Stihl chainsaw question

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
My trusty ‘ole 026 Stihl has lived a hard life but has never let me down... until recently. It would crank like usual, idle fine, but would sputter and choke down with full throttle. I was stumped and thinking it was carb issue. I have learned from past experience that I should not mess with these carbs as I can really mess them up LOL.

I take it to my local ACE Hardware and their mechanic says they dont make the needed parts (they couldnt tell which parts which aggravated me to no end). Has anyone else found a problem with discontinued parts for this model?

Taking it to James River this weekend to get a second opinion.
 
Maybe try Webster Bros in Walkertown or Farmers Feed and Seed in K'vegas? L&T small engine repair in Oak Ridge?

I'm currently having a similar problem with my Stihl MS192T. It won't take full throttle and cuts off frequently. I started taking it apart to clean the carb, but it wasn't coming apart very easily, so I bailed. I'm going to have to do something soon though because tree cutting weather is approaching.
 
I know it's already been said but I second the farmers feed and seed idea. some great people there and they are a certified stihl repair shop. Bought my stihl weed eater there and you would've thought I bought the most expensive zero turn the way they treated me.
 
You have ethanol gunk clogging the little screen feeding the needle valve. I had the exact same problem with my 028av. Pull the carb and take off the two plates. One side you will see the needle and spring assembly and the other will have the screen and a few ltitle passageways. The screen will likely be covered in white gunk. Spray the screen off with carb cleaner. While you're at it dump the gas tank and pour some carb cleaner in there, cap it, swish it around and then dump all that out. I battled this a few times before realizing that the tank had gunk and it kept suckling it up. Don't mess with the idle jet screws. Put it all back together, a little freshness and give it a try. Thats the easy way. It normally fixes mine when I let it sit up. If you're brave, take the carb completely apart and clean it.
 
Like ^ said, its probably a fuel issue. At one point many years ago, I got pissed off with my 046 because it wasn't running well and I couldn't get it tuned right. Threw it in the corner and walked away for 6 months. Came back to it, changed the fuel, cleaned the carb/plug, and it cranked right up and has ran great ever since. Even the "non-ethanol" fuel these days seems to have trace amounts of ethanol which will cause issues over time.
 
I had an 024 stihl that acted like this. It ended up being crack in the fuel line between the tank and carb, which turns out is a very common issues on stihl saws. I love stihl but that saw got thrown in the trash.
 
This made me think of my POS Husky that’s been in the shop since 6/5/20. Doing the exact same thing and they have changed carb 3 times , all fuel lines, tuned and still will not run full throttle.
 
Thanks guys, I cleaned the screen before I took it in, but I did not examine the fuel lines extremely close so will do that.
 
Nothin but non E gas and Stihl syn. oil since I bought the "wussy" MS291 6 yrs ago and it cranks on the 3rd or 4th pull every time after it's stored for months. Cuts like a beast with the green or yellow chains.I also put only non E in my old 24hp B&S lawnmower and getting close to 300 hrs. on it.
 
I only use non-E gas and Stihl oil, but I can’t speak for my family members before me haha
 
Aso, check to make sure you didn't bend the little arm on the needle valve assembly. While cleaning the screen on my carb once I accidentally bent the arm down a little and when I got it back together then saw would starve out and die at wot.
 
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