Stihl 290 ?

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JSJAC

Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 7, 2008
61
NH
My well used Stihl 290 runs great and starts fine when cold. After a tank of fuel and a refuel it will not start. If I pull on it for five minutes or so, it might start 50% of the time. When it starts it is loaded up with fuel. I have tried opening the fuel cap ,thought it might be flooding still the same. Any thoughts?
Had to use the 460 to limb today and thought my left arm was going to fall off. Need to get the 290 working .
Thanks Jeff
 
JSJAC said:
My well used Stihl 290 runs great and starts fine when cold. After a tank of fuel and a refuel it will not start. If I pull on it for five minutes or so, it might start 50% of the time. When it starts it is loaded up with fuel. I have tried opening the fuel cap ,thought it might be flooding still the same. Any thoughts?
Had to use the 460 to limb today and thought my left arm was going to fall off. Need to get the 290 working .
Thanks Jeff

460 20 in bar perfect for limbing! it could be alot of differnt things crank case seals come into mind witch would be the worst.
 
Bigg_Redd said:
Clean the carb. Clean the air filter. Replace the spark plug.

this is the best place to start for sure,heck that 460 not much heaver than the 290 lol
 
Bigg_Redd said:
Clean the carb. Clean the air filter. Replace the spark plug.

"cleaning carb", Do you mean just spraying carb cleaner thru it or doing a carb kit?
 
blel said:
Bigg_Redd said:
Clean the carb. Clean the air filter. Replace the spark plug.

"cleaning carb", Do you mean just spraying carb cleaner thru it or doing a carb kit?

the carb comes off pretty eazy the spray it out good and make sure the gasket still good
 
Off the subject, but my buddy's grandpa use to use an 088 for limbing!!!
 
ikessky said:
Off the subject, but my buddy's grandpa use to use an 088 for limbing!!!

thats my kind of grandpa
 
He was cutting some big timber for his sawmill though. One of his saws was running something like a 7' bar! :gulp:
 
I have cleaned the carb and air filter already and will pick up a new plug this week. No change after the cleaning.
 
JSJAC said:
I have cleaned the carb and air filter already and will pick up a new plug this week. No change after the cleaning.

carb gasket good
 
Not the carb, air filter or plug? Well you're officially beyond my depth. It's an air cooled two stroke engine so there really isn't much more than can go wrong with it.
 
Did you pull the carb and clean and check the jets or did you just spray some stuff in? Is it jetted/adjusted correctly? Are you getting spark to the plug?
 
If it starts fine cold but will not restart when warm I bet it is some sort of mystery electrical/ignition problem - like it's grounding out or the coil is giving out or something.
 
From the sound of this I would suspect a lean mixture on the low side. If memory serves me correct this saw has a fixed high speed get. When starting cold, the choke is adding the extra mix required to start. When hot,it needs a bit more mix to get it going. Either this or it is vapor locking, Ken
 
my 026 pro wouldrun fine until it got hot (maybe 5 minutes tops, certainly not a whole tank)
It wouldhave to be stone cold to start again.

The 'use it' time kept getting shorter.
I was sure I had a gas/air problem, but I couldn't find it.
Small engines are not my thing, either. No patience like I used to have.

Stihl guy couldnt find it right away,either but there was a hairline crack on a gas line nippleon the carb.
Apparently would expand with heat. Sucking air. Never really smelled gas but it must have leaked a tiny bit when not running.

He was able to replace the nipple rather than the whole carb. Runs like new now.
 
Thanks for all the imput. I picked up a new plug and used the saw today. Seemed to start ok when hot.
 
JSJAC said:
Thanks for all the imput. I picked up a new plug and used the saw today. Seemed to start ok when hot.

Sweeeet!
 
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