The Forestry Forum

I've got this new barely used 455 rancher from a homeowner that paid for some tree work to be done. My partner picked it up for me from the guy and brought it to my house, and it wouldn't run. I took a good look at it and did some experimental tests by feeding a little 2 stroke into the carb and it does want to run. I took the primer bulb off and I can tell its working and it will suck gas out of the tank and purge it out; so, I figure that for some reason the carb or whatever is not sucking the gas to the carb. What do I do? I had someone tell me to soak the carb in some carb cleaner as I assume this home owner must have let this saw sit with old gas over too long a period of time. I want to learn to maintain my own saws so my goal is to fix this on my own.

Check fuel lines for brittleness and cracks; change fuel filter. Rinse out tank with carb cleaner.

You may want to try using the purge to suck carb cleaner into the carb and leave it sit overnight. Maybe dilute with some mix.

A/r then pull & clean out carb; shouldn't need new diaphragms yet.

I'm supposing you know how to use saw's controls to start it. Pulling out on blue thingie turns ignition on, sets choke & fast idle.
Pushing in blue thingie turns off choke; then, blipping throttle sets normal idle.
Ignition (red) only turns ign on/off.

Thusly, pull out blue thingie. Crank until it pops; push in blue thingie. Crank until it fires @ fast idle. Blip throttle to slow. Warm up as desired & proceed to work.

Pardon my manners. Welcome from another newbie (here).

1st...remove muffler to inspect piston and cylinder for any scoring or signs of it having been straight gassed and also to inspect spark arresting screen, make sure its not plugged with carbon. I typically remove the screens from most of my saws. If good, move onto step #2
2nd....check for nice bright blue spark. If it has good spark, move to step 3
3rd...remove, disassemble and rebuild carb..might cost $15 max for rebuild kit. First you'll  have to figure the make and model of the carb in order to find the proper rebuild kit. Once this is complete, go to step 4.
4th....replace fuel filter, fuel lines and impulse line if necessary....$5 tops. See step 5
5th....I like to put a new plug in em....not always necessary. Step 6
6th.... go cut some wood

Thanks guys! I'm going to try that running through the carb with carb cleaner using the primer to pump it through; thereafter, if it doesn't make it run like new again, I'll purchase the parts for the carb rebuild and hoses!   

I would pull the muffler and look for a scored piston. May have been straight gassed,Ken