Muddy42

As above, life was stressful before I had a big 9 inch angle grinder.

Agree. Sorry I flooded the saw on purpose - so I know that it was sucking fuel. Very odd, I will keep trying and provide an update.

totally agree with you. I much prefer a ‘short bar to a given cc’ ratio. I think manufactures always seem to fit too long bars as standard, maybe people look at price per bar length?

ive checked under the metering diaphragm - all looked fine - no blockages and fuel getting though to the plug. I have also managed to flood the cylinder. Nor will it fire with a shot of fuel into the plug. Im off to show it to a friend who ‘knows his saws’ and has a big box of spare ignition modules!

Thank you. I havnt had a chance to check the carb this weekend but I will. I also have a friend who might have have a spare 460 ignition unit to try.

@pleasant and @spudulike thank you. Yes the flywheel has minor play in a circular motion when the bolt is tightened down. I would say the movement is less than 1 degree, when a full rotation would be 360 degrees. Please see below, I'll add some pictures and a video of the motion of the flywheel. On second thoughts maybe the flywheel key is a tiny bit scuffed, how bad does it need to be to upset the timing? I will try disconnecting the HT side. If all else fails I will check the carb again IMG_6032.MOV

My Stihl MS460 is giving me grief. I refurbished this saw two years ago - new lines, carb kit, meteor cylinder, and piston. The saw held pressure and vacuum afterwards. Its only been run on aspen and has been fine until now and I use the saw a lot. Recently the engine cut out whilst cutting at full rev, making a slight ticking noise as the flywheel slowed down. In terms of diagnosis since then, the ticking was coming from the flywheel being too close to the coil, so I fixed that to a business card distance. Nothing looked damaged. After this, I checked for spark and it sparks strongly, meaning you can see the spark in daylight, but I replaced the spark plug anyway. It is drawing fuel to the cylinder, but still won't fire even with a shot of aspen down the spark plug. The compression feels solid (I don't have a tester but the saw and 20 inch bar will hang from the pull cord fine). Also without the decomp valve engaged, it still feels like a 76cc saw to start - hard. From the muffler side, the rings move freely and the piston looks like new, there is some minor carbon when looking at the piston from above. After all this failed, I returned to the Flywheel and pulled it off and cleaned everything. The flywheel key and race all look fine and square to me. On reassembly my only minor observation was that the flywheel has a tiny bit of circular play back and forth? Could this be my problem? I don't really know what to look for with timing/flywheel key problems. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I did but am not a buyer at anything like the price offered. No worries, maybe someone else will buy them.

Nope, not me. No disrespect, but @gobbypunk is asking for a fairly "full" price for these saws, having posted no pics nor really describing what parts are included or missing. Rather than 121 offers and rejections via Private Message, I'd strongly suggest he starts an auction on ebay, that's the way to get best price. Good luck, its amazing what people are paying for spares or repair saws these days.

Pm sent

Thanks, but that's not really my style. It rarely gets used anyway. I'll speak to a local metal working firm.

Yes your example is different from the example of lying in wait for diesel thieves, which demonstrates “intention” but even then I stand by my point - in the UK you are on very sketchy territory using guns for self defence or defence of property. You may win a long legal battle but i doubt you’ll ever be allowed to own guns afterwards.

These responses scare me a bit, I hope you two don't possess firearms or shotguns? Following various firearms acts, possession of guns is not a right like in the US but a privilege granted by the police, after you have demonstrated you are of good character, submitting character references etc. Abuse it and the police will simply take your guns away with very little ability to appeal, which even then takes years. Put basically it doesn't really matter whether what you do is right or wrong, if the police think you are being reckless, that's it. Firearms are even stricter, you need to demonstrate 'good reason' for use. Guidelines set out that good reasons include sporting, vermin control etc. but explicitly NOT defending yourself or your premises (read section 12.81 of the home office guidelines if you want).

Maybe in the US but in the UK. Firearms are not allowed to be used for self defence, protection of private property or even threatening to be used on another human.

On a slight tangent. I have a big Clearview that has developed a warp in the rear wall. Its not that bad, but it makes reattaching the flue harder. Has anyone had any luck straightening out issues like this. I was thinking of some heat and giving it a thump behind a flat surface.

As above, some type of camera. Is it easy to drain the tank? It be tempted to mix in diesel with something horrible that wont compress and trash the thief's engine - water, brake fluid etc. They will regret stealing the next lot. Or red die then inform the police when you find out who it is!!

Thanks. On closer inspection, the metal rod is worn (not sure how?) and maybe also the black plastic switch. The gap looks wider than photos of switches online. I’ll glue now and replace later

Thanks. Do you mean that the choke rod is bent? It feels as straight as an arrow.

I tried a cable tie but it was no good - I couldn't get it to sit properly and it interfered with the movement of the switch. I had a few ideas: 1) thin heat shrink electrical wrap on the choke lever to bulk it up a bit and make it stay put. 2) Dab of glue gun above the metal to stop it popping out. Not to permanent if this fails or I need to remove the carb. 3) remove and disassemble black plastic switch and heat up the plastic slightly with hot air and increase the ‘crimp’ with pliers to hold the metal better. This would be a bit more permanent, but a new switch is cheap if this was a disaster. Any other ideas? I thought everyone owned a MS 261, someone must have had this issue! Thanks

sorry I see what he was doing now. Doh, ignore me.

Thanks. Yes good idea. I could try and get a small cable tie (that's what I call it anyway) around the whole switch. Or if not, I could just glue a piece of cable tie above the metal to stop it jumping out. But Id have to ensure I could work on it in the future. Hmnnn thinking....

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Weird, are you sure you're doing the test right? The working 461 should show continuity. If not, this would mean the coil is not connected to the plug, electricity cannot travel so no spark even if the coil and flywheel are good. In my basic mind, you need an electrical loop - a surge of electricity travels up the ignition wire, through the middle of the spark plug, sparks across the gap, back along the outside of the spark plug and back through the case. A failure of any part of this loop and no spark, so test as much as you can.

The 391 are the "farm" or "semi-pro" types of Stihl saw. I had a play with one recently and didn't really like it - heavy but not with the power that I'd expect from that weight. Also I think they are all the less robust and difficult to work on clamshell design. So personally I wouldn't spend hundred on a new cylinder and parts, even Meteor.

Any pics of the grain? I find it amazing people still have elm of this thickness, around here anything that big has been dead and rotted for 50 years. The seed bank must be fairly decent because smaller trees still get going and survive for a bit.