Each spring I go through the same ritual: pull 100 times, cus, check spark plug, wire brush it, spray some compressed air into it... try another 50 pulls... cus some more. Dump old fuel out, pour fresh fuel in .... pull, pull, sputter, sputter - fire up and go.

This year was no different, except it won't start at all, even with starting fluid from O'Riley's. Tried everything I know... wont even sputter.

It's a Stihl Farm Boss - good saw, when it runs...

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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K

Years of hardened dried fuel residue buildup, plus a charge of goop from last years ethenol laced fuel. Time to remove and thoroughly clean the carb.........

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2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)

Sounds like you have a loss of compression.

I had to replace the carb and piston in mine after ethanol messed it up. Carbs are pretty cheap for them.

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Jim

When I went to buy a new piston for my Farm Boss, I ended up buying a Husky...
Damn thing was almost the price of the saw when it was new....
Stihl seems like an expensive throwaway these days.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

How can it be dried up fuel if starting fluid is directly sprayed into the carb? If the starting fluid isn't burning it must not have spark or compression.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Step 1: Check for spark.

Step 2 is usually check for fuel, but you say it won't even start with starting fluid, so even if fuel is a problem, it isn't your only problem.

Step 3 is normally to check compression, but I'm not sure how you do that on a chainsaw. I'm sure someone here knows.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Simply removing the plug, plugging it up with my finger and pulling the cord convinces me that it has the compression - plus it ran great last summer.

I'm unable to check the spark because there is no clearance for me to get the spark plug near the body of the saw and still be able to see that part of the plug... no clearance. I suspect there is no spark - how is electicity timing done on these - is there some kind of a coil?!

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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K

I believe small engines like that employ some sort of magneto.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

It's a CDI magneto system. To test for spark, clip a test lead between the ground shell of the plug and a bolt on the engine. If there isn't spark, unplug the kill switch. The coil is behind the flywheel, so servicing it isn't easy, but the parts are available.
Also, don't use starting fluid on a 2stroke. The engine is lubricated by the oil in the fuel, and starting fluid washes that lube away.

I have similar trouble with my petrol hedge trimmer that gets used may be twice a year. You pull and yank and scream and shout for an hour or two by which time you've flooded the engine...

...I'm convinced that regular use is the answer but for most of the year I'm just fresh out of hedges!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

2 strokes can be tempermental as h*ll. Starting fluid will flush all of the lube off the cylinder walls often reducing marginal compression enough to make the difference between starting or not. I treat every can of small engine fuel with Stabil as soon as I get it home. Gasoline these days has an extremely short shelf life without it, and I am getting too old to be yanking starter cords for hours on end; I have all sorts of small engines, from 3 chain saws, to lawn mowers, ATVs, UTV, weed eaters, etc, both 2 & 4 stroke and, although none of them see a lot of use, and most sit idle for months on end, I have yet to have a starting problem since I began using fuel stabilizer 15-20 years ago and ethenol additive as soon as it became avalable.

Jim

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2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)

^x2 same here.

I'm pretty sure you won't be able to tell the difference between enough compression to start and not start with your finger. If there is not enough compression it will not pull the fuel into the engine. Been there, done that.

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Jim

Get one of the spark testers that is nothing more than a clip and a gap in a clear plastic tube. You really need to check for spark as the next troubleshooting step.

As far as fuel goes, if you buy the top of the line Stihl oil in the silver bottle, it will do away with your fuel storage problems. It has fuel stabilizer and will make a gallon of gas last forever.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I had a Stihl a while back and it had a button to push that would lower the compression so pull starting would be easier if yours has that feature maybe try pullstarting without using that feature. Also full choke until it sputters then go to half choke. Did you check your air filter as they clog up easily with the chips flying around GWS (good luck with starting or good luck with saw).

Use a paper clip stuck in the plug boot instead of the spark plug.