iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Stihl 880 failed to start

Started by Busysawyer, August 31, 2018, 10:57:31 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Southside

Yowza.  I can see where one of those stack cutters with a harvester bar would have been quite useful there, or even a modified slasher saw.  
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

HolmenTree

Quote from: Southside logger on September 04, 2018, 10:28:15 AM
Yowza.  I can see where one of those stack cutters with a harvester bar would have been quite useful there, or even a modified slasher saw.  
Yes the mill did end up buying a expensive hydraulic gillateen machine after my contract ran out.
At the time they had a few years of these cull rolls stored in their warehouse and gave up recycling them back into the repulper with a carpet knife. So they hired me for a $100 an hour. It was good when it lasted.
The 090 briefly stopped for a few hours when it's exhaust ignited the paper roll and cuttings underneath it. The saw was stuck mid cut with wedges driven in tight above it.
By the time I got the fire hose out and put out the fire the paint was burned off the 090 covers, fuel line burned up , spark plug cable insulation burnt off.
I wrapped electrical tape around the bare exposed spark plug wire, the foremen gave me a piece of rubber hose to replace the fuel line and I was back cutting.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

barbender

Holmen, that there looks like no fun at all!
Too many irons in the fire

HolmenTree

Quote from: barbender on September 04, 2018, 03:32:21 PM
Holmen, that there looks like no fun at all!
I was 47 then and yeah 12 hour days doing that is tough for any age :D
Actually the first week on the job I did it alone. Quickly came to realize being 21 years old was a long time ago.
So I got a helper to man the other end of the bar, that sure helped.

Today, almost 61 I'm still climbing, dragging brush, feeding the chipper, cutting and loading rounds . Grinding stumps and throwing buckets of stump chips on the trailer. Been working alone doing this 5 days a week for the last 10 years.
Wouldn't have it any other way. ;D

Here's a pic of some of the burnt 090 parts I kept. About 10 years ago I was able to buy brand new OEM covers from Stihl Canada.
If it was a 880 it would have been a melted blob.

Last pic is the same saw near completion of restoration. I sold it to a young guy in southern Manitoba.


 

Making a living with a saw since age 16.

barbender

So what your saying is that the aches that you feel in your 61 year old body don't compare to the pain in the butt an employee can be?😁 And again, that saw might look better when you got done with it then when you started. Nice work👍
Too many irons in the fire

HolmenTree

Thanks barbender, it was a long restoration and proud to say no Chinese parts went into it.

I got no aches or pains not yet anyways. Bigger pain is trying to keep a right hand man to do bullwork. When I did have employees I once had 6 at one time, now that I can tell lots of stories about :o.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Al_Smith

Strange as it might seem I saw for the first time an 880 Stihl in  use just last week  .It was by a tree trimmer taking down about a 30 inch dead white oak in my neighbors yard .With no bad mouthing the saw it certainly did not have the  guts as the 084 I had residing in my shed .Restrictive exhaust I suppose .
Being somewhat of a show off I showed the trimmer what a good tuned saw cuts like .I wanted to check for metal in the log by  looking for blue in the wood and cut the butt end off the log with an 038 Magnum that peaks out at 14,600 RPM .He was  speechless ,I was amused . 8)---ain't I a stinker --- :)

ehp

any of the big cc saws suck in stock form BUT a little grinding here and there makes a huge difference , I feel the same way about the 395

Busysawyer

Update. Got lucky, the electrode was in the exhaust. No cylinder or piston damage. They agreed that it was running too rich and couldn't get the carb adjusted properly. They have a new carb coming tomorrow. All covered under warranty. 
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

ehp

Honestly I would want to see that , even at idle just figure out the number of rpms that piston is going up and down past the ext. port . Just my small thinking but its a very small window for any piece of metal to get out into the ext port without the piston catching it and driving it into the roof of the port . I seen this lots when I was working at a stihl dealer and pretty much always nailed the piston

Busysawyer

Ehp, my neighbor is a retired stihl tech and said he's seen it go both ways. They said they took plenty of pictures to show me. This place has an outstanding reputation around here and I doubt they would try to pull anything dishonest. They have said and another local dealer as well as me neighbor that Stihl is easy to work with on warranty claims. I don't see any reason for them to lie about it.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

Busysawyer

Well I picked up my saw today. No damage to the engine and new carb installed. The thing screams now, crisp and snappy throttle response. It's a whole ne animal now. Pretty much buried the 47in bar in some dried redoak log I had here and it just ripped through it. Very happy with the dealer and the performance of the saw.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

barbender

I'm glad to hear they took care of you!👍 I thought your plug looked really black, did they think the rich mixture had anything to do with the electrode failure?
Too many irons in the fire

Busysawyer

They didnt really say anything about the cause of the plug breaking except that it happens occasionally.  Ran a few tanks of fuel through it today milling with a 60in bar and it was ripping right along. Wish I would have brought it in months ago. Would have saved me hours and hours of cutting time.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

HolmenTree

I'd run Bosch plugs in it just in case what happened to your NGK.

I always had good luck with Bosch the 40+ years I ran them.
German ones I felt were the best.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Busysawyer

Well that was short lived. 880 is back to running like a turtle. Won't hit the high rpms and no power in the cut. New carb fixed it for about 10 tanks of fuel. Any one have any ideas? Using 91 octane rec. Fuel and stihl oil. My 4 other saws have zero issues.  I'm perplexed. 
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

barbender

That's really frustrating! Did you pull the plug and have a look? This saw doesn't have the electronic carb or anything like that?
Too many irons in the fire

Busysawyer

Barbender, I didnt pull the plug yet. It is a standard carb no mtronic.  I had my neighbor the retired stihl tech stop over and take a look at it. He said it was going to be a hard one for the mechanic to diagnose and fix. He told me to politely push for a new saw.  The carb screws make very little change in the way it runs. He said he has turned quite a few stock 880s and a tenth of a turn should produce noticable changes.  He turn the high and low from stop to stop and it barely effects the way the saw runs. At least I got to see the true power this saw will produce when running right for a few days. Back to the dealer Monday morning.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

barbender

I am by no means an expert, but my experience has been that when the saw won't respond to the screws, it's time to start looking for an air leak. 
Too many irons in the fire

teakwood

Maybe it's just a lemon, a Monday saw! try to talk them in for a new saw! Then they can figure it out and you can go back to work!
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

Busysawyer

Barbender, from my limited experience with dirt bikes and snow mobiles air leaks cause a lean condition. This thing is running extremely rich, blowing smoke. Bogging like the carb is loading up. If you blip the throttle just right sometimes you can get past the bog and it will clean up and rev. But still blows smoke. My mind immediately goes to carb issues but this is the second carb. Then again a new carb fixed it for a few days.
Teakwood, everytime I talk to the dealer about the saw I refer to it as my "lemon saw". I keep telling them I'm very pleased with my other stihl purchases from them but the 880 is is junk.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

barbender

Busy, you're right. That spark plug was real black. I really don't know what would cause a chainsaw carb to overfuel, without a float in it. Maybe a coil/timing issue? I've read of saws with a sheared flywheel/crank key, I don't remember the symptoms though. I'm just throwing fairly 
random thoughts out there.
Too many irons in the fire

btulloh

I second that opinion about time for a new saw.  Certainly needs to be fixed or replaced, but it's become and experiment.  All on your time.
HM126

caveman

This morning I wrote a well thought out response but I deleted it without posting.  The short version of this morning's reply was that the nearly new 880 is not a toy, but rather, a tool that you rely on to make part of your living with.  You have enough irons in the fire that you should not have to bother tinkering around with a nearly new saw that has had several trips to the dealer and it still does not perform as it should.  It is time for them to replace it with a new, correctly functioning 880.  

I hope it works out well and that the dealer stands behind their product.

Caveman

YellowHammer

Yep, a pro saw should make you money, not waste your time.  
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Thank You Sponsors!