I was using my father in laws old Stihl 028 yesterday bucking up a large branch that fell. About 10-15 minutes into the job the saw would accelarate eratically but never stalled. Although its performance was intermittent, we were able to finish the job. I took it home as I will keep it on long term loan now that I'm becoming a wood burner (my current is a Remmington 3.5hp which I really don't mind at all) and went to start it up again and it was hard to pull. Being stubborn, I kept pulling hard and everntually broke the pawl! Actually, in doing that it made sense to me that perhaps something is wrong with the throttle switch. Anyone else ever have a problem like this? I'm hoping to get time to take it to the dealerthis AM, but more likely it will be Monday. THANKS!