OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Chainsaws and Concrete Cutters Petrol Chainsaws and Concrete Cutters Stanley Chainsaw

A neighbour brought his Stanley chainsaw over yesterday because he couldn't get it started. He is not sure how long he has had it but it is less than 12 months. It has only been used once by his brother in law to chop down a small tree. It has spark and compression as you would expect from a new machine even though it is Chinese rubbish, but you would expect it to work more than once. It has fuel and the primer seems to be working and even with a spray of starter fluid on the air filter I could not even get one little flutter from it, not the slightest attempt to fire. I'm guessing it is a carby problem but I just couldn't be bothered pulling the carby off with little chance of finding the problem. Any thoughts?

NormK, When you say it got compression does it have 100 psi or better? Most handheld 2Cs here will not start if less than 100psi. Removing the muffler and checking the cylinder condition would not hurt either as they can still have a fair compression right at the end of the stroke and still have a bad PNC.

Also if it has the 10mm spark plug then try a known good plug. I have been there little plugs failing under compression.

If it won't fire on aerostart then it is probably not the carby. If it's less than 12 months old it might be still under warranty. Have you had the plug out and checked for spark? Could be a faulty kill switch even.

Thanks for that , why people buy this rubbish I will never understand but I guess market forces have driven these things down to the cheapest on the market, so as consumers we deserve what we get.
AVB, sure I tried a new plug after I had to get the grinder in there to cut one of the screws off that held the cover over the plug because when it was assembled they had cross threaded it.Plug has good spark, compression is as good as you would expect on any motor of that size.
Trev as for warranty he lent it to his brother in law still in the box but it came back without the box and the warranty paperwork. I have told him to just put it in the bin, they are not worth wasting time on

If you have spark and compression, and a clear exhaust, and it won't fire on aero, it is probably crankcase seals or carby to body seal. I've got a Chinese Stihl clone that I have had for a few years now, 72cc with a 25" bar, and I have felled some pretty big trees with it and cut up some pretty big Ironbarks that I had pushed out with a D9, one being so large that to butt it I had to come from both sides as it was nearly three feet through, and the damn thing runs like a rocket and has never failed to start on two or three pulls from cold even in Winter so you can get good clones, just depends on how close to the original they are. Best part is the saw only cost me $89 shipped to my door!

Trev, this thing would not have done an hours work, I know the brother in law, you can't use work and Eric in the same sentence, so this tree he cut down was probably a large bush, but in his eyes it would be a tree. I guess I will end up getting stuck pulling the carby to bits, but I don't know what I would be looking for. I bought a real Stihl Farm Boss, from memory it cost about $800 and that was in the early eighties, still a fantastic machine today even though it hasn't done a massive amount of work, but cuts enough wood for the fire each year. Don't think I have ever changed the spark plug

The last sentence probably explains the whole problem but that's my opinion. You simply don't loan your tools out. I got a feeling it has been straight gassed. Once you ruin the PNC on these cheap engine it all over as it cost as much as a new saw in parts alone here and warranties don't cover it either.

Just because the spark plug has good out of the engine spark doesn't mean it has spark under compression load. That why I usually suggest using a known good plug.

I work on many what others may consider cheap Poulan made chainsaws and they are fairly good but they must be setup correctly or they will self destruct for being too lean on fuel mix. I got a Homelite Little Red chainsaw that I use for pruning since it is a top handle saw. The Poulan 4218AV is using a carbide chain for stump removal. The expensive Husky 450 with 20" bar is for the real wood work.

Thanks AVB, hopefully he took my advice and it went out with the rubbish the other day

Piece of garbage, he never should a bought it in the first place. Tell him to chuck it in the bin and buy a husqvarna 135e.

I did point that out to him

is a shame our country being flooded with Chinese chainsaws mowers ect
people who don't know any better think they getting a good buy and good product
some is good and lot not fit for use and sale
lots of old time mower repair shops being forced to close up because of the cheap Chinese rubbish
its not repairable its disposable

Freebird, Don't feel alone we are having same problem over here. It is consumer driven. They buy it and then complain like heck because either can't be repaired or it cost more then paid for it when we add even a hour worth labor even I personally have spent a half day it them to run.

As long as the consumer keeps buying it only going to get worse. Wake up consuming public they are ripping you off; it not us the repair techs/shops fault the bills are so high.

It is like when I was in the office equipment business as a tech. We were a cheap lowend calculator for $100, our labor was $35 per hour plus parts. Well if the calculator needed a new printer, the manufacture wanted $300 for it. We end up buying new machines just for the purpose of parting out. We pay $50 for the unit as a dealer. Just didn't make much back then but does now. I brought a new mower last year with blown engine just to get a SP drive unit for a new customer cheaper that way then buying the part from the distributor and I have the other parts to sell now. The col itself itself sells for $40 so that $40 investment is well worth to me as made more than it cost for the broken mower.

Same problems here AVB, you have to keep chasing old mowers so you can fix another one then you end up with mountains of carcasses piled up everywhere that are still too good to dump. Some people are starting to realize the cheap stuff is no good, but it is getting to the stage that quality manufacturers have had to give up and go cheaper or go out of business, it is a downhill spiral