Stihl ms 362 vapor lock?

[gman98]

Does anyone else have issues with the Stihl 362's vapor locking when run out of fuel?  I have had a lot of issues when cutting in the summer time.  The saw will run out of gas and vapor lock to the point it's almost impossible to get it started again.  Is there an easy was to fix this, or just try to avoid letting it run out of gas?

Thanks

[lxskllr]

Everything I hear says they're a bear to start when run dry. I've never had it happen. I can hear when it starts getting low on fuel, and stop it to refill. Side note, some say the lean condition when low on fuel can cause engine damage. Dunno, but it's added incentive to not let it go dry.

[btulloh]

X2 on not running it out of fuel. Best to avoid that for sure. Gives a pretty good indication when it's low. Might as well stop and refuel at that point. I think the manual says the mtronic stuff has to recalibrate itself if you run it out of fuel. That's probably the biggest part of the hard starting problem. 

[Guydreads]

Everything I hear says they're a bear to start when run dry. I've never had it happen. I can hear when it starts getting low on fuel, and stop it to refill. Side note, some say the lean condition when low on fuel can cause engine damage. Dunno, but it's added incentive to not let it go dry.

It can most certainly damage it. High RPMs lead to excessive scoring. Of course they do. Crank seals being bad often cause a saw to run lean and the piston and cylinder self-destruct. So yes, whoever told you that was correct.

[Greenhighlander]

I learned not to run my saw dry the hard way.  I scored the piston and cylinder doing that on my 261 years ago.  Ever since then I stop and refill when it does its thing letting you know it is almost empty and haven't had any problems with my saws .  

[gman98]

Thank you for your input guys.  I kinda figured the only way to prevent it was to not run out of fuel, but I just thought I would ask.  Thanks again.

[Jim Chance]

I have similar problems. Changing gas helped. I think the station I used had gas with a real high RVP, like winter gas from the lowlands. I put can gas in it and mostly eliminated the problem. I am not convinced it is the running out of gas, as much as having the saw shut down for the exact wrong amount of time and depressurizing the system and the fuel boiling somewhere past the tank. A little shorter and it does not have time to heat up enough and a little longer and it cools and is repressurized.On mine, I could see bubbles coming out of the fuel filter and the bulb goes dry.