Bought a 041 Farm Boss, runs fine but no power

[Jules083]

So I was at a friends house and saw an 041 sitting in the corner of the garage. No chain, looked like it hadn't ran in a while. He said it ran fine but he quit using it when he bought a newer saw. I offered him $100, and am now the proud owner of another 041.

Now, yesterday I tried using it for the first time. I borrowed the bar and chain from my other 041, a 16" bar with a nearly new and freshly sharpened full chisel chain. That saw runs great with the little 16" bar, and is a joy to run. Nice torquey power, can't bog it out if you had to, don't get in a hurry and it'll cut all day for you. The new one isn't. It is roughly on par with my 021 as far as power output, and well behind my 031. (I admit, I only bought the 031 because I had the 021 and 041)

The compression feels about the same as my other 041, which isn't exactly a fresh rebuild but is a strong running saw either way. It took about 72 pulls to start the first time after sitting, but now it seems to be a one-pull saw. Gas I used is fairly fresh, 91 octane, and mixed at 45 to 1 with synthetic Stihl oil. The air filter is good, rest of the saw looks like it was ran hard and put away wet.

Any ideas besides starting at the carb? The best I can come up with is to either start adjusting the carb, or just swap them and see what happens. I do not have a compression tester, and haven't done a whole lot of work on chainsaws. Changed a piston and ring once on a Husqvarna, and have fiddled with carburetors a few times.

 

[singletrack100]

Others will be along soon offering more but if I were in same boat I'd start with the basics: plug clean and gapped? Or just replace, followed with resetting carb. Set it to factory, or when I don't know what that is I will start at 1 turn out on each Hi and Lo and go from there. If you haven't tried resetting it, which it sounds like in your posts, it may simply be out of tune. If this doesn't work then other tests would follow like checking for air leaks. Like I said, others will be along and probably have some more pointed questions to help you isolate the issue.

Duane

 

[singletrack100]

One other check that may be recommended is to pull the muffler and look at piston and cylinder condition. This shouldn't be too hard to do.

Duane

 

[nnero]

These are good saws. My dad used his for everthing from the late 70s until the late 90s. Pull the carb to check the piston. Make sure all the gaskets between carb and cylinder are good and the intake block isnt cracked. These are kinda of pain to tear down but arent horrible. I replaced a piston and rings and a bunch of other stuff in one.
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/stihl-041-rebuild.251746/

 

[lone wolf]

Just do a compression test first before you pull it apart.

 

[Wood Doctor]

The o41 carb gaskets dry up and after that, you can pull forever to get the engine started. This saw might be the same weight as an 046, but the 046 will cut circles around it. Take it from there.

 

[fearofpavement]

I always look at the piston through the exhaust port on a low power saw. That allows a visual of the engine and also the muffler which may be full of crud, mud daubers or whatever. I would much rather visually inspect the piston than do a compression check because there can be serious issues and still good compression. I do use compression tests, just not alone.

If the piston looks good, put it back together, get it running and while it's at full throttle, turn the H screw out (ccw) a bit. If the saw slows down, go the other direction until you get it tuned to where it's just 4 stroking a bit at wot. Then try it in wood again.
Let us know what you find out.

 

[nnero]

The exhaust and intake ports are in line with each other. The muffler bolts on these can be a pita.

 

[Jules083]

I'm still here, just my work schedule changed a bit and I don't have the free time this week like I thought I did. Tomorrow I'll pull the carb and have a look around, check the plug, look at the piston, etc. I'll see where I'm at and go from there.

Thanks for all of the responses and ideas.