their outstanding finish and the materials used. They knew Fifty years ago that two rings on a piston transfered more heat away from the piston, so who does Husqvarna put one in the 550xp, they can't be that stuck for cash, they did put two rings on some piston, those saws simply lasted too long. Also, the fire wood cutter needs a saw that he can keep right, give me the tools to do this with the Husqvarna and I will buy one, till then, unless I was being paid well, I will stay well clear of AT or MT. Am I here to bash a brand, not a hope, as said, I would gladly buy the newer tech if I were getting paid well enough to replace it at sooner intervals, I can't switch my head off and pretend there were no issues with Husqvarna's AT, and indeed Stihl have had plenty of problems too. Old reliable tech for me any day, electronic components have a short life span, then one has to buy again, false economy. Hope I have not offended anyone, this is why I like Echo, as opposed to any saw that depends heavily on electronics. OH, I have to get this in, the Echo's start when you need them, imagine that, no cooling down, no altering springs in the carb, no removing the primer bulb and joining the pipes, no filing bits off choke flap, no computer required either, and thats after a few fruitless trips to the dealer, hows that for time lost instead of working.

I was thinking Global warming expanded the cap, I hope none of the legislators are reading, might end up with another carbon tax.

Thanks for the links wyk, I will have a look.

I bought my first for just under 600.00, now see them advertised for 750.00, I would not even speak to a dealer who thinks it good to stick the arm in like this, I thought 600.00 was bad enough. Thats why am considering Makita or other brands, unless someone is doing better on the Echo, this is why am looking in the UK, they are a bit more than 600.00 euro from what I have seen so far.

Hi everyone, have been looking around the site, very interesting reading. Am here looking for some information regarding a new 50cc saw. My last one was an Echo 501sx, I liked it a lot, but they are very expensive where I live. So was thinking of a Makita, I've seen an EA5000 on one of the sponsors sites, but am not sure about the casing on these, are they aluminium, not a good idea with the kind of fuel going these days, and the bar studs may have less grip on the aluminium as opposed to magnesium. Our 40 year old Stihl 041 was magnesium. Other than this, are there any problems with these saw regarding starting, bad fuel lines or such, I read somewhere a long time ago one of these size Makita's had starting problems, in fact it was the only Makita saw model I ever heard of having such, I had a 7900, and a 6100 that I believe the man above did not want me to have, for no sooner than I had it did a man come along to try it and bought it off me, but what a well put together saw it was. If anyone knows of a seller with keen prices maybe pm me a link, am in Ireland though so postage is the only way, cant collect. I have never owned an Olemac or any of their offspring, would they be a good buy in the 50cc size, they have a two ring piston, am fond of that, and the 947 model I checked out does not seem to get bad reports, they don't seem like a fast cutter but other than this parts are available, though I note they are more expensive than most brands. Any advise or links to sellers with the above products welcomed.

Am looking for a new saw, and was considering the 501, they are very epensive here in Ireland, I had one last year and made the mistake of selling it, great saw, probably did not have it long enough for the cap swelling as it never happened. I had a 2153 Jonsered that came new with a very tight fitting cap, the only saw ever that took more time to put the cap back on than it took to fill it up, but what a fantastic little beast it was. Not a big issue though, I guess weight saving on materials is nearing the limits, thankfully as a new cap sorted the issue, we can trust the tank casing was not the part that got smaller, now that would be an issue.