Yes, I have never cleaned a spark arrestor on my own equipment, beyond initially after purchase. This husky has its arrestor visible through the exhaust pipe and it looked very clean.
When I shut it off after the incident it was the nice straw colour of hot metal. Come to think of it, I never cleaned the husky spark arrestor after picking it up on the verge collection.
Ironbark, I have seen too many BG56 & 86 stihls with the spark arrestor clogging regardless of oil or ratio.
If every owner was astute enough to do what you do, I would have serviced a lot fewer stihls.
They always say 'its bogging down, the carby is clogged' to which I respond 'Its not that it can't breathe, it can't s***'. Then get a 14mm socket and show them the massive amount of gunk has turned their spark arrestor into a cork.
The worst oil for it is apparently the genuine stihl oil. It is a great oil, provided you rev the hell out of the motor all the time. Otherwise it will carbon up.
