My Chainsaw Won't Start...

 
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I'm On Fire
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Post by I'm On Fire » Sun. Sep. 04, 2011 11:08 pm

I've got a Husqvarna 450 that was completely underwater in the hurricane of 2011. It ran prior to going swimming but now I can't get it to run. I know nothing about chainsaws so I don't know what to check or do. I've drained the old mix and chain oil. Replaced the plug.

I did pull the cord with the plug out and it seems to crank fine. I haven't checked spark or compression yet. I've heard it could be a few things, needle valve; ring; piston. But again, not sure how to pull this thing apart. Seems to be a lot of tiny parts.

I did put new mix in with the new plug but get the same thing, it cranks but won't start...

I've sprayed carb cleaner in it but haven't tried starting fluid. I'm going to check the gap on the plug again. Any other ideas one can give me would be helpful.

Thanks.


 
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AA130FIREMAN
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Post by AA130FIREMAN » Sun. Sep. 04, 2011 11:35 pm

Starting fluid cuts the oil off the cylinder walls, I would pull the spark plug out, keep it attacked to the plug wire, ground it agains't the cylinder and give a pull to see if it has spark. IF it does, then their probably is a fuel problem. I just redid a carb on a husq 575, just to find their was cracks in the fuel line

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 8:01 am

I'll give that a try. As soon as the rain passes. YAY!! More rain. Seriously, haven't we had enough? And I swear to god, if my tank comes out of the ground again I'm gonna kill someone.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 8:08 am

But in the mean time--drain gas & bar oil again--pull plug & put a heat-lamp--shop light--which ever up to it & let it dry out COMPLETLY--

 
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Post by 009to090 » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 8:13 am

Sounds like the armature just needs to be dried out. Pull the starter cover, and use high pressure air to blow it all dry. Or use a hair dryer. You may need to open the carb and drain any water out. Don't worry, it WILL run again.

I wash all my chainsaws in a tub of soap & water, before I start working on them. Water will not hurt it, as long as you can remove it all.
Remove the spark plug and spray WD-40 in there, so you don't ruin a piston.

If it still doesn't work, mail it to me and I'll get it running. :idea:

DO NOT USE STARTER FLUID!!!

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 6:35 pm

DVC500 at last wrote:Sounds like the armature just needs to be dried out. Pull the starter cover, and use high pressure air to blow it all dry. Or use a hair dryer. You may need to open the carb and drain any water out. Don't worry, it WILL run again.

I wash all my chainsaws in a tub of soap & water, before I start working on them. Water will not hurt it, as long as you can remove it all.
Remove the spark plug and spray WD-40 in there, so you don't ruin a piston.

If it still doesn't work, mail it to me and I'll get it running. :idea:

DO NOT USE STARTER FLUID!!!
Thanks. I'll do that. I won't use starting fluid. And, I may take you up on the mailing it to you thing. :D :idea:

 
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Post by 009to090 » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 7:24 pm

I'm On Fire wrote:Thanks. I'll do that. I won't use starting fluid. And, I may take you up on the mailing it to you thing. :D :idea:
I get saws mailed to me all the time. And also chains in desperate need of sharpening. Easy pay via Pay-that-Pal.
Let me know if I can help, sounds like you are up to your nack in other projects right now :sick: .


 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 9:03 pm

DVC500 at last wrote:
I'm On Fire wrote:Thanks. I'll do that. I won't use starting fluid. And, I may take you up on the mailing it to you thing. :D :idea:
I get saws mailed to me all the time. And also chains in desperate need of sharpening. Easy pay via Pay-that-Pal.
Let me know if I can help, sounds like you are up to your nack in other projects right now :sick: .
Will do. It might be a few weeks before I can really do anything serious with the saw. I just discovered my hot water heater is not working properly. Half of it was underwater. We just bought it a few years ago so I'm hoping I can get it fixed under warranty. There is an upper coil and a lower one, the one that was underwater doesn't work. I puled the cover and the connections are all gummed up from the water. So, we only have partial hot water...if that makes sense.

I really hate the rain now.

 
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Post by CoalHeat » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 9:07 pm

The upper tstat is also the switch. Under normal load the bottom element does all the work. When the cold water reaches the top element the power is switched to the top element. The replacement tstats are cheap and all the big box stores have them.
Sorry you are heating DHW with electricity.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Sep. 05, 2011 9:22 pm

Wood'nCoal wrote:The upper tstat is also the switch. Under normal load the bottom element does all the work. When the cold water reaches the top element the power is switched to the top element. The replacement tstats are cheap and all the big box stores have them.
Sorry you are heating DHW with electricity.
Yeah, me too. The furnace is on the docket next. Since it too was under water and is 49 years old. I've been checking the FS section here hoping for either a furnace or a boiler cheap enough. But I'm afraid it won't be until possibly next spring. So, the DS has to do all the work this winter; which isn't a big deal since it did all the work last winter from January 8th on.

I was going to check Lowes or the like for a new T-stat tomorrow.

 
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Sep. 06, 2011 1:45 pm

I use ether (starting fluid) on 2-strokes all the time. As long as you don't spray the thing for 10 minutes keeping the engine screaming, you won't do any damage. It's a quick way to check spark & compression in one fell swoop - read: quickly. One little spray is all you need. If it doesn't fire in 3 pulls, STOP - you either have no spark or low compression ... but the compression you can tell by just pulling. If it's easy to pull, there's your problem. Ether will always fire if there's compression & spark.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Sep. 06, 2011 1:54 pm

Smitty,

Yeah, with the plug in it's pretty difficult to pull...well..not difficult just harder to pull than without the plug. I've gotta go pickup some WD40 because I left my can in the Dak when I limped it to the garage the other day (blew the rear brake line trying to go to the dump). See, things are truly falling apart at the Fire household. If I think about all the calamity going on at my house right now its actually almost kind of funny in a kicked in the nuts sort of way.

 
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Sep. 06, 2011 1:59 pm

You have compression - that's good! 8-)

One quick blast of ether into the carb with the filter removed, then pull quickly ( and make sure switch is ON, & spark plug boot is on as well ). If it fires up then dies, then you know it's a carb problem with almost 100% certainty. With the fuel we have nowadays, I'm almost 100% certain it is even over the internet. :lol:

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Sep. 06, 2011 5:56 pm

I do hope that is all it is. Gonna work on it tomorrow after I change the heater element in the hot water heater, got the t-stat changed but didn't have a socket to fit the element.

 
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Post by I'm On Fire » Thu. Sep. 08, 2011 1:06 pm

Ok, so I sprayed some WD40 in the cylinder and also checked the old spark plug against the cylinder head for spark. I've got spark.

I then sprayed a little more WD40 in the cylinder and a little into the carb and then put the plug back in and pulled the cord three times. I think it tried to start on the WD40, it sputtered real quick and then died out.

So, should I try a little mix in it?

Also, I still can't get the chain to spin by hand. I used to be able to spin it by just pulling on the chain with my hand. Should I be concerned with this?

Also, and I'm sorry if this sounds stupid but how do I remove the bar and chain? I undid the retaining nut and loosened the chain all the way but can't figure it out beyond that. Isn't the outer cover supposed to come off? I know I sound stupid but I know nothing about chainsaws. I bought it in '08 when I was burning wood and used it until 2010 a few times but since I've started burning coal I haven't touched it.


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