I am scared/concerned....

[mrcaptainbob]

was using the old Olympik today. Always, ALWAYS ran great! Until today. Let it warm up, cut a few smallish branches and it instantly stopped with a clankity-CLANK! Set it on the ground and thought the worst....as I pulled the starter cord....and it didn't budge. I'm thinkin' it's a broken con rod. Went on with other efforts to finish the day.
It's a model 272i. Any thoughts on parts availability? I have not started any investigating on this. Is there even a shop manual for this? I'd hate to lose this baby. It's been a super great addition to the herd.
I need some help/suggestions....

[Tacotodd]

Have you tried something as simple as pulling the spark plug? Just a thought. 

You might even pull out the muffler to see, if the plug trick gets it to turn. You might be able to see something that way but don't hold your breath.

[thedoublejranch]

Yeah, I dont want to be a Debbie Downer, but it sounds expensive. :'(

[mike_belben]

Coming from a man who loves his junk too much...Remember that Its just a saw.  Not your dog, daughter or wife.  



Blow it off with compressed air then brakleen and more air in the grimy spots until its clean, then teardown.  Begin with the plug, muffler and starter then see if it ate the piston. and if piston movement corresponds to flywheel movement.

[ehp]

pull it a part and look,  conrod normally is pretty easy to figure out but lots of times  stuff like end off sparkplug , muffler bolt came loose and went in thru the ext. port . Bolt came loose and jammed in between the flywheel and coil. There is lots of things that jam a motor up , some cost money and some you get lucky and its simply 

[sawguy21]

What ehp said. It might be a broken rod but not likely. Remove the rewind, maybe a screw is lodged in the flywheel. At worst the saw is over 30 years old, you got your money out of it.

[ehp]

In a stock chainsaw I'm sure I have seen more cranks broken than saws that threw the rod . Now lots loose the conrod bearing but still donot throw the rod . If saw was at idle I would first look at flywheel and coil for a bolt stuck between them . That is because it's the easiest problem to check now I was not near the saw but by the sounds of it I would guess more online that a muffler bolt has came loose and went in threw the ext. Port

[mrcaptainbob]

You all helped settle some nerves. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll do that when the weather breaks.

[donbj]

Coming from a man who loves his junk too much...Remember that Its just a saw.  Not your dog, daughter or wife.  



Blow it off with compressed air then brakleen and more air in the grimy spots until its clean, then teardown.  Begin with the plug, muffler and starter then see if it ate the piston. and if piston movement corresponds to flywheel movement.

You have a way with words Mike. Like it!😀

[mrcaptainbob]

Cleaned it up and removed the muffler. Then removed the starter rewind. Moved the flywheel by hand and was surprised that it went back and forth, but it did seem to 'stop' at some point. Did not force it. continued with disassembly. All is off except for the clutch plates. Will fabricate a three point puller for that tomorrow. However....it does make a complete turns by hand. I probably could reassemble and it 'might' be okay. Never was comfy with unwittingly repairing something without knowing why it wasn't what it should be. What went wrong? No pieces fell out of the muffler hole when moving the piston.
BUT ... it appears to be some minor scoring on the blade side of the piston. Not deep, but noticeable. The rest of the piston appears to be new! 

[donbj]

Did you pull the plug to see if the tip broke?

[mrcaptainbob]

I have not, Don. Will do that tomorrow.

[mrcaptainbob]

I did pull the plug and could see nothing. Plug was okay. But...I did invest in an endoscope. I love it! Found there's a chip off of the piston top edge on the scavenger port side.
So...it needs some attention. I hate to lose this helper. Is it possible to find after market parts for this?

[Guydreads]

Well,  I believe, after some small research, that it's possible that the efco 272 is compatible with your saw. They're all relatively the same, and certainly the same company. Oleo Mac, Efco, Olympik, and maybe one other brand are compatible. I looked on eBay and saw a piston from Italy for around 60 bucks shipped. I don't know if it's compatible or not really but suspect that it is. I don't know how much damage there really is to the saw, but if it requires much more than a piston, you may have to just sell it for parts. I read the original thread that you posted and saw that you only paid 100 bucks. You could easily get that out of 4-5 parts off the saw. Now, I get sentimental attachments, I have em myself, so it's obviously your choice.

[mrcaptainbob]

It's not ALL that bad! A chip came from the top of the piston. The top ring now has four ends. And that chip landed smack in the center groove of the bottom of the crankcase! Juuust high enough to keep the rod from full circle.
I believe the piston to be 49mm. Will remeasure tonight.
I have a laundry list of question, if ya'll don't mind...:
1. is there a piston orientation?
2. Although the cylinder appears to be in super great shape, that is, no scoring, there is
  a chip from one of the scavenge ports edge. Coincident with where the piston chip is missing.
 Regardless, I think it prudent to get a jug and piston assembly. Concur?
3. How do I insert the piston w/rings into the jug/ I presume the piston must be connected to the con
  rod first. So...how does the jug get added?
4. There were two bearing 'keepers' either side of the upper con rod inside the piston. Since I was
 unaware of their existence, when they fell out I have no idea of their orientation. One side of each
 is smooth, the other side of each has what appears to be oil flow slots. Which way do they go?
5. through 1,000...TBD....

[donbj]

Some more experienced can give you info on the assembly, but I have assembled piston/cylinder by hand by squeezing the ring and carefully maneuvering the jug onto it.

I would be looking for what caused that piston to chip off as well. May just be a mystery but certainly don't want that again.

[Tacotodd]

The tiny pins on the piston (where the rings go) places that part of the piston to the rear. Intake side.

Get the p&c kit.

Make sure to get new rings.

Get new wrist pins AND keepers. Then when they are installed, keep the "opening", or largest part of the free space, either at the top or the bottom (not the sides). And the new ones should not have a flat or rounded side.





Hopefully these are close to direct answers for you.

For longest lasting effect, go O.E. (original equipment)

[Al_Smith]

I know exactly nothing about this brand never saw the first one .However saying that it might trace it's roots or later replacement parts to some thing like Husqvarna or Dolmar .Maybe  Partner for all I know .Germany or Sweden most likely .However it could be Italian . Meteor might make  a piston for it .Northwood Saw lists a whole bunch of pistons by bore size and Caber makes a lot of piston rings which most likely are used with those pistons . I doubt it's impossible to find just might take some research .If it were easy anybody could do it I always say . 8)  BTW good luck .

[mrcaptainbob]

It appears a 49 mm jug and piston for an Olympik 272i is not available. Two sources do not have anything. On to a third and waiting for a reply.
I did find that a Dolmar 49 mm piston kit is available.
So...there's really not much wrong with the jug, except for a very minor 'chip' on a scavenge port edge. I can Dremmel-smooth that out. So what if I got the Dolmar piston and it's stuff and weighed it against the original, wrist pin, rings, clips, and verified the piston to be correct in height and weight....
think this is manageable?
I don't know anything about Dolmar.
The Olympik is an Italian made unit.
The jug had Gilardoni and 72-1002 stamped on it.

[Tacotodd]

Give it a whirl and see what happens. The worst that it can be is you have to do it again.