Got a new saw Stihl 044 but...

[Bspring]

The wife got me a used 044 from eBay. It started fine the first time that I tried it but would never start again. This could be my fault. When I got the saw I filled it up with gas and oil. Two pulls with the choke on and one pull with no choke and it ran fine. I turned it off and took it to the wood pile. Five minutes later at the wood pile I tried to start in and was never able to get it to run. I took the plug out and it looked brand new as was the air filter. The next day I tried it again. It started right up and I ran it for 10 minutes or so. When I shut it off this time I was able to start it right up until I got to thinking that I might have had the choke on when I tried to start it at the wood pile. I put the choke on, gave it a few pulls and took it off. Now it would not start no matter what I did.

Is this a carb adjustment issue or something else? I am guessing that I am flooding it but I have never had this problem with my MS 260. Do I need to request the seller do something about this or is there something that I can do should I flood it again.

 

[fidiro]

Sorry for asking this but did you fill saw up with gas and then added oil right to the tank? FRESH fuel should be properly mixed in seperate container at a ratio between 40-50:1, I personally run my saws 40:1 with 92 or higher octane(I use the stihl 2.5 gallon bottle and just use 2 gallons of fuel). My mixed fuel that is old gets thrown into the car tank after I top off the tank.

A few things can cause it to not run and eliminating one thing at a time will get it running again. If you or anyone you know has a compression tester you should get the saw tested to elimate that, really good compression is anything over 150 and above 160lbs is excellent.

Was the plug wet when you pulled it?

Is it getting spark?

Any cracks in the case that you can see?

Or it can be just a carb adjustment, but it shouldn't be off by much if the previous owner sold it as a running saw. It should at least start and run but you should get the carb adjusted for your altitude.

I'm sure others will chime in to throw more help at you to get you going. Good luck.

 

[Bspring]

The gas is fresh and was mixed separately. It works fine in my other Sthil products. I ran three tanks through my MS260 a few days ago. The plug did not look wet but it could have been. I did pull it and wipe it off and then crank the saw several times to see if the cylinder was full of gas. It did not look like this was the problem.

 

[smokinj]

Bigger saw's need to be started in an order one when cold and one when hot. If you miss that order take the air breather off for 5-10 min.s then reinstall and fire on 1/2 choke.

Cold you still only need full choke once. (or until you get the first pop)
Hot no choke at all!
Warm or Luke warm you may need one pull on 1/2 choke.

Sounds like your just flooding it out.

 

[RNLA]

Like Jay said, there is an order. I do it like this #1. Set Throttle and choke by squeezing safety & throttle trigger, flip choke down with thumb. #2 Push down on compression release. #3 This is optional but proper, place saw on ground, hold top handle, place toe on flat part of back handle, and pull to start. Once the saw burps once set choke at half or one step up from full, reset compression release, and continue to pull. The saw should fire right up with 2-3 pulls. Some of my saws take some work as they seem to be cold blooded but the 044, MS440 saws I am use to go right off if you get the order correct. You may want to go to your dealer if you can't quite get it, it could be a small adjustment...

 

[Jags]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

 

[Bspring]

I plan to give it a reall work out tomorrow. I hope all goes well.

 

[smokinj]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

 

[Jags]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

I can honestly say that the 361 starts the same way every time. You could blind fold me and put ear muffs on me and I could fire that saw just knowing what pull I am on. :cheese:

 

[smokinj]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

I can honestly say that the 361 starts the same way every time. You could blind fold me and put ear muffs on me and I could fire that saw just knowing what pull I am on. :cheese:

:lol: Thats what I had to change. I dont hear so well when cutting! I had one flood so bad one time that I got gas spitting out the muffler once it fired! Now thats skill.... :coolgrin:

 

[Jags]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

I can honestly say that the 361 starts the same way every time. You could blind fold me and put ear muffs on me and I could fire that saw just knowing what pull I am on. :cheese:

:lol: Thats what I had to change. I dont hear so well when cutting! I had one flood so bad one time that I got gas spitting out the muffler once it fired! Now thats skill.... :coolgrin:

And a tired right arm.

 

[smokinj]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

I can honestly say that the 361 starts the same way every time. You could blind fold me and put ear muffs on me and I could fire that saw just knowing what pull I am on. :cheese:

:lol: Thats what I had to change. I dont hear so well when cutting! I had one flood so bad one time that I got gas spitting out the muffler once it fired! Now thats skill.... :coolgrin:

And a tired right arm.

Bad part the 460 was out of gas (always) grab a 361 and got into alot more the refueling would have been less than a dozen cuts left. ;-) I will happen again but seems you go through this until somthing like this happens! lol

 

[oldspark]

Sounds a bit like the "learning curve". As Jay stated, you will use a different setting from a cold start to warm start to hot start. Once I have fired my saw - it will never see full choke for the rest of the day.

You should be real good at that....361 get flooded almost as bad as an 880 running out of gas. It took me awhile to catch the pop on a 361 and still miss it once in awhile.
:cheese:

I can honestly say that the 361 starts the same way every time. You could blind fold me and put ear muffs on me and I could fire that saw just knowing what pull I am on. :cheese:

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

 

[Jags]

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

Yep - but when I pull, I pull. I spin that sucker over like I mean it.

 

[oldspark]

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

Yep - but when I pull, I pull. I spin that sucker over like I mean it.

After starting my 045 for over 30 years the 361 seems like it pulls easily with out using it and I am old, when I first got the saw I had trouble starting the saw so dont bother with it any more.

 

[Jags]

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

Yep - but when I pull, I pull. I spin that sucker over like I mean it.

After starting my 045 for over 30 years the 361 seems like it pulls easily with out using it and I am old, when I first got the saw I had trouble starting the saw so dont bother with it any more.

If it works for ya, go for it. I find that I can get more RPM's on the pull by using it, but understand that I am also giving up compression. I am a drop/pull guy on hot starts and sometimes forget the decomp, so obviously it isn't required.

 

[smokinj]

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

Yep - but when I pull, I pull. I spin that sucker over like I mean it.

After starting my 045 for over 30 years the 361 seems like it pulls easily with out using it and I am old, when I first got the saw I had trouble starting the saw so dont bother with it any more.

If it works for ya, go for it. I find that I can get more RPM's on the pull by using it, but understand that I am also giving up compression. I am a drop/pull guy on hot starts and sometimes forget the decomp, so obviously it isn't required.

I have one if you forget, well lets say you only forget once! :lol:

 

[oldspark]

Do you use the compression release on yours, I swear mine starts better with out it, but I have not used it all that much.

Yep - but when I pull, I pull. I spin that sucker over like I mean it.

After starting my 045 for over 30 years the 361 seems like it pulls easily with out using it and I am old, when I first got the saw I had trouble starting the saw so dont bother with it any more.

If it works for ya, go for it. I find that I can get more RPM's on the pull by using it, but understand that I am also giving up compression. I am a drop/pull guy on hot starts and sometimes forget the decomp, so obviously it isn't required.

I have one if you forget, well lets say you only forget once! :lol:

I can only imagine, once in a while my 045 just about rips my arm off if I do a half hearted attemp at pulling the rope.

 

[Jags]

I have one if you forget, well lets say you only forget once! :lol:

An old skool 110cc Mac was the meanest I have ever seen. Had to damn near sit on the top handle to get a good pull (And I weigh 240 pounds . :lol: )

 

[smokinj]

I have one if you forget, well lets say you only forget once! :lol:

An old skool 110cc Mac was the meanest I have ever seen. Had to damn near sit on the top handle to get a good pull (And I weigh 240 pounds . :lol: )

They have not change much....You can even feel it in your stomach and hernia seem possible! Thank God it starts on 3 pulls..If you let it run out of gas just call it lunch time.lol :bug:

I am now 170 down from normally 200.

 

[RNLA]

We used Mac 110's on our go-karts when I was a kid... We burned alcohol, and raced dirt track. MMM :cheese:

 

[Thistle]

My Poulan 475/77cc has around 175lbs compression,wasnt bad starting it 15 yrs ago,can be a real bear somedays now.Anymore I have to kneel down,place right boot in loop,get firm grip on handlebar & place left knee on cylinder cover to hold that sucker on the ground. :-S No decomp button on it either,while the 415,455,505 did for some reason.My 'new' Husky 288XP has one,am very thankful for it too. :coolgrin:

 

[Bspring]

I guess I just flooded it because it worked fine all day yesterday. That was the first time for me to use a big saw. I was very impressed. It is a 044 with a 28" bar using a full skip chain. I thought with a bar that long that it would bog down. I am very happy with it.

 

[smokinj]

I guess I just flooded it because it worked fine all day yesterday. That was the first time for me to use a big saw. I was very impressed. It is a 044 with a 28" bar using a full skip chain. I thought with a bar that long that it would bog down. I am very happy with it.

044 is rated up to a 32! Wootwooot 24-28 is perfect!

 

[RNLA]

I run a 24" with skip and an 8 tooth sproket.... BRAAAP!