Small engine maintenance - starting with chainsaws

[cathleeninnh]

I'm looking for assistance/help/advice with my chainsaw and secondly maybe someone would be willing to teach me about small engine maintenance.  I've already got 3 small gas engine devices and will be adding a fourth soon.  Seems like spending money to have someone maintain them every year  is such a waste. Not to mention the hassle of taking the item to them and picking them back up when they're ready.  I would really like to be able to do it myself.

My highest priority is the chainsaw.  1 year old and it is a royal pain to start.  When I get it started, it idles just fine.  When I cut a section of a log and release the trigger for the chain it cuts off instead of just going back to idle gain.  Then it takes forever to start.  Doing this three or four times gets REALLY old.  Any ideas and anyone available to help me out?  Don

[cathleeninnh]

Did I mention that I would gladly pay for the help? 

[Little Owl]

I had a chain saw like that last year (until someone stole it from me).  What you're dealing with is a simple idle speed adjustment.  Check the manual, but typically there will be one or two recessed screws near the engine.  On my old saw they were accessible without having to open the cover.

As far as maintenance goes, there isn't much to it, at least on an annual basis.  Be sure to empty out gasoline at the end of the season.  I've found cleaning the air filter is only necessary about every two years, but your situation might be different and given your idle problems, you might want to try that as well.

I'm planning to take my chainsaw to a "pro" every 4-5 years.  It just isn't worth an annual hassle (and bill) if you keep up on the basics.

[Jim Johnson]

40 years small engine experience... maybe more.

Replace the spark plug... and if it's a two cycle, make sure the oil/fuel mix is right.

[geoff]

Spark plug, oil/fuel mix, change the oil every season is what I've heard.  What I do is the previous every year, then run them once a month or two whether I use them or not. I also put the gas stabilizer in the gas tank I fill them from (I think it's just called Stabil). The biggest help to pain in the ass engines I've found, is to buy Honda from the get go. I dealt with briggs &stratton for long enough, bought new mowers and after the first few mows was in your situation. I had finally had enough and bought a new honda mower and power washer, and have not replaced the plugs or changed the oil in 2 years, and both start up like a charm. Buy a Honda motor if you can.

[KBCraig]

Chainsaw engines are the simplest engine made.

You'll want to fish the fuel pickup line out of the tank, and replace the filter. Clean or change the air filter, of course. And always use Stabil in your gas, and run the saw dry any time you won't be using it for a couple of months. At the end of the year, toss out any old gas, and start with fresh gas at the start of the next season.

[John Edward Mercier]

Before anyone adds stabilizer. Check your two stroke mixing oil as a few brands are beginning to add it in. Not worth paying for it twice.

[Seamas]

This is excellent advice - buy a Honda (although I'm not sure that they make chainsaws).  I never learned how to work on motorcycles until I got rid of my Hondas and bought a vintage BMW.  I have no regrets but knew what I was getting into.

More to the point, all fuel powered chainsaws that I've seen were two strokes and if it doesn't have a separate oil tank one needs to make sure to pre-mix oil and gas.  Sorry if this is obvious and something that you already know.  The most obvious thing that I can think of is that the idle setting is off, which should be very easy to fix and probably the information to do it is available online by Googling the saw's manual.  It will be a matter of just turning a screw so that the saw runs faster at idle.  One other low probability possibility that occurred to me (again no disrespect) is that after cutting through a log you are releasing the chain brake.

I've sometimes joked with friends that my destiny was to be the smartest motorcycle mechanic in upstate NY.  Nevertheless, using chainsaws and felling trees scares the crap out of me.  There's a guy who is a tree topper who talks at most PorcFests (I think he's the head of the Coalition of NH Taxpayers).  I'd talk to him if I were you or hire him to teach/fell the trees if I were me in NH.

Spark plug, oil/fuel mix, change the oil every season is what I've heard.  What I do is the previous every year, then run them once a month or two whether I use them or not. I also put the gas stabilizer in the gas tank I fill them from (I think it's just called Stabil). The biggest help to pain in the ass engines I've found, is to buy Honda from the get go. I dealt with briggs &stratton for long enough, bought new mowers and after the first few mows was in your situation. I had finally had enough and bought a new honda mower and power washer, and have not replaced the plugs or changed the oil in 2 years, and both start up like a charm. Buy a Honda motor if you can.