Chainsaw has trouble under load

[WarmGuy]

Haven't used my Craftsman chainsaw since September. Took it out to grab some storm-downed trees.

It started fine, but would die when I hit the gas. After an hour with many attempts I finally got it going, but it didn't have it's usual power.

Cleaning the air filter didn't help. Spark plug was pretty dirty, so I'll get a new one and see if that fixes things.

Any thoughts?

This is the first time it let me down. Somebody else will probably get the wood that I didn't cut.

 

[snowtime]

Old fuel is always a possibility. Have you changed your fuel filter? Most don't and its a common cause of power troubles. I do not know about Craftsman but Huskys have there fuel filter in the gas tank. Its on a fuel line that you just pull out and exchange the filter on the end. Good bet this will fix it.

 

[ChrisN]

All other things being equal, I'm guessing your fuel went bad.

 

[MALogger]

I would think either fuel filter or spark plug. Most 2 stroke mix contains stabilizer and back to september is not that long of a time. Also might need to adjust high and low mixers.

 

[cmonSTART]

I agree that it's probably a bad gas issue. Most of the saws we get in suffer from this. If a tank of fresh gas and a new spark plug and fuel filter don't cure it, it's time to look for holes in the fuel line or air leaks.

 

[WarmGuy]

The oil mix had stabilizer in it, and had been bought mixed in September.

But let's say the fuel is bad, what do I do with the 1.5 gallons of fuel? I can't put it in the car, and I don't have any other small engines around here.

 

[Cazimere]

Save it. It comes in handy for cleaning things. Paint brushes, greasy hands etc.....

 

[Reggie Dunlap]

You can run that fuel through your car. A small amount like that won't hurt anything when it mixes with the rest of the gas in your tank. I've done it plenty of times.

 

[WarmGuy]

Well, I replaced the plug, and now it runs fine.

Here's the old plug. Does it look fouled to you?

 

[cmonSTART]

No, but Champion plugs are garbage IMO. Stick to Bosch or NGK for saws.