New saw

[MarkinNC]

Primers these days no longer squirt fuel into the intake (at least on small 2 cycle engines) since it would be very easy for someone to flood an engine that way. Plus with every manufacturer trying to improve engine emissions, squirting raw fuel anywhere is a no-no. Instead the primer just purges the fuel line and carburetor of air, dumping excess fuel back into the tank. Then it's up to the choke to help pull fuel from the carb for a cold start. So even with a primer, these days you still need a choke.

I guess that is why they told me I can't push that primer bulb too many times. FWIW I hardly ever use the decomp on the 346.

 

[Beardog]

Glad to see you pulled the trigger on the 346, you will love this saw!

 

[Thistle]

FWIW I hardly ever use the decomp on the 346.

I wouldnt think you would need it.My 12 yr old Super 380 without decomp has around 150PSI still,its no trouble starting,2-3 pulls cold,1 pull when hot.Where I tried pulling the rope w/o the decomp button on the 288XP,damn near pulled my shoulder out of socket,same thing that my 475 with NO decomp does.Which is why I'm selling it,dont need 2 very large saws now.

 

[MasterMech]

I never noticed before that the 346XP NE has both a primer bulb AND a decomp button. Seems weird. I always thought they were mutually exclusive as you usually don't see a bulb on a saw wiht a button and vice versa.

I thought is was a choke and primer bulb that served much the same purpose.

My old Craftsman saw had a primer bulb and a choke, never even heard of a decomp button till I joined this forum. My 359 has a decomp button and a choke, but no primer bulb. The 346XP OE does not have a primer bulb, but it does have a choke and a decomp button.

Mayhem, the reason you rarely see both on a saw is cost. It is kind of a luxury to have a purge primer and a choke.

I'll have to defer to your experience here, but this just doesn't add up in my brain. If a primer bulb is a luxury item on a 2 stroke, why do I only see it on lower range saws and not on the 372XP...the $1700 3120XP doesn't have a primer bulb and in that price range you'd think they'd put every little bauble they could on there.

But the $90 string trimmers at Wal mart all have primer bulbs.

Just clarify, I'm not talking about a choke, I'm talking about the decompression button on the side of the cylinder.

I apologize as I mis-read the post. I'm not going to try to pin down why the pro-saws don't usually have primers (Simplicity, one less thing to go wrong...? Maybe it just feels good to pull the rope a couple more times? :lol: ) As far as the decomp button goes, the purpose is to reduce the effort needed to pull the engine over (by bleeding off cyl pressure) and it's use is optional depending on the guy pulling the rope. The engine will start so long as you can still pull it over, and I'm betting you can if you want to try it. ;-) Without the choke however, you will have to eat your wheaties AND drink gatorade get it started.

 

[Battenkiller]

As far as the decomp button goes, the purpose is to reduce the effort needed to pull the engine over (by bleeding off cyl pressure) and it's use is optional depending on the guy pulling the rope.

I never use the one on mine. Just another thing to wear out and break. Even my wife can turn over my 346 without the decomp. I lost one saw already when the auto-decomp failed, definitely don't want to lose another one, especially the 346.

 

[DiscoInferno]

As already mentioned, the 359 doesn't have a bulb, but it probably should as it often takes quite a few pulls to start. (Especially if I run it dry.) The 455 has one, but I've never needed it as it always starts easy. Go figure.

 

[mayhem]

My 359 starts as easily as I could imagine.

Cold, choke on, pull handle max of 3x and it popos, choke off and one pull and its runnnig.

Hot, one or two pulls, no choke.