Stihl M-Tronic

[lxskllr]

I'd pay extra for Mtronic. $25 certainly. $50 probably. I'd start thinking at $100. I love my 362. Starts easily, and runs without hassle. I like cutting wood, not wrenching on engines. Mtronic keeps me cutting wood.

[Crusarius]

my saw has not been run since last year. 3 pulls fired right up and cut flawlessly. last time I used it was middle of winter. its 65 degrees today.

I love my MS261cm. I don't ever want another carb.

[ZeroJunk]

Well, you can't fix the solenoid. So, if you ever have a fuel related problem with your 261 and have ruled out fuel line, filter or whatever just replace the solenoid. Just plugs in. One way. Chances are yours is an older version and they have improved reliability.

The ignition works with the solenoid to determine the fuel mixture. On some saws, the replacement carburetor and ignition come as a unit in one box for under warranty repair. So, you know there is some tweaking going on.

[nativewolf]

huh, wonder if the solenoid is bad on our 362.  The 462 is getting harder and harder to start.

[HotRail]

My 362 will get subtly irregular when it gets low on fuel, and I stop to fill it. Haven't run it out of gas yet due to the warnings here  :^D

So does my 2nd gen 261c...it still acted like a regular carb saw the one time i was close to running it completely out.  But, I was outta the cut and the saw was just idling.  Anyways i like the translucent gas tank on it...makes it easy to just glance at the saw and estimate fuel left. Anyways, 2 261c's, one 1st gen(sold) and another 2nd gen and no problems whatsoever with mtronic.  I like it.

[trapper]

What serial # second  generation 261c start with?

[HotRail]

To reset the mtronic, run on choke for 60 to 90 seconds???  Is this correct?  Never needed too do this but good to know if it ever needed. Thanks

[HotRail]

What serial # second  generation 261c start with?

Not sure, but 2nd gen has different bar/rim cover and the cylinder is angled more with different looking cooling fins.  These two things are dead giveaways for 2nd generation 261.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I took a 3 day weekend and my brother and I dropped 12 trees.
We were into some big wood for our area, 30" white pine, 25 to 30" red and chestnut oaks and a 22" yellow poplar. We were cutting saw logs and firewood.

I ran my 261 and 661 M-Tronic as well as my old 440.
My brother ran his 271 non M-Tronic and 660.
Yes we are a Stihl family.
Temperatures from the mid 60's to the mid 80's.

This was quite an undertaking for a couple of weekend warriors. I'm happy to say that no one got hurt and only 1 tree, a dead and hollow 30" red oak fell 90 degrees from where I wanted it to go.

So my conclusion is, all of the saws ran very well. I could not point to any particular saw and say that one outpaced any of the others. All of them performed as expected. I like the M-Tronic because it does a better job of tuning the carb than I would and I believe that will add to the life of the saw.

I also slept very well.
Jon

[gaproperty]

you know what,i actually like it!
i have several older Stihls,but i grab a MS362cm when i dont want to think about the saw,just the cut.
It hasnt been a problem to date,and the saw runs exceptionally well.

It works good at least for now. Long term reliability I'm not sure about.  I suspect it will be expensive to repair and in an older saw it might be the thing that causes you to heave it in a junk pile because the cost of repair is not worth putting into an old saw. I have a ms262 but I wonder about long term reliability especially if the electronics get wet or subject to extreme temperature. So far so good.  

I got use to adjusting the old carbs and enjoyed getting them working good so I still question is the m-tronic worth the time saving convenience and luxury of use. At this point I have to say yes it's worth it but I will see how it pans out long term.  It always amazes me how engineers can come up with such smart devices but yet can't make a proper oil and gas cap.    

[ZeroJunk]

If you have a problem other than fuel lines etc. getting old it will be the solenoid  very very likely.

You can change it yourself . It is held in place by a little strap and a torx screw.

$47 U.S

FYI, the torx is the one with the little teat or whatever you call it in the center. PITA

You can get it out with a small vice grip if need be.

[doc henderson]

when i cut ERC the other day, had trouble starting.  My ms 261 had ran and then set for a while, so I went back to the third position (down), smelled flooded, and started fine later.  ran it out of gas today and took a while but did start after 15 pulls or so and ran fine.  

[TIC]

all i can say is, i just bought ms261 last week. with no computer. retireing my av32 i bought new in 1981. i carb rebuild, and up graded ignition, origanal spark plug. i do my own work, no computors for me.

[sawguy21]

It's only a matter of time until that's all that will be available. I think if I was making my living with a saw I would want m-tronic, downtime costs money, but for now I'll keep tinkering with my dinosaurs.