# starter rope very difficult to pull



## bound (May 21, 2007)

The rope alternates from easy pulling to hard pulling in time with the piston's cycle. Piston up:hard to pull, piston down: easy. 
This is a poulan 3500. (yeah, I know, BOOO/Hissss. All that fun stuff.) I pulled it apart, and there was a little carbon build up, but not a rediculous amount. With the spark plug out, it pulls all nice and smooth. If I hold it up by the cord,with the sparkplug in, it drops a couple inches then stops. The piston is not scored, nor the cylinder, nor the ring.
Now I don't have the manual to this thing, and I don't know too much about carbs, outside of pulling a couple apart to re-gasketize them. But there are two small hoses running out of either side of this one. One is definitely the mix, but what's the other one? Could this be part of an automatice compression release? An automatic compression release gone bad? Will our hero's saw ever run again?
Before the last time I broke the starter pulley dogs, I could start it. It was no fun to start because of the crazy alternating of easy/hard throughout the length of a pull. I do not however, remember if it was easy to pull after it was warmed up. I don't think it was, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for any assistance. :help:


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## THALL10326 (May 21, 2007)

bound said:


> The rope alternates from easy pulling to hard pulling in time with the piston's cycle. Piston up:hard to pull, piston down: easy.
> This is a poulan 3500. (yeah, I know, BOOO/Hissss. All that fun stuff.) I pulled it apart, and there was a little carbon build up, but not a rediculous amount. With the spark plug out, it pulls all nice and smooth. If I hold it up by the cord,with the sparkplug in, it drops a couple inches then stops. The piston is not scored, nor the cylinder, nor the ring.
> Now I don't have the manual to this thing, and I don't know too much about carbs, outside of pulling a couple apart to re-gasketize them. But there are two small hoses running out of either side of this one. One is definitely the mix, but what's the other one? Could this be part of an automatice compression release? An automatic compression release gone bad? Will our hero's saw ever run again?
> Before the last time I broke the starter pulley dogs, I could start it. It was no fun to start because of the crazy alternating of easy/hard throughout the length of a pull. I do not however, remember if it was easy to pull after it was warmed up. I don't think it was, but I could be wrong.
> ...



What your feeling is compression. That saw from what your describing has very good compression. The carb has nothing to do with how hard the saw cranks. Those hoses your talking about are fuel line and impulse line, gotta have em to make that carb work and saw run. Is no such thing as a automatic compression release that I know of. If it has no button to push on the cylinder head to release the compression then that saw has no compression release. Tant no biggie, many saws don't. I would suggest drop starting that saw to give you some more power in your pull but thats a no no for many even though I do 100% of the time.


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## bound (May 22, 2007)

Thanks. I figured it was compression, but here's the thing: the saw wasn't always this hard to start. I didn't think that the compression could get better. Then again, I'm just learning two-stroke, so there ya go.
In searching arborsite for things that could be wrong with this saw, I ran across mention of auto-compression release on Husqys. Apparently everyone hated it, and they went back to buttons. Might be mistaken, though.

Thanks again.


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## SmokinDodge (May 22, 2007)

Bound does the saw smoke pretty heavy when it is running? 

Does is seem to use bar oil real fast?

Something is up if the resistance on the starter rope has changed.


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## bound (May 22, 2007)

Well, I haven't run it in about a year, but I'm gonna say that the saw does smoke. I wouldn't call it pretty bad. Thing is, I used to make the mix a little oil heavy. I always attributed the extra smoking to that. 
Oh, and it did this thing where the engine would race like mad right before I ran out of fuel.
It didn't seem to use bar oil fast, though it seemed like there was more oil on the piston and cylinder than I was expecting, if that's where you're going. I played around with the bar oil flow adjuster often, I was in a lot of different wood.
Other odd find: I checked to see where the High/Low adjusters were set on the carb, and they were both nearly two turns out. I'd never touched them, and I bought the saw new. Thought the settings were a bit high. Once again, I just found this while the saw was in pieces, so I'm not sure how it runs with them set otherwise.
I'm waiting on new pawls and and a starter pulley, this might all be easier to figure out once I can actually try starting and running the saw. Still, any suggestions are welcomed. The saw has a bit of sentimental value, it was my first saw, and I'd like it to keep running.


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## Kenskip1 (May 22, 2007)

Bound, Here is my theory on your anomaly. The starting rope has worn. As you pull the saw to the compression stage the rope is now worn enough to pull itself side by side in the recoil spool.This is what is causing your problem. Like you mentioned with the plug out their is no resistance and all is well.Either this or you may have a crack on the recoil spool allowing the rope to dig in deeper into it their fore loosing the mechanical leverage.Remove the recoil housing, spend $ 2. for a new rope and while you are in the neighbor hood clean the cylinder cooling fins.


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## SmokinDodge (May 22, 2007)

The engine running fast near empty is normal. I usually try to shut it down and fill it up before it runs out of mix. The mix contains the very life force of the engine *oil*. Most people haven't thought of it that way before they find AS.


As for the smoke, what you described sounded normal. If it was leaking bar oil into the crankcase like I thought it will be more like you couldn't see twenty seconds after you start the saw.


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## Fish (May 22, 2007)

bound said:


> though it seemed like there was more oil on the piston and cylinder than I was expecting, if that's where you're going.



well, mmmmmmmmm


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## 028AV Super (May 22, 2007)

bound said:


> The rope alternates from easy pulling to hard pulling in time with the piston's cycle. Piston up:hard to pull, piston down: easy.
> This is a poulan 3500. (yeah, I know, BOOO/Hissss. All that fun stuff.) I pulled it apart, and there was a little carbon build up, but not a rediculous amount. With the spark plug out, it pulls all nice and smooth. If I hold it up by the cord,with the sparkplug in, it drops a couple inches then stops. The piston is not scored, nor the cylinder, nor the ring.
> Now I don't have the manual to this thing, and I don't know too much about carbs, outside of pulling a couple apart to re-gasketize them. But there are two small hoses running out of either side of this one. One is definitely the mix, but what's the other one? Could this be part of an automatice compression release? An automatic compression release gone bad? Will our hero's saw ever run again?
> Before the last time I broke the starter pulley dogs, I could start it. It was no fun to start because of the crazy alternating of easy/hard throughout the length of a pull. I do not however, remember if it was easy to pull after it was warmed up. I don't think it was, but I could be wrong.
> ...



:monkey: I hope it isn't, but it could be one or both crank bearings. Recently my 028AV Super had same problems. The hard pulling (ripping your hand off!) occured when the flywheel hung up with mag pick-up as you drop started. This didn't happen all the time as the engine would stop at different places. The worn crank bearing had a about 1/16" play on the flywheel side. I don't know how the Poulan are set up, but I'm sure you have a flywheel on one side and a clutch on the other. Ended up changing out the crank case from ebay. So, check out the bothside of crank for radial play. Good Luck,


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## Scooterbum (May 22, 2007)

Not sure if this will apply to yours,but I had an old 7-10 automatic that had the same problem.It was attribted to carbon build-up on top of the piston and cylinder.Would just about break your arm trying to start it.Cleaned all the carbon out and she was as good as new.Also check your muffler.


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## Fish (May 22, 2007)

bound said:


> seemed like there was more oil on the piston and cylinder



mmmmmmmm


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## Dan Forsh (May 22, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Bound, Here is my theory on your anomaly. The starting rope has worn. As you pull the saw to the compression stage the rope is now worn enough to pull itself side by side in the recoil spool.This is what is causing your problem. Like you mentioned with the plug out their is no resistance and all is well.Either this or you may have a crack on the recoil spool allowing the rope to dig in deeper into it their fore loosing the mechanical leverage.Remove the recoil housing, spend $ 2. for a new rope and while you are in the neighbor hood clean the cylinder cooling fins.



This one could be a front runner for your cause. I once had one with a cracked rope spool and the rope would over wrap on itself and cause the problem exactly as you have described it. No plug in, no problem, as soon as you had the extra resistance of the cylinder compression, bang it would lock up.


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