346XP isn't running right after I severly pinched the bar/chain :-(

[JRHAWK9]

Just got back from Scott's. He took it, started it and played with it for a while in some wood cutting cookies. Seemed to run GREAT for him as far as I could tell watching as a bystander. Didn't show -ANY- signs of what I encountered yesterday. I was thinking to myself....great, WTF, that just figures....lol He then shut the saw off after a couple times of adjusting the high side during the whole testing of it and told me the tank vent is plugged as it would not hold a tune and would keep creeping leaner and leaner as he used it; even as he adjusted the H side richer it would keep going leaner. He put a new (and better) tank vent and new fuel filter and tested it again. This time it held a tune. Seems like the whole pinched bar thing was just a coincidence.

When I think back to the last time I used it before yesterday, I did have a couple times where I used the saw, shut it off, and then came back to start it and it started abnormally hard compared to the one short pull it normally takes to start. The vent was probably partially plugged and created a vacuum so when I shut the saw off for a bit the gas was pulled back in the fuel line a bit making it harder to start compared to normal.

Anyway, Scott was awesome. I expected to drop it off and have him fix it under normal business hours and he would call me when he found out what it was. I got there about 15 minutes before they closed and he wanted to take care of it right away so I didn't have to drive 2 hours to pick it up. Cost me a whole $10.

 

[Westboastfaller]

1. Good on him, well that's good news, you threw me off with you saying it was happening on its side as I've had linkage problems that would do that when I would go to fall the tree. Yes the stock vents are terrible I work in north province in the winter and now I just put a better vents under the air box as they freeze on the out side. Also used good vented caps for some years but I guess they banded them now and are hard to buy. Thats automatic to the guys that are conditined to vent problems by climate, is to put the saw on its side if it starts to race and crack the cap. If the revs go to normal then its your vent. That's the problem after it races it starves out and you have to crack the gas cap to start it.Some people will work all winter like that, opening the cap every 4-5 minutes as soon as the revs raise. Lol stupid! I had a different vent problem on a 346 about 5 years ago that drove me nuts figuring it out. That model had the primer ball on it,which I never ran one before and it ran like a top but as soon as I shut it off the presure would flood the saw. that drove me nuts figuring it out as I couldn't see it happen. I threw in that little pill and it was all good. $15 for that little thing too. Easiest troubleshooting you can do is open the cap at the sign of increased RPMs.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I probably would have approached it a bit differently had I not pinched the bar like I did and then have it, seem like, immediately start acting up. I couldn't help but relate the two so that was my mindset the whole time :-( I also would have re-thought it if I would have started it and seen how it ran when cold before bringing it to Scott. As soon as I saw how it was running "fine" when Scott first tested it, I knew whatever issue it had couldn't have been anything major like crank seals, crank bearings or a bent crank. Those things just don't "fix" themselves when the saw is cold...lol


Mine used to have the primer bulb back when I had the Zama carb, but now I'm running the 359 intake and 199 carb so the primer bulb is removed and I am running the OE top cover w/o the bulb hole in it .

 

[blsnelling]

Insufficient tank venting is a common problem on the 346, at least on ported ones.