Is the motor dusted?

[orezok]

I live out in the Mojave where we have no trees. I have to drive 60 miles to get firewood. Recently, a neighbor of mine passed. He had a bunch of firewood rough cut and 5 large logs that have been air drying for more than 12 years. One is about 20" in diameter. A nice young couple from LA bought the house and are complete remodeling it.

The site is a disaster. The old guy never threw anything away and there are piles of junk every where. Being retired and with a tractor I offered to help clean the place up some as you have to drive by it to get to my place. I asked the new owner what he was going to do with the firewood and logs. He said take them if you want them.

I have a 30+ year old McCulloch PowerMac 380 with 16" bar that I started cutting the wood up with. Got through all the smaller stuff without too much trouble, but it was not up to the big logs which I think are red eucalyptus or red oak. After 12 years of drying in the desert, you know they are pretty hard.

Since I only use my chainsaw maybe once every year or two for cutting up a fallen Joshua Tree (much like a palm tree inside) the old Mac did fine. I decided to get something bigger for the heavy stuff, but I don't need a professional saw due to my very limited use. I settled on a Poulan PR5020.

Got the saw added gas and bar oil and started cutting up the big logs into rounds. After about an hour I stopped to sharpen the chain. I pulled the air filter to clean it and found that the entire interior carburetor area was full of dust and worse. I thought, Oh carp, they didn't install the filter right at the factory. I cleaned it and replaced it making sure that it was properly installed and went back to work.

After another hour I stopped again to sharpen and clean and again the carb interior was loaded with dust. I then took a better look at the filter and thought, I've never seen a filter like this. It's just a fine mesh. I went online to look at factory filters, and they don't look anything like mine. The mesh on mine seems only to be the backing for the actual filter material. I think One Hung Lo got a bad batch of filters and just installed them as he was told.

Anyway, the saw is now difficult to start and seems to be down on power. I think the motor is dusted and shot. I'm going to take it back to HD and see if I can convince them to swap me for a new one.

Pics of the original filter on right and new on left.

 

[goeduck]

Sure, give it a try. They may not sell very many chainsaws in your neck of the woods to know.

 

[cqaigy2]

The air filter on my saw is a very fine white mesh, but if it's installed correctly, it doesn't let anything much into to the carburetor.

Down on power mean it doesn't rev up when full throttle, or doesn't cut very fast or revs don't stay up when cutting? It's possible you changed the geometry of the tooth on the chain or depth gauge when you sharpened the chain. Um, try the saw again, with out the filter installed, see if it comes up to power. I'll assume the exhaust isn't plugged with soot.

 

[orezok]

The air filter on my saw is a very fine white mesh, but if it's installed correctly, it doesn't let anything much into to the carburetor.

Unfortunately the the area behind the filter, the throttle plate and venturi were loaded with dirt. I’m sure the fiter was installed correctly the second time. The hard start and power may just be dirt in the carb, but who knows.

 

[EddieWalker]

Could be, but I find it hard to believe that you go that much sawdust into the cylinder to cause any damage. My experience with Poulan is that it's a one full day saw, use it, and throw it away brand. Odds are just as good that you put enough hours on it to wear it out in that one day.

Home Depot gets a lot of them back, maybe most of them. I have no idea how they make money on them, but I would expect them to take it back without question and give you your money back to spend on anything you want in their store.

Here, they also sell Echo, which I like a lot. Easy to start, a lot of power and so far, they keep running year after year.

 

[ericm979]

The plastic mesh filter that came with the saw has the advantage of not icing up as easily as the flocked filter that you bought. But it lets more fine dirt through. I've never seen a mesh filter in real life. Here on the coast we get the flocked filters. Arguably that's what your saw should have come with. While it get colder there than here, icing up filters is not going to be a problem where it's dry.

I agree about the Echos- I got a CS-352 for brush. It's lighter than the equivalent Stihl and easy to start. But the flocked filter on it does let some fine dirt through. I added some oiled foam filter material in the air box where the majority of the air comes in which helps but doesn't completely fix it. My Stihls, even ones with flocked filter, don't have that problem. The larger Echos have different filters that may be better.

 

[orezok]

My experience with Poulan is that it's a one full day saw, use it, and throw it away brand. Odds are just as good that you put enough hours on it to wear it out in that one day.

This makes no sense. NO company can afford to make and sell a product with a 2 year warranty that wears out in one day. Think about it.

 

[pmsmechanic]

This makes no sense. NO company can afford to make and sell a product with a 2 year warranty that wears out in one day. Think about it.

They can if over the course of two years total use is less than one day.

 

[EddieWalker]

I experienced this myself with three Poulan chain saws before trying Husqvarna, Stihl and Echo. Granted, I admit to be a slow learner and wasting a lot of money on junk, but eventually I discovered Echo, and it's been all good since then. I also return stuff to Home Depot at least once a week, and I've lost count of how many times I've seen people there returning Poulan chainsaws. I also see other brands being returned fairly often. I just wonder how many Home Depot stores have similar experiences with them, and your right, how does a company stay in business making such a lousy, throw away product?

Another thought. When I drove for Airborne Express, we had a guarantee to have the package delivered by a certain time. UPS and FedEx also have this guarantee, and there is a company that figures out what percentage each of the delivery companies achieved that goal, and even more important, what percentage of customers filed a complaint against the company wanting a refund. I forget the actual numbers, but the average for all three companies for people wanting a refund for not delivering the package on time was less then 5%, which was considered acceptable considering how many packages where not delivered on time.

My guess is that there are enough people who buy Poulan and keep them instead of return them, to make it worthwhile to keep selling it. How does Ryobi survive? Same with Harbor Freight? The list goes on and on.

 

[xyz123]

I bought 5020 to test out. Need carb tuned from get go. need spine tool. I liked the flocked filter and some do fit loose if so used a heavy greas lightly around edges. Thread here on them https://chainsawrepair.createaforum.com/index.php