Bought a used stihl 044 need help

[OLDTIMER TECH]

Hi everyone sorry this is a lengthy post,

I recently purchased a used stihl 044 artic with the heated handle grips for 200$ When I got it , it was running , but extremely loud and the saw would surge at idle, especially if tilted. Eventually this got worse , and I rebuilt the carburetor, changed the intake boot to the carburetor( there was a huge hole in it), and replaced the fuel line and filter. Also replaced the spark plug and air filter.

After those fixes the saw ran better , but it still surged at idle so there is another air leak. It is very hard to keep the saw running at idle without the chain spinning faster than I’d like it. So Possibly the impulse line , but I didn’t see any cracks on that line. I’m thinking the crank case seals or something. Basically if I tilt the saw sideways it surges up to like 6000rpm with a tachometer on it.

In addition to this now the clutch went, saw still had full power at full throttle and cut good with these previous issues, until the clutch went.Now though it bogs down, and cant cut at all. Also the chain brake isn’t working possibly due to the clutch or they both somehow went together.

Does anyone have any tips on where I should start? I don’t really want to split the crankcase apart myself, but if that’s what I need to do I’ll figure it out. Could the air leak be something else easily accessable? I plan on replacing the clutch myself here soon and either finding someone who will fix it for a reasonable price or just continue to tackle it myself.

Thank you for the help!

 

[OLDTIMER TECH]

Those chainsaws run hot fully spark plug out full of recoil pull cover spin the flywheel by hand and if the bearings are noisy chances are good you'll have an air leak in the clutch seal first if the bearings are good replace the crank seals also check the cylinder base gasket make sure the Pistons not scored or broken ring also pull a fuel screen and the diaphragm side of the carburetor

 

[jerrycmorrow]

If by radial play you mean it moves if I try to move it up and down or side to side, there is some give to it. ...

Radial play is if the crank moves side to side. A lot is bad; a tinh bit is okay. If you can move the crank up and down; thats bad

 

[cus_deluxe]

Radial play is if the crank moves side to side. A lot is bad; a tinh bit is okay. If you can move the crank up and down; thats bad

Hes not talking about the rod, hes talking about the crank itself moving in the case. Up, down,left, right makes no difference. Any movement at all means a rebuild, hopefully bearing pockets arent all hammered.

 

[cus_deluxe]

And radial play is moving along the RADIUS of the circle, in this case the radius of the con-rod bearing. Lateral play in the conrod is left to right movement.

 

[Locust99]

Update:

I have since had the saw completely rebuilt. Original cylinder with meteor piston. Crank with crank case from another parts saw. Oem bearings and seals. Aftermarket oil pump, all fuel lines. New aftermarket fuel tank. Dual port muffler cover, and many other parts. I just need to re tune it next time I run it, but the saw runs strong now. Real nasty with the DP cover.

Some bad things I’ve found along the way is aftermarket fuel filters and the aftermarket tank vent that came with the farmertech fuel tank is junk. After running the saw for a bit it stopped running and wouldn’t start. For some reason with the bad tank vent the saw would flood. After switching to oem all is well now. Put more money into it than I had wanted to but still cheaper than a new saw.