011 help

[sawbob011]

I have a stihl 011AVT thats started running a little funky. It used to run great and has been my favorite saw for light cutting and firewood under 16 inches. but lately its lost power. It idles fine but when i give it some gas it dies. i have to slowly pull the trottle and bring it to full revs very slowly. and half the time it dies as soon as the cut starts. Ive done lots of work adjusting the carb with no real changes. I opened it up and found the muffler was only held with 1 of 2 bolts and was loose. fixing this made a little difference to haw it ran but not much. Does anyone know what could be going on with it?

[jteneyck]

Is the air filter clean?  If so, take the muffler off and have a look at the piston and rings. If they are scored you will have found your problem.  Let's hope they look good.  While the muffler is off, check to make sure the spark arrest screen isn't fouled with carbon.  If it is, clean it out and put it back together.  If those aren't it, then check your fuel filter and fuel line.  Could have a plugged up fuel filter or collapsed fuel line.  Stihl fuel lines tend to get spongy after a few years in gas with ethanol and will collapse when you open the throttle.  If none of those help, Al or one of the real pros will be along to help you figure it out.  Good luck.

[Al_Smith]

 :D Well I'm not really a pro,just flat land hillbilly that works on saws among other things with moving parts .Warm blooded or cold hard steel . ;)

Normally if the engine dies going to full throttle the low speed jet is not allowing enough fuel to pass and it leans out on the pressure drop of the opening throttle .

Rather than try and explain the whys' and wherefores just rebuild the carb and you have a 90 percent chance of fixing the problem .

I've got an 011 in the shed but I have no idea what carb it uses because that saw is one of the few in the herd I haven't rebuilt the carb on as of yet .Then again if you never use them they last for a long time . 8)

I was never much impressed with that saw,not to cast stones though .However since I got my 200T's a lot of my little saws have became shelf sitters .

[sawbob011]

i checked the spark arrestor and it was pretty plugged up. cleaned it out and it runs a little better. the fuel lines did feel a little "spungy" so ill have to check that out after work tonight. I hope its nothing with the carb. The guy I got it from said he had it rebuilt at the end of summer and only used it for about an hour after that. Ive put on maybe 20 hours since I got it in December.
The muffler is pretty gunked up inside from what i could see. Is there something that you would reccomend to help clean it all out.

[jteneyck]

Did you check the piston and rings yet?  Assuming they are OK, then proceed as you planned.  You can clean out the muffler gunk lots of ways, compressed air, soak in detergent or gas or oven cleaner, etc.  More importantly is to understand why it got so gunked up and correct it in the future.  There could be several reasons for that, but if you're not using synthetic oil now it would be good to do so after you get it running well again. 

[sawbob011]

I replaced the fuel lines and cleaned and its running alot better now. Also cleaned the muffler. Im just useing the Stihl brand mix. I know my mix was rich for a while so I think that probably contributed. Its also just an old saw. But its cutting wonderfully now. Thanks for the advice.