Starting problems & 2 cycle mix

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Cmarti

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I have a cheap poulan 18 inch chain saw that is about 4 years old and is a bear to start hot. Known for vapor locking! So, I just went out and bought a Stihl, but I will continue to play with this Poulan as I lead a very boring live
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The carb and exhaust are surgically clean, new fuel lines, no air leaks or piston scoring detected, bolted together as tight as a drum. Tryed several types of plugs. In my internet quest for suggestios (besides buying a good saw) I have gotten:

Run the mixture rich
Run the mixture lean
Dump water on it before restarting (I did throw it the
creek once)
Open the gas cap (did not work)
change the spark plug (did not work)
Drink beer for 1 hour (it does work, but lowers productivity)


I am down to mixture. I have like 20 different fuel mixes for my toys, so I thought I would try the Lawn Boy oil at 32:1 and then the Echo synthetic at 50 :1. I have been running a valvoline dino at 40:1 per Manufacturer's recommendation.

I am open for your thoughts and suggestions.
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Waiting for my saw to cool.......
 
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Are you priming it with the priming bulb before trying to start? My saw has one and it makes a world of difference!
 
I have a Poulan that is several years old. It is very picky about gas. It has to be fresh, otherwise it is hard starting and won't idle for beans.. I use 32-1 mix with some Shell all purpose 2 cycle oil I bought several years ago. It takes me forever to use up a quart of oil.
 
Years ago I was in the market for a chain saw, went and talked to my neighbor behind me, and he said get a STIHL. I knew they were good saws, I said why should I buy a Stihl.

He told me that he owned every other saw and they were junk, and he has never had any problems with his Stihl.
 
Drain it out and get some Amsoil 2 cycle synthetic Sabre'.

Mic at 1:50.

Start it up and it will go for years to come.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
You should have taken the gas cap off, then thrown it in to the creek. Use your new Stihl and let the Poulan collect dust.


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I have a similar problem with a Homelite leaf blower. Starts great when cold, but a bear after it has run a while. I found that using the choke to kill the engine and not the kill switch eliminates the hard start when hot. Take the choke off when you go back to restart and it fires right up.
 
I doubt the oil ratio has anything to do with it. You may just have to try different re-start procedures until you find the one that works. For most of my 2 strokers a hot re-start is with no choke and half throttle. Mikey's suggestion might be the ticket, too.
 
Originally Posted By: Boomer
Are you priming it with the priming bulb before trying to start? My saw has one and it makes a world of difference!


boomer, c'mon I may be from Ohio, but......

Thanks for the responses guys! Johnny is probably right....but I am out of OCD medicine. I may try the 32;1 to see if it runs cooler. I have the carb tuned to that perfect flutter at high speed and the plug has beautiful tan deposits. It just will not start after running a while. Oh well
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Please tell us the history of this saw. Has it sat around a lot with fuel in it?

Did you rebuild the carb?

New fuel filter?

Check impulse line?

Check carburetor to cylinder connection for air leak.

Check compression...should be at least 120?


Some Poulans have a goofy throttle/choke lock system. Have you followed start up instructions?

Have you checked for spark when it is hot? Does your saw have electronic ignition or points/condenser/coil (this could show up when hot).

Check everything again.....I would start with a $10 carb rebuild kit.

I seriously doubt that the fuel/oil mixture is the problem.
 
Originally Posted By: Pete591
Drain it out and get some Amsoil 2 cycle synthetic Sabre'.

Mic at 1:50.

Start it up and it will go for years to come.


This is what we did with our chainsaw and it works great now... Prob. the oil is causing the combustion to fowl...
 
I was reluctant to mix the Amsoil Saber at 100:1 and always kept it at 75:1. Then I researched and found out that the lubricating properties of the Amsoil was ~25% better at 100:1 than the dino 2cycles were at 50:1. Didn't make sense to me 'till I found out that Amsoil has litle to no solvent in it were dino 2 cycle can have up to 30% solvent. I now mix at 100:1 with no probems at all with the weed wacker, leaf blower, chain saws, or the old 2 cycle lawn mower. No smoke or burning eyes either!
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Please tell us the history of this saw. Has it sat around a lot with fuel in it?

Did you rebuild the carb?

New fuel filter?

Check impulse line?

Check carburetor to cylinder connection for air leak.

Check compression...should be at least 120?


Some Poulans have a goofy throttle/choke lock system. Have you followed start up instructions?

Have you checked for spark when it is hot? Does your saw have electronic ignition or points/condenser/coil (this could show up when hot).

Check everything again.....I would start with a $10 carb rebuild kit.

I seriously doubt that the fuel/oil mixture is the problem.


I am anal enough to post on an oil web site so imagine how I take care of things.....This has been a problem since new, and remember it starts and runs flawlessly when cold. Carb, fuel/air filter and compression would effect cold starts as well. You may be on to something with the coil pack. I will check spark hot.

Some info in original post and here again; drained after each use, new plugs, Carb Rebuilt, New fuel lines, filter, tan deposits on plug, no fouling, tuned to flutter on high speed, No air leak detected by misting, Gas cap vent open. I assume I may have one of these problems:

*Runs hot and expands the rings or sleeve?

*Runs hot and vapor locks design flaw?

*heat is affecting the ignition pack?

the internet is flooded with Poulan will not start hot complaints, I probably got what I paid for. I was just curious if anyone had a similar problem and if better lube or heavier ratio would make the thing run cooler and restart easier. I will post back if successful. I will be cutting wood as soon as bow season is over and play with it for experiment sake.

p.s. That Stihl 290 farm boss is ubelievable. Granted it cost $180 more, but I should have galdly spent it than go through the 4 years of frustration I did.
 
Originally Posted By: PeteM
I was reluctant to mix the Amsoil Saber at 100:1 and always kept it at 75:1. Then I researched and found out that the lubricating properties of the Amsoil was ~25% better at 100:1 than the dino 2cycles were at 50:1.


Have any of you fella's running at 100:1 ever considered what may happen on a hot day and the saw gets really hot ?
Or that a 'richer' fuel/oil mix (all the way up to 16:1) gives more power due to a better ring seal ? (all else being equal)

I just don't buy the weaker fuel/oil mix marketing angle, I just can't see any advantages and definitely wouldn't go weaker than 50:1 in a 'pro' saw and there are no buildup issues if the saw is tuned correctly at those mix ratios with the very good syn (ester) lubes.

Kart racers still only use 16-20:1 with exceptional oils like Elf HTX 909, Maxima Castor 927, Castrol A747 and Motul Kart Racing 2T and the MX crowd only use around 32:1 unless using something like Motul 800 2T at 40 or 50:1.
 
Said with tongue in cheek.

Like the (fill in desired nationality/group) who told the guy in the hardware store that his hand saw was too slow in cutting firewood. Guy sold him a small chain saw. Comes back a day later and says no improvemnt. Gets a bigger chain saw. Goes on like this until he has a 10 HP say with a 48" bar. Clerk says he doesn't understand. Starts it up and the customer says "Wow! What's that noise."
 
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Originally Posted By: Boomer
Said with tongue in cheek.

Like the (fill in desired nationality/group) who told the guy in the hardware store that his hand saw was too slow in cutting firewood. Guy sold him a small chain saw. Comes back a day later and says no improvemnt. Gets a bigger chain saw. Goes on like this until he has a 10 HP say with a 48" bar. Clerk says he doesn't understand. Starts it up and the customer says "Wow! What's that noise."

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Update!

I went to Arborsite,com and got some advice to run pure synthetic saw oil at a higher ratio, and run the carb a tad rich.

I took LS 53's advice and ran Stihl ultra at 50:1 instead of the ususal Valvoline MP at 40:1. I gave a tiny tweak rich, it was running too well to really move the high end, and put in an E3 spark plug (my own experiment) I cut for a half hour, drank a beer for 10 minutes and for the first time ever the PP started hot, without contortions, and on the first pull. Did it again 2 diff times later in the day. I may never use the saw again, but I feel like this is a victory.:clap:

Act of God, diff plug, or running cooler due to oil? It is funny I run synthetic oil in bikes, ATVs, trucks, tractors, snowblowers, generators thinking, but not really having any proof it makes any difference at all. Religous oil changes good gas, seafoam, Platinum plugs whatever it takes. Then I run the oil I pick up at my gas station in my 2cycle stuff. This is the first time I have ever had a difference using a premium oil over a rated oil. Maybe in a problem two cycle, Premium Oil can have a positve effect....

Again, thanks to all who responded.
 
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