I think my 372XPW is toast

[Solarguy3500]

I was cutting some maple today, and after I finished my last cut and the saw came down to idle, the motor made some nasty clanking noises and then stopped.

I bought the saw new in 2011 and it's got low hours on it. I don't use it for logging or anything like that, just homeowner stuff like firewood, and there were some years (2015 - 2019) I didn't even burn wood when I was running a pellet boiler at my old house, so it got minimal use those years.

Any thoughts? Is the motor shot?

 

[ABMax24]

Pull the spark plug and go from there, if it has metals particles on it or the ground has been smashed something internal to the engine failed. If nothing on the spark plug look into the cylinder to see what you can see. Does the engine turn over at all?

 

[Solarguy3500]

Good call. I should have done that before my original post.

Just pulled the plug and it looks fine, the ground is not bashed and no metal particles that I can see. I also looked inside and I don't see any metal particles on top of the piston.



However, I can't pull the cord. It won't turn at all, even with the plug out which would normally be super easy to pull, it won't budge.

 

[ABMax24]

Sounds like a rod bearing to me then. Unfortunately the best way to diagnose is to pull the engine apart.

 

[Jags]

Before you do a full teardown, make sure it isn't something more simple like a jammed recoil or clutch.

 

[salecker]

Pull your muffler to see what the condition is of the piston.
There is a chance the recoil packed it in...
Sounds more serious,like a snaged ring or a c clip on the piston pin let loose.
If bearings go most of the time they will still move,but if a ring or c clip went and wedged between the piston and cylinder that will jamb them up tight.

 

[brenndatomu]

Before you do a full teardown, make sure it isn't something more simple like a jammed recoil or clutch.

This ^ ^ ^
I've seen coils and flywheels come loose before too...lots of "external" possibilities...

 

[Solarguy3500]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I did some investigating and here's what I found.

Took the recoil off and immediately something didn't look right with the flywheel



A screw had come loose from somewhere under the cover and found it's way over to the flywheel. That's what the noises were, the screw bouncing around the flywheel like a pinball machine. Broke one of the fins off so both the screw and broken fin were bouncing around in there making all that racket until the screw finally jammed the flywheel. That's why I couldn't turn it over. Took the screw and broken fin out of there and sure enough the engine turned over. A few nicks and dings in the flywheel but I suppose it could have been worse.



Next order of business. Figure out where that screw came from. After a little looking, I found it on the top under the carb.


Put everything back together and fired it up and ran it a bit. Within about 30 seconds I heard more clanking noises and shut it off right away. A couple more fins had broken off the flywheel. Guess it's time for a new flywheel. But again, it could have been worse.

 

[Nealm66]

Man, those are good little saws. Glad it wasn’t major

 

[Mutineer]

Yeah, at 10-12,000 rpm those flywheels have to be perfectly balanced so no surprise that some more blades let loose after getting dinged up.

 

[SpaceBus]

Have you removed the muffler?

 

[brenndatomu]

Have you removed the muffler?

I've heard Husky mufflers remove themselves...

 

[SpaceBus]

I've heard Husky mufflers remove themselves...

Nah, just clutch covers!

 

[Nealm66]

Lol

 

[Solarguy3500]

Have you removed the muffler?

No, I did not. After I discovered the screw stuck in the flywheel and broken fin, I assumed that was the whole problem.

Do you think there might be something else wrong as well?

I have run the saw a bit since putting it back together, and even with a few broken fins on the flywheel, it seemed fine. I was going easy on it though until I can swap out the flywheel. My dad who's a retired logger and ran 372 XPs his whole career told me he has an extra flywheel or two that I could have. Just gotta run over and grab it from him.

 

[SpaceBus]

No, I did not. After I discovered the screw stuck in the flywheel and broken fin, I assumed that was the whole problem.

Do you think there might be something else wrong as well?

I have run the saw a bit since putting it back together, and even with a few broken fins on the flywheel, it seemed fine. I was going easy on it though until I can swap out the flywheel. My dad who's a retired logger and ran 372 XPs his whole career told me he has an extra flywheel or two that I could have. Just gotta run over and grab it from him.

I posted that before I finished reading the thread, it's just the first thing I do when something goes wrong.

 

[Nealm66]

Might be hard on the main bearings running it like that too much. At least I would think

 

[Solarguy3500]

My dad dropped off a parts saw this weekend that I can grab the flywheel off of.

My saw is a 2009 model year, and the one my dad gave me for parts is a 2004. At a glance, the flywheels look the same, but I did notice one difference between the two saws. My saw has a blue coil and the parts saw has a black coil. Does anyone know offhand if those flywheels are interchangeable given the 5 year difference in model years?

 

[Solarguy3500]

Today I finally got around to swapping the flywheel with the one from the parts saw my dad gave me. Got everything put back together and it fired right up and ran great.

Back in business! Just in time too because the utility just came through this past week and cut a bunch of trees on my street and left the logs on the ground. A lot of nice sugar maple, some beech and a few other hardwoods. Time to score some free wood!