I hate Stihl...ohh wait, nevermind

sea2summit · Mar 3, 2014

Work moved me a while back to an area where my power tools don't get much use so I've been religiously starting everything and moving it around every Saturday of the month. This weekend was no exception. Got to my trusty Stihl 391, gave it a light pull to make sure everything was moving, put the choke to her and gave her a tug. Fired right up then died. Weird

Gave another pull and she fired up and died. Dang, not good

I tried every trick in the book and couldn't get her to fire again. Spent about 10 minutes pulling on it off, on, choke, throttle. Nothing. Getting really frustrated I wondered if all those husky people had been right all along. Wondered how much a non running stihl would be worth on craigslist

Gave up and moved on to other tools.

Came back about 30 minutes later and decided maybe the gas was bad because I couldn't remember if it got stabilizer, even though that's the first thing I do when I bring gas home. So I pop open the gas cap to drain the tank and start flushing. To my surprise the tank is bone dry:ashamed: Hmmmm, I see where this is going. Put gas in the tank, fired on the first pull

So the moral to the story, even if you're not using it a lot check the fuel before you put it out on the curb:2cents:

Gary Fowler · Mar 3, 2014

HAHAAH. I did the same thing with my Husky but out in the field WITH A GAS CAN with me. I was sure I had filled it at the shop (CRS syndrome has been with me a while). I pulled and pulled without it firing at all. Finally got another saw and cut the tree. After all was finished, I then thought to check the gas and put in some fresh gas from a different container and that is when I found it empty. Brother in law and I got a good laugh on me for that one.

k0ua · Mar 3, 2014

"It ain't got no gas in it"

With apologies to "Karl" - Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade " Mmm-hum."

PMA · Mar 3, 2014

I pulled out the husky 351 chainsaw I bought in 1989 when hurricane Hugo came. I use to use it all the time, since I use my pole saw now since I am getting older. I hadn't cranked it up in about 5 to 6 years. Pull the choke out and gave it about 5 pulls and it fired right up. Since the ice storm, I have cut about a 1000 live oak limbs up. The pole saw is in the shop with broken flywheel. As far as I can remember the only thing that ever broke on that old chainsaw was the pull rope.

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

deerseeker001 · Mar 3, 2014

I just seen that Movie preview, that's a excellent Movie.

k0ua said:
"It ain't got no gas in it"
,

With apologies to "Karl" - Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade " Mmm-hum."

LJH · Mar 3, 2014

Gawd, I've done it more than once, with both chainsaw and splitter.

Duh, duh, duh. I claim 'senior moment' for and excuse.

LJH · Mar 3, 2014

And anybody else notice the dumb things won't cut chit with the chain on backwards?

MotorSeven · Mar 3, 2014

I just love those flippy caps...the dang things work perfect like 10 times in a row. Then the 11th time it's a Rubik's Cube, then when you think you have it and pick up the saw, nope, it dumps oil/fuel onto your thigh. I'd like to give a running "beech" slap to the guy that came up with those things......

xring100 · Mar 3, 2014

sea2summit said:
Work moved me a while back to an area where my power tools don't get much use so I've been religiously starting everything and moving it around every Saturday of the month. This weekend was no exception. Got to my trusty Stihl 391, gave it a light pull to make sure everything was moving, put the choke to her and gave her a tug. Fired right up then died. Weird Gave another pull and she fired up and died. Dang, not good

I tried every trick in the book and couldn't get her to fire again. Spent about 10 minutes pulling on it off, on, choke, throttle. Nothing. Getting really frustrated I wondered if all those husky people had been right all along. Wondered how much a non running stihl would be worth on craigslist Gave up and moved on to other tools.

Came back about 30 minutes later and decided maybe the gas was bad because I couldn't remember if it got stabilizer, even though that's the first thing I do when I bring gas home. So I pop open the gas cap to drain the tank and start flushing. To my surprise the tank is bone dry:ashamed: Hmmmm, I see where this is going. Put gas in the tank, fired on the first pull

So the moral to the story, even if you're not using it a lot check the fuel before you put it out on the curb:2cents:

Lol Buy a stihl pro saw they have a translucent fuel tank you can see if they have fuel without removing the cap.

Oh and I hate the stupid caps on my ms361

xring100 · Mar 3, 2014

MotorSeven said:
I just love those flippy caps...the dang things work perfect like 10 times in a row. Then the 11th time it's a Rubik's Cube, then when you think you have it and pick up the saw, nope, it dumps oil/fuel onto your thigh. I'd like to give a running "beech" slap to the guy that came up with those things......

I've had my saw running and cutting wood before for 2-3 minutes before the saw stopped then look down and cap is popped off.

94BULLITT · Mar 4, 2014

Don't feel bad. About once a year we will have a customer have their car towed in because they ran it out of gas.

Also running a 2 cycle out of gas is not good for because you are also running it out of oil.

TomSeller · Mar 4, 2014

I have one cap on one of 4 saws that is a rubix cube, the rest are perfect very time. I should replace that one and see if it fixes the problem. Even though that one gives me problems, it is only a minute or so before I have it on snug. I tug test every cap before I fire up the saw, I never have had oil or gas run down my pants.

Loadstar · Mar 4, 2014

MotorSeven said:
I just love those flippy caps...the dang things work perfect like 10 times in a row. Then the 11th time it's a Rubik's Cube, then when you think you have it and pick up the saw, nope, it dumps oil/fuel onto your thigh. I'd like to give a running "beech" slap to the guy that came up with those things......

Lol yup

s219 · Mar 4, 2014

I can't say I hate the Stihl flippy caps, but I definitely prefer screw-on caps like my other saws have. Never had a complaint about the old style caps, so not sure why they had to make it more complicated and less reliable. Some people defend the flippy caps, but I think Stihl managed to complicate what was formerly the simplest part of the saw, for no good reason.

dave1949 · Mar 4, 2014

s219 said:
I can't say I hate the Stihl flippy caps, but I definitely prefer screw-on caps like my other saws have. Never had a complaint about the old style caps, so not sure why they had to make it more complicated and less reliable. Some people defend the flippy caps, but I think Stihl managed to complicate what was formerly the simplest part of the saw, for no good reason.

I'm not a flippy cap fan either. I see they are on the newer Huskies now too. There was nothing wrong with the old style.

I think the worst thing about them is, it is harder to keep crap out of the tanks. That dumb double ridge thing is idiocy. You can't just run your finger around them and squeegee off the crap before rinsing some of it into the tanks.

stuckmotor · Mar 4, 2014

MotorSeven said:
I just love those flippy caps...the dang things work perfect like 10 times in a row. Then the 11th time it's a Rubik's Cube, then when you think you have it and pick up the saw, nope, it dumps oil/fuel onto your thigh. I'd like to give a running "beech" slap to the guy that came up with those things......

I didn't know the flippy caps caused that problem . Now I'm trying to remember whether it was the Stihl or the Poulan that spilled on my thigh.

stuckmotor · Mar 4, 2014

dave1949 said:
That dumb double ridge thing is idiocy. You can't just run your finger around them and squeegee off the crap before rinsing some of it into the tanks.

Yep, had trouble with that today.

Happy Gilmore · Mar 4, 2014

k0ua said:
"It ain't got no gas in it"

With apologies to "Karl" - Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade " Mmm-hum."

Love that movie "some people call it a sling blade, I call it a kaiser blade, mmm hmmm."

turnkey4099 · Mar 5, 2014

94BULLITT said:
Don't feel bad. About once a year we will have a customer have their car towed in because they ran it out of gas.

I did that with my F150 with the other tank full! Also towed my splitter to town due to non-starting after fooling with for an hour only to find as I unhooked it from the truck that the plug wire was not connected on the plug.

Harry K

turnkey4099 · Mar 5, 2014

stuckmotor said:
I didn't know the flippy caps caused that problem . Now I'm trying to remember whether it was the Stihl or the Poulan that spilled on my thigh.

I have dumped fuel or oil on my pants at least once with every saw I have ever had going back to the 50s. It's not a matter of the type of cap.

as for the flippies: I don't have a problem with them but still don't see the "why?". Looks like a solution to a non-existant problem. I have seen people claim it was because of needing to use a tool to tighten the screw on type. That is the purest of BS. To my mind, anyone applying a scrench to a fuel/oil cap is abusing the equipment - never did it myself and have never had a cap come loose during use.

At least the new caps have abig black mark on them to show how the cap fits right on. Both caps will hve the black bar pointing at the power head when it drops into place, 1/4 turn and close it. Still don't think it is any faster than screwing on a cap which can be done without even looking at it.

Harry K