Help with Homelite chainsaw

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Hi Everyone,

I bought a reconditioned Homelite chainsaw. It ran good until I put it away last year. When I put it away, I drained the gas, and started it up and ran out the gas in the lines.

So, when I went to use it today I expected it to start up good and run good. It is not running good. It can be hard to rev it up from idle, where you need to continuously squeeze the throttle until it revs up. It runs just like a saw runs when you first start it up and it doesn't want to rev. As well, it will sometimes start idling real low and stall.

I figured somehow I had gummed up gas in it so I used Walmart's brand of Seafoam. Usually I can bring back equipment this way. I ran the saw quite a bit but there was no improvement in the running.

I took the saw apart, and noticed several things. First of all, the carb appears to be loose. I am not familiar with these saws... this was manufactured in 2014. Do they have some sort of anti-vibration flexible joint? I figured the carb was loose, and tried to tighten the bolts. They were tight. Anyone know how the carb attaches?

I also discovered a wire was rubbing against the shroud, so there was a bare wire. Thinking I found the problem, I taped up the wire and put it back together and started it. No change.

I do not know where my receipt is, and Homelite will not warranty the saw without a receipt.
frown.gif
So, unless I can find the receipt, I am out of luck.

Any ideas? To the best of my knowledge I drained the gas and ran the saw until it quit, so I don't think it is a gummed up carb.

Thanks for your time,

Brad
 
I watched a youtube video on how to replace the carb. It appears from the video that it is normal for the carb to move around. Humm...
 
Try pulling the plug and cleaning it just for giggles .
Other than a plug misfire it sounds like a fuel issue , your carb pump diaphrams may have dried up .
 
welcome to the era of cheap china carburetors and gasahol; the latter of which seems to cause alot of problems even if you winterwize/summarize.
 
If you can move the mixture screws. Turn them out a quarter turn. They probably have limiter caps on them. Most new chainsaws come tuned very lean and often the limiter caps won't let you tune them rich enough. I never drain the carburetor of a pre mix two stroke engine. The oil seems to prevent any problems with winter storage.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
welcome to the era of cheap china carburetors and gasahol; the latter of which seems to cause alot of problems even if you winterwize/summarize.


I checked on ebay for carbs. Maybe I will just buy a replacement carb. It is basically a brand new saw with maybe 5 tanks of gas in it.

Maybe I need to buy the ethanol treatment they sell for lawn equipment?
 
Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
If you can move the mixture screws. Turn them out a quarter turn. They probably have limiter caps on them. Most new chainsaws come tuned very lean and often the limiter caps won't let you tune them rich enough. I never drain the carburetor of a pre mix two stroke engine. The oil seems to prevent any problems with winter storage.


When you put your equipment away for the season, do you put stabil in the gas or do you have gas without ethanol?
 
Take off the spark arrestor screen. I bet it's clogged. Clean it with carb cleaner and a wire Brush. This is exactly what my homelite acted for a couple years until a friend finally told me to check the spark arrestor. I tried everything and that was finally it
 
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I bought a small Homelite based on a CR recommendation about 4 years ago. It worked well once or twice. After that it was almost impossible to start and even harder to keep running. Worst OPE purchase I ever made. I took it to an authorized service center after it was slightly out of warranty and they agreed it was a piece of *****. I asked them if they wanted it for free, because I just wanted to get rid of it. They declined but said they'd recycle it.

Hoping you have better luck.
 
Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
If you can move the mixture screws. Turn them out a quarter turn. They probably have limiter caps on them. Most new chainsaws come tuned very lean and often the limiter caps won't let you tune them rich enough. I never drain the carburetor of a pre mix two stroke engine. The oil seems to prevent any problems with winter storage.


When you put your equipment away for the season, do you put stabil in the gas or do you have gas without ethanol?


I do not do anything to prep the tools. All the gas here has up to %10 ethanol.
 
Use stabil marine treatment, your usual amount of 2 cycle oil. and tcw3 1 oz in 5 gallons. Leave fuel in the saw , unless its going to be more that 3 months. If so at least run the stabil tcw mix through the carb before draining the tank.


In the late 70's early 80's Homelight was a good saw. Not so much now. For a small inexpensive saw, i'd go with Echo.
 
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Originally Posted By: Oscar_Ruitt
Take off the spark arrestor screen. I bet it's clogged. Clean it with carb cleaner and a wire Brush. This is exactly what my homelite acted for a couple years until a friend finally told me to check the spark arrestor. I tried everything and that was finally it


Thanks for the suggestion. I ran out and checked the screen. It is very clean. Have you been happy with your Homelite?
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Use stabil marine treatment, your usual amount of 2 cycle oil. and tcw3 1 oz in 5 gallons. Leave fuel in the saw , unless its going to be more that 3 months. If so at least run the stabil tcw mix through the carb before draining the tank.


In the late 70's early 80's Homelight was a good saw. Not so much now. For a small inexpensive saw, i'd go with Echo.


So if I understand you right, drain the gas out of the tank, but don't start the saw to get the gas out of the carb?
 
After our October hurricane, I got my neighbor's Homelite 16 inch saw running after it sat for 7 years by doing this:
1. drained the stinky fuel
2. backed out any carb screw a measured amount, then back in again the same amount
3. added fresh gas with oil mix (including built in fuel stabilizer)
4. it started after 4-5 pulls and smoked a lot at first
5. shut it off and removed the air cleaner cover
6. restarted it while holding it on the ground securely with one hand, I sprayed carb cleaner into the intake for about 2 minutes
7. it ran fine after that
 
Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Use stabil marine treatment, your usual amount of 2 cycle oil. and tcw3 1 oz in 5 gallons. Leave fuel in the saw , unless its going to be more that 3 months. If so at least run the stabil tcw mix through the carb before draining the tank.


In the late 70's early 80's Homelight was a good saw. Not so much now. For a small inexpensive saw, i'd go with Echo.


So if I understand you right, drain the gas out of the tank, but don't start the saw to get the gas out of the carb?


Mine does not sit long enough that i need to drain the tank. If i do drain the tank, its after the season of it sitting. I drain the tank and add fresh fuel at the begining of the season of use.( like say my weed wacker) But yes run the saw so that the fuel goes through the carb.

The tcw 3 seems to keep things from sticking up. I leave fuel full in the tank of my weedeater, as it keeps moisture laden air out. In the spring i might drain the tank and add a fresh fuel mix. Some people prefer to have the saw/weedeater/ope empty during the off season, i find that causes more oxidized crud in my carbs.

Any time i buy fuel for my outdoor power equipment, i add 1 oz of tcw-3 per 5 gallons. The last batch of fuel for the season, i add the stabil marine in addition to the tcw-3. I use this fuel to mix with my 2 cycle oil in a smaller 1 or 2 gallon container.
 
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Take air filter off, rev it up and place gloved hand over intake. It will suck stuff thru.
 
Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
Originally Posted By: Oscar_Ruitt
Take off the spark arrestor screen. I bet it's clogged. Clean it with carb cleaner and a wire Brush. This is exactly what my homelite acted for a couple years until a friend finally told me to check the spark arrestor. I tried everything and that was finally it


Thanks for the suggestion. I ran out and checked the screen. It is very clean. Have you been happy with your Homelite?


Yes, It is from the early '80s and belonged to my father in law. It has run very well since I cleaned the arrestor a couple years ago. Sorry to hear that was not the solution for you!
 
Well, I tried working on the saw some more, but wasn't successful. The saw has several problems and between the 2 problems I figure the parts will be half or 3/4 of the price I originally paid for it.

So, I am done with this saw. It is really disappointing as it turns out to be a very expensive saw when you figure out how little it was used. At some point I will need a saw.

I would use the saw to maintain the property. The property is just 2 acres, so a heavy duty, expensive saw is not needed/wanted. I am looking for a value priced saw that will work great being used 5-10 hours a year. Any suggestions?

I thought about Ryobi saws... but when I was looking at the Homelite website I saw the Ryobi name on their site. Are the Ryobi saws and Homelite saws the same quality? What about Poulan, or other???
 
Originally Posted By: DeafBrad
Well, I tried working on the saw some more, but wasn't successful. The saw has several problems and between the 2 problems I figure the parts will be half or 3/4 of the price I originally paid for it.

So, I am done with this saw. It is really disappointing as it turns out to be a very expensive saw when you figure out how little it was used. At some point I will need a saw.

I would use the saw to maintain the property. The property is just 2 acres, so a heavy duty, expensive saw is not needed/wanted. I am looking for a value priced saw that will work great being used 5-10 hours a year. Any suggestions?

I thought about Ryobi saws... but when I was looking at the Homelite website I saw the Ryobi name on their site. Are the Ryobi saws and Homelite saws the same quality? What about Poulan, or other???


Sounds like my experience. I only have a 1/2 acre and went corded electric. If I had two acres, I'd get the low end Stihl.
 
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